I also purchased the histories from barnes and noble with translation by g. He gives a rather unconvincing proof that the egyptian language is the oldest in the world, explains the inundation of the nile, and tells several stories about the sources of. Read the excerpt from the history of herodotus, book 2. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the history of herodotus volume 2. Written from the 450s to the 420s bc in the ionic dialect of classical greek, the histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that were known around the mediterranean and western asia at that time. Chapter summary for herodotuss histories, book 2 the history of egypt summary. Herodotus on burial in egypt ancient history encyclopedia. Then secondly, as to egypt itself, the extent of it along the sea is sixty schoines, according to our definition of egypt as extending from the gulf of plinthine to the serbonian lake, along which stretches mount casion. How herodotus might have come to know about crocodile hunting. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy and arrange them in. Gates of fire, by stephen pressfield, has the battle of thermopylae book vii as its centrepiece. The second volume of his histories describes egypt s geography, people and relates stories about a number of pharaohs.
He attempts to calculate the dimensions of the country, then describes the river nile. Creation, by gore vidal, interpreting many scenes from the persian viewpoint. The histories by herodotus book ii, euterpe knowitall to. This quotation from herodotus, a greek who traveled in egypt, is about how the nile river enabled ancient egyptian civilization to develop and succeed.
The internet classics archive the history of herodotus by. The third logos of herodotus histories is entirely devoted to egyptian history. Written about 440 bc, the histories tell the story of the war between the persian empire and the greek citystates in the 5th. For if we take the boundaryline commonly received by the greeks, we must regard egypt as divided, along its whole length from elephantine and the cataracts to cercasorus, into two parts, each belonging to a different portion of the world, one to asia, the other to libya. Herodotus claims the hellenes have three theories about the niles floods. The history of herodotus volume 2 kindle edition by herodotus, macaulay, g. The herodotus histories was starting to interest me after appearing on the searches, but didnt purchase until researching more what it was about. Herodotus, greek author of the first great narrative history produced in the ancient world, the history of the grecopersian wars.
Herodotus is called the father of history, since rather than write history as an epic, he approached his work as a research project. In book 2, herodotus discusses the geography, culture, and history of egypt. He remains the leading source of original information not only for greek history between 550 and 479 bce but also for much of that of western asia and of egypt at that time. Written in 440 bc in the ionic dialect of classical greek, the histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that were known in western asia, northern. Egyptians, preferring cleanliness to comeliness, practice circumcision. Thoughts on book 2 of the histories of herodotus first. The reason was because an egyptian upset with his king, amasis, because he felt slighted by him for sending him to persia to be cyruss eye doctor.
Histories book 2 customs and animals of egypt summary. Herodotus claims that since this legendary king 330 pharaohs have ruled he does not mention all of them, but gives some attention to the great conqueror sesostris, who has conquered the whole world. Godley, read by librivox volunteers, proofed, coordinated, and produced by karen merline. The historian, herodotus wrote about flying reptiles. The second volume of his histories describes egypts geography, people and relates stories about a number of pharaohs. The history of herodotus book i the first book of the histories, called clio this is the showing forth of the inquiry of herodotus of halicarnassos, to the end that1 neither the deeds of men may be forgotten by lapse of time, nor the works 2 great and marvellous, which have been produced some by hellenes and some by barbarians, may. Find a summary of this and each chapter of histories.
Herodotus traveled extensively around the ancient world, conducting interviews and collecting stories for his book. Strange stories of early egypt by herodotus audiobook youtube. Written about 440 bc, the histories tell the story of the war between the persian empire and the greek citystates in the 5th century bc. In the histories, he describes the expansion of the achaemenid empire under its kings cyrus the great, cambyses, and darius i the great, culminating in xerxes expedition to greece 480 bce, which met with disaster in the naval engagement at salamis and the battles at plataea and mycale. Cassandane had died in the lifetime of cyrus, who had made a great mourning for her at her death, and had commanded all the.
