Stories Of The East From Herodotus

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1885 Edition.

This is a concise but comprehensive history of ancient times compiled by Church working off of the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, known as the Father of History.

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Excerpt from Stories of the East From Herodotus: With Illus, From Ancient Frescoes and Sculptures In these stories I have kept as close to my original as I could, but I do not profess to have translated it. Of course, nothing like criticism or correction has been attempted. I should be sorry that readers who are not acquainted with the work of the "Father of History" should carry away from this book the impression that he is nothing more than a credulous and gossiping teller of stories. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Herodotus, the "father of history," is possibly the most famous historian of all-and perhaps the most maligned, despite his clear warning at the start of his book that he was merely recording, not vouchsafing, those things that he had not seen himself. As a result, his accounts are often dismissed, but as Alfred Church's masterful retelling shows, this is an unjust assumption. Starting with the reign of King Croesus of Lydia (ca. 560 BC), his wars with the Persians, and the rise of Cyrus the Great of Persia, Herodotus's story line moves through the late Egyptian dynasties, and deals with their downfall and submission to the Persians. The stories of Cyrus's successor, Cambyses, and the renowned King Darius are related, along with a fascinating-if brutal-account of the habits of many of the peoples, Indo-European and otherwise, who shaped the destiny of the Ancient Middle East. The author is as careful as Herodotus in his relation of the ascertained facts, and writes in his preface: "I should be sorry that readers who are not acquainted with the work of the 'Father of History' should carry away from this book the impression that he is nothing more than a credulous and gossiping teller of stories. That he was often deceived, and that he writes with a simplicity which is quite remote from our ways of thinking, is manifest; but those who know him best are aware that he was nevertheless a shrewd and painstaking observer, whose credit has been distinctly increased by the discoveries of modern times." This edition has been completely reset, and contains all the original text and illustrations.