Texts and Translations

Complete Etexts | Published Versions | Source Snippets

Complete Etexts

Translation of the Histories by George Rawlinson (Internet Classics Archive—still broken, but not completely dead)

A new online translation of Herodotus by Shlomo Felberbaum. The design is pleasingly decked out with photographs by Shane Solow but the translation itself is extremely clunky, preserving Greek features such as word- and clause-order to the considerable detriment of English style. It might be useful as a crib for the Greek.

G. C. Macaulay's translation of Herodotus vanilla etext courtesy Project Gutenberg/Center for Digital Discourse and Culture.

The Perseus Version, with Greek text keyed to dictionaries, and How and Wells' excellent commenary. Perseus is good for those learning Greek, difficult to navigate as an English translation. Serious students should buy How and Well's.

Partial Greek text from Orientalia Antiquiora by Herman M. Johnson (1857). Scans from Johnson's editing-down of Herodotus for 19th c. pupils. I don't really know why anyone would waste their energy putting such a page up.

Published Versions

Review of recent reissues of Rawlinson, de Selincourt and Grene's translations by P.J. Rhodes, Histos 1997.

Amazon. New edition of Herodotus in English.G. C. Macaulay's translation, with value-adds. Lateiner reports it has "the best index for Herodotus—bar none." Also includes a new introduction, bibliography, section on H. through the ages, etc.

Amazon. Herodotus: The Histories (Penguin Classics) translated by Aubrey De Selincourt and reworked somewhat by John M. Marincola.

Review by Hugh Bowden in Histos 1997.

The Histories translated by George Rawlinson, intro by Rosalind Thomas (Everyman's Library).

Amazon. The History : Herodotus translated by David Grene.

Source Snippets

Selections from Herodotus, The Persian Wars. Literal translation by Lewis Stiles, University of Saskatchewan. Includes selections on Kandaules and Gyges, Kroisos, Marathon and Xerxes.

Battle of Marathon [6.102] (George Rawlinson, trans.)

Xerxes at the Hellespont , trans. Richard Hooker, with some questions.

Selections from Herodotus translated by Lynn Sawlivich and revised by Gregory Nagy for a Harvard Extension course. Nagy adds transliterated Greek words in key places—a very useful feature. Includes 1.1-91 and a number of other long selections. Unfortunately, RealVideo Nagy's lectures are password-protected.

Herodotus: Hellenes & Phoenicians, c. 430 BCE [1.1-2, 5.57-59], trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Herodotus: Queen Tomyris of the Massagetai and the Defeat of the Persians under Cyrus, [1.201-214] trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Reports of The Origins of Athens, c. 430 BCE - 110 CE [Herodotus 1.56-9 and Thucydides, Plutarch and ps-Aristotle] trans. Rawlinson et al. (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Greek Reports of Babylonia, Chaldea, and Assyria [Herodotus 1.178-200, 7.63] Trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Reports of the Etruscans, c. 430 BCE - 10 CE [Herodotus 1.94, Livy] Trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Accounts of Persian "Despotism" and Law, c. 430-300 BCE [Herodotus 2.31, The Book of Esther] Trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Greek Reports of India & Aryavarta [Herodotus 3.98-106, 7.65, 70, 86] Trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

The Persians Reject Democracy/Darius' State [Herodotus 3.80-97] Trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Ancient Accounts of Arabia, 430 BCE - 550 CE [Herodotus 3.? with Strabo, Dio Cassius, Ammianus Marcellinus and Procopius of Caesarea] Trans. Rawlinson et al. (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Accounts of Meroe, Kush, and Axum, c. 430 BCE - 550 CE [Herodotus 3, Strabo, Dio Cassius, etc.] (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Accounts of Ancient Mauretania, c. 430 BCE- 550 CE [Herodotus 4.42-43, Strabo and Procopius of Caesarea] Trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

On Libya, [Herodotus Book 4.42-43, 4.168-198] Trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Web Archive: Historial Interpretations of the Amazons .

Giant Gold-mining Ants of India (Herodotus 3.102-5)

Documents of The Rise of Hellenic Tyranny, c. 650-550 BCE Corinth and Athens [Herodotus 5.92, Plutarch, Solon, 29-31] trans. Rawlinson/Dryden (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Documents of the Founding of Cyrene, c. 630 BCE [Book 5, 150-151, 153, 156-159, Strabo, Geographia] Trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Herodotus: On the Kings of Sparta, c. 430 BCE [6.56-60], trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Herodotus: On the Kings of Sparta, c. 430 BCE. [6.56-60] Ancient History Sourcebook (unnown trans.)

Herodotus: The Carthaginian Attack on Sicily, 480 BCE [7.165 ff.], trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Reports of Minos and Knossos [Herodotus 7.170-171, Plutarch, Theseus] Trans. Rawlinson/Dryden (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Artemisia at Salamis, 480 BCE [Herodotus 7 various] Trans. Rawlinson (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Web Archive: Some facts on the Amazons as quoted from Herodotus, see also his Herodotus and the Cimmerians selection. With no commentary it's pretty useless. He has a Boris Vallejo page, with music by (I think) Yanni. Come to think of it, Yanni is the Boris Vallejo of music.

Egypt under the Roman Empire [Strabo comments on Herodotus, among other things] Trans. Hamilton (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Accounts of Personal Religion, c. 430 BCE - 300 CE [Herodotus, Strabo, Dio Chrysostom and the kitchen sink] Various trans. (Ancient History Sourcebook)

Ancient Authors who refer to the Labyrinth (including Manetho, Mela, etc.)