The Essential Herodotus Translation, Introduction, and Annotations by William A. Johnson

The Essential Herodotus breathes new life into the writings of the West's first historian, interleaving succinct commentary and notes with balanced selections of Herodotus's work. William A. Johnson's clear and lively translations lead the reader through complex materials, making the text accessible in all its richness. The Essential Herodotus is the first of its kind, offering Herodotus's well-known writings on politics and war alongside his research on folk tradition, foreign cultures, and natural wonders. For first-time Herodotus readers and historians alike, William A. Johnson's The Essential Herodotus reminds a 21st-century audience why these texts have stood the test of time.

WILLIAM A. JOHNSON, Professor of Classical Studies at Duke University, works broadly in the cultural history of Greece and Rome. He has lectured and published on Herodotus, Hesiod, Plato, Cicero, Pliny (both Elder and Younger), Gellius, Lucian and on a variety of topics relating to books and readers, both ancient and modern. Recent work has focused on establishing deep contextualization for specific ancient reading communities, with particular attention to the relationship between literary texts and social structure. His books include Readers and Reading Culture in the High Empire, a Study of Elite Reading Communities (Oxford, 2010); Ancient Literacies (with Holt Parker; Oxford, 2009), Bookrolls and Scribes in Oxyrhynchus (Toronto, 2004).