Herodotus lays out the history of egypt until the reign of amasis, the pharaoh that cambyses will defeat in histories. Book 2 of herodotus opens up with what must be one of historys earliest recorded descriptions of a scientific experiment, also one the stupidest. The first five books look into the past to explain the rise and fall of the persian empire, with special attention being paid to egypt in book 2. Book 2 of the history, which describes the egyptian land and people, illustrates herodotuss skill as a narrator as well as his weaknesses as a historian. Herodotus notes quickly that cambyses had ambitions to conquer egypt. Greek researcher, often called the worlds first historian. Now the length of the parasang is thirty furlongs, but the schoene, which is an egyptian measure, is sixty furlongs. He likely witnessed these accounts firsthand or interviewed people for details. You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at. The present selection includes 3599 of the traditionally numbered 182 sections that make up book ii. Euterpe on the death of cyrus, cambyses his son by cassandane daughter of pharnaspes took the kingdom. How herodotus might have come to know about crocodile.
Book i 299k book ii 249k book iii 221k book iv 230k book v 162k book vi 174k. A flawed and fascinating account of all things egyptian, much of it from firsthand testimony. In book one of the histories, when herodotus describes the physical and political atmosphere in persia, he greatly exaggerates how massively fortified the city of babylon is. On the side of libya egypt is bounded by another range of rocky mountains, wherein are the pyramids. In particular, passage eightysix describes the practice of an ancient ritual that has fascinated people for millennia. Herodotus was a greek writer and geographer credited with being the first historian. Oct 31, 2018 get 2 free audible books this is the third volume of the 15volume series of the worlds story. Book 2 of the histories largely concerns itself with egypt. After the death of king cyrus, his son cambyses becomes the new shah of persia. He is known for having written the book the histories greek.
Herodotus attempts to relate the whole history of the kings of egypt, although he does not describe all 350 pharaohs he claims have ruled the country. Being the second book of his histories called euterpe when cyrus had brought his life to an end, cambyses received the royal power in succession, being the son of cyrus and of cassandane the daughter of pharnaspes, for whose death, which came about before his own, cyrus had made great mourning himself and also had proclaimed to all those over whom he bore rule that they should make mourning. Cambyses ii, kabujiya, 530522 bce in books 2 and 3. Herodotus records the rituals and animals of egypt fairly accurately. Now, when they are coming to the city of bubastis they do as follows.
Herodotus histories book i classical wisdom weekly. The histories of herodotus of halicarnassus, volume 1. His plan to conquer egypt gives herodotus the opportunity. Pharaoh, by boleslaw prus, incorporating the labyrinth scenes inspired by herodotus description in book ii of the histories. To get even, he urged cambyses to ask amasis for his daughter in marriage.
Herodotus histories book 2, euterpe part 1 youtube. The project gutenberg ebook of an account of egypt, by herodotus this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. When the work is not acting as a source of descriptive information, there are actually a few comical moments as it regards the egyptian brazenness and crude sense of honest humor. Herodotus the histories, book 3, thalia 8 cambyses, king of persia, decided to go to war with the egyptians.
In the second book of his histories he describes ancient egypt and in this episode im going to be talking about the egyptian gods. The history of herodotus by herodotus, part of the internet classics archive. He claims that 100 bronze gates were erected at the entrance of babylon, and that babylons. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. His histories primarily deals with the lives of croesus, cyrus, cambyses, smerdis, darius, and xerxes and the battles of marathon, thermopylae, artemisium, salamis, plataea, and mycale. The history of herodotus book i the first book of the histories, called clio this is the showing forth of the inquiry of herodotus of halicarnassos, to the end that1 neither the deeds of men may be forgotten by lapse of time, nor the works2 great and marvellous, which have been produced some by hellenes and some by barbarians, may.
In the first logos of book two, he gives a description of the country, the desert, and the river nile. Herodotus on the egyptians ancient history encyclopedia. In the search for wisdom for herodotus histories, herodotus. Herodotus was born about 490 bce at halicarnassos and died in italy in the late 420s. The egyptians in agreement with their climate, which is unlike any other, and with the river, which shows a nature different from all other rivers, established for themselves manners and customs in a way opposite to other men in almost all matters. While many of his stories might only be tales, it still contain many names of the pharaohs. According to herodotus, the city of babylon had magnificence greater than all other cities of which we have knowledge. The histories also stands as one of the earliest accounts of the rise of the persian empire, as well as the events and causes of the grecopersian wars between the achaemenid empire and the greek citystates in the 5th century bc. Histories by herodotus translated by george rawlinson book 2 euterpe. Cassandane had died in the lifetime of cyrus, who had made a great mourning for her at her death, and had commanded all the subjects of his empire to observe the like. Herodotus counts by generations, for example the kings of the mermnads dynasty, ruling from c.
