The Persian Wars, Volume IV - Herodotus

The "Father of History."Herodotus
the great Greek historian was born about 484 BC, at Halicarnassus in
Caria, Asia Minor, when it was subject to the Persians. He traveled
widely in most of Asia Minor, Egypt (as far as Aswan), North Africa,
Syria, the country north of the Black Sea, and many parts of the Aegean
Sea and the mainland of Greece. He lived, it seems, for some time in
Athens, and in 443 went with other colonists to the new city Thurii (in
South Italy), where he died about 430. He was "the prose correlative of
the bard, a narrator of the deeds of real men, and a describer of
foreign places" (Murray). Herodotus' famous history of warfare between the Greeks and the Persians
has an epic dignity which enhances his delightful style. It includes
the rise of the Persian power and an account of the Persian empire; a
description and history of Egypt; and a long digression on the geography
and customs of Scythia. Even in the later books on the attacks of the
Persians against Greece there are digressions. All is most entertaining
and produces a grand unity. After personal inquiry and study of hearsay
and other evidence, Herodotus gives us a not uncritical estimate of the
best that he could find. The Loeb Classical Library edition of Herodotus is in four volumes.