The present selection includes 3599 of the traditionally numbered 182 sections that make up. Herodotus description of egypt dominates book ii of the histories. Im becomming a little obsessed with history after getting this book. These, whenever a corpse is conveyed to them, show to those who brought it wooden models of corpses made like reality by painting, and the. Since the release of the film version of michael ondaatjes the english patient, there has been renewed interest in the histories of herodotus the book the dying patient treasures so much the writings of herodotus are the ground zero of western history. Cambyses becomes king of the persian empire 530522 bc. Darius i, the great, darayavahush, 522486 bce in books 3, 4, 5 and 6. Connecting egyptian religion and customs to that of the greeks in which herodotus friendly manner towards egypt can be felt. The internet classics archive the history of herodotus. This excursus on the countrys natural and manmade marvels sets the scene for his account of egypts invasion in 525 bce by the persian king cambyses, cyrus son, in. The histories herodotus translated by george rawlinson book 1 these are the researches of herodotus of halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the greeks and the barbarians from. The histories of herodotus of halicarnassus is considered the first work of history in western literature. Gyges, ardys, sadyattes ii, alyattes and finally, his son croesus who we look at in some detail.
His description of crocodiles, for instance, is remarkably accurate, and the account of how crocodiles are hunted seems to come from either personal experience or a reliable account from a hunter. Many scholars refer to him as the father of history in western culture. Histories book 2 the geography of egypt summary course hero. Herodotus describes the birth and rise to power of cyrus, who liberated persia from the medes, and the subsequent expansion of the persian empire until cyrus death during a war with the massagetae. Herodotus portrays the conflict as one between the forces of slavery the persians on the one hand, and freedom. Even though his broader theme is the history of the persian wars, book ii includes a vast range of subjects, from geology and meteorology to commerce, family life, and medicine. The history of herodotus volume 2 kindle edition by. The first five books look into the past to explain the rise and fall of the persian empire, with.
The history of herodotus by herodotus the internet classics archive. Hello this is bertie, and im here with some more ancient history based on the writings of herodotus. Unlike book 1, book 2 s recollections of kings were less specific and more sparse but he does include descriptions of animals and their role in egyptian society which i found interesting and new. Despite herodotus s historical significance, little is known about his personal life. Cambyses, the son of this lady and of cyrus, regarding the ionian and aeolian greeks as vassals of his father, took them with. Herodotus uses this as an excuse to spend book 2 describing egypt at length, as he is fascinated by the country. Herodotus often accepted stories and reputations uncritically and reported them as facts. Book 2 summary in book 2, herodotus discusses the geography, zoology, customs, and history of ancient egypt. Jan 18, 2012 the egyptians in agreement with their climate, which is unlike any other, and with the river, which shows a nature different from all other rivers, established for themselves manners and customs in a way opposite to other men in almost all matters. After herodotus died, editors divided his histories into nine books each one being named after one of the nine muses histories herodotus.
Herodotus is not just the father of history, he is also the father of ethnography, and his description of the egyptians suggests that they often do the opposite of whatever the greeks do. An account of egypt is herodotus second book in his histories, titled euterpe. Book 1 book 2 book 3 book 4 book 5 book 6 book 7 book 8 book 9 2. His plan to conquer egypt gives herodotus the opportunity to dedicate three logoi to the ancient kingdom on the. The rise of the persian empire is chronicled, and the causes for the conflict with greece. In this occupation certain persons employ themselves regularly and inherit this as a craft. Xerxes i khshayarsha, 486466 bce in books 7, 8, and 9. Histories book 2 the history of egypt summary course hero. E, and his histories chronicle the events of the persian wars, which were within living memory when. His plan to conquer egypt gives herodotus the opportunity to dedicate three logoi to the ancient kingdom on the boards of the nile. Herodotus was a greek historian who lived in the 5th century bc from 484 b. Mar 10, 2019 herodotus in egypt herodotus histories book 2. The history of herodotus rawlinsonbook 2 wikisource, the free. With his work history, herodotus first approached the story, but could not be considered an objective historian.
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