Book · -430
The Histories
by Herodotus
Herodotus reports on the Persian Wars, Egyptian pharaohs, and a thief who escaped a king's treasury by decapitating the corpse of his brother.
What does Reddit think of The Histories?
Twenty mentions across seven years, with r/AskHistorians accounting for 19 of them — and that concentration matters. Reddit doesn't come to The Histories looking for a narrative read. It comes for a citation. The ↑807 comment uses Herodotus to document an ancient Egyptian thief story from Book 2, noting that Herodotus was 'doubtless reporting a tale told by his Egyptian guide' — a qualifier that tells you exactly how r/AskHistorians treats this source: useful, unreliable, irreplaceable. Another thread (↑175) reaches for The Histories when discussing Croesus's wars in Asia Minor, quoting Herodotus directly on the reasons for invasion. The book functions as a primary-source anchor for questions about Persian-era geopolitics, Egyptian customs, and Bronze Age collapse threads. The lone r/history mention (↑165, from 2019) follows the same pattern. Nobody debates the prose. Nobody recommends a translation with much conviction — one comment mentions looking through Holland's translation reviews and finding qualified praise rather than consensus.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Herodotus as an unreliable but unavoidable primary source on the ancient world
- · Persian Wars causation and Croesus's role in the lead-up to conflict
- · Egyptian customs and mythology as reported by a skeptical outsider
- · The limits of ancient historiography — what Herodotus admits he's guessing at
- · Bronze Age and early Iron Age geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean
- · Translation debates and whether any single version should be treated as standard
Common praise
- + The Egyptian sections in Book 2 preserve stories unavailable anywhere else — the ↑807 r/AskHistorians comment uses Herodotus to document a specific pharaoh story (2.121) that no other ancient source covers.
- + Herodotus quotes his own uncertainty, which makes r/AskHistorians trust him more in specific instances — the 'doubtless reporting a tale' qualifier is a feature, not a bug.
- + The Croesus passages give a concrete ancient account of pre-empire invasion justifications, useful enough that r/history (↑165) quotes them directly.
Common criticism
- − The Holland translation attracts qualified praise at best — one r/AskHistorians comment (↑55) reviewed all major notices and found 'at least one persistent criticism worth noting,' stopping short of calling it the new standard.
- − Herodotus frequently signals he's relaying secondhand accounts, which makes him citable but requires constant hedging in serious historical arguments.
- − Twelve total mentions over seven years is thin for a foundational text — Reddit treats this as a reference to pull specific passages from, not a book that generates active discussion.
Who it's for
You're writing a serious r/AskHistorians answer about the Persian Wars, Egyptian customs, or pre-empire Anatolian politics, and you need a primary source. This is that source. Readers who want ancient history as narrative rather than citation will find Herodotus slower going than advertised — the digressions are the point, but that's not always obvious until you're 200 pages into an Egyptian customs tangent. If you want the Holland translation specifically, know that the r/AskHistorians consensus on it is warm but not enthusiastic. Classicists and ancient historians are the natural audience; casual history readers may bounce off the structure.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Histories?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“The very short answer is…apparently he was just guessing. The source for this is actually Napoleon himself, according to the Mémorial de Saint-Hélène, which Napoleon dictated to Emmanuel de Las Cases during his exile on St. Helena. This particular conversation took place on November 13, 1817: >“Enf…
“The only example I can think of comes from a strange and almost certainly untrue (or at least very embellished) story in the Histories of Herodotus (2.121). According to Herodotus (doubtless reporting a tale told by his Egyptian guide), the pharaoh Rhampsinitus (that is, Ramses - the Ramses in quest…
“> Herodotos simply refers to the battle as "the defeat at Thermopylai" (8.27.1) and "the defeat of the Spartans" (8.66.1). From what I recall, doesn't Herodotus repeatedly talk about how surprised/confused Xerxes was at Greek resistance and courage at Thermopylae? He seemed reasonably complimentary …
“It has been suggested that the Homeric myths of The Iliad and The Odyssey were based upon poetic tradition that dated to or before the so-called Bronze Age Collapse. If that is true, Romans were practically obsessed at times with Bronze Age culture, but evidence in surviving texts seems to indicate …
“The comparative devastation of the Mongolian armies of the 13th century in relation to the impact of highly mobile nomadic movements in Antiquity (using such a term may appear to fixate too heavily on Western sources and tradition) is difficult to quantify. To dispel the first element of your que…
“In terms of Western history, they were certainly surprisingly proactive in giving clear ostensible reasons for invasion. To get into some examples from ancient times: Speaking of Croesus' wars in Asia minor (predating the First Persian Empire) Herodotus writes; >*"Afterward he attacked the Ionians…
“The real question might be, "Did ancient Romans and Greeks think they were European?" With the benefit of map views of the world, Europe and Africa certainly look like separate entities. Seen from a late Medieval or modern perspective, something called "Europe" was a thing, as was a really big thing…
“This is an extremely interesting question, and I think there are several facets to it: What are the biases in our sources? For instance, premodern Chinese historians, particularly those writing significantly after events, have a tendency to do a bit of shifting around of which figures/actions are …
“Regarding your personal note: Even if we ignore the slices of present-day culture that idolize Sparta for political and aesthetic reasons, the city has had some pretty good PR for a long time. I recently finished reading *The Histories*, and had I not had a heavily annotated version, I probably woul…
“Some great answers about Egypt from u/Bentresh, so this archaeology trained high school teacher will speak to what I'm more familiar with - Ancient Mesopotamia … but also how it connects to Classical Greek myth, Homer and Hesiod in particular. 4. Robert Strassler's *The Landmark Herodotus* (2007, An…
“Just to expand on this, I looked through all the major reviews I could find of Holland's translation a while back, and while they were definitely positive – though I don't think anyone was suggesting that this should be the new standard – there is at least one persistent criticisms worth noting. It …
“Happened way before the 16th century, but in the 6th century BC, an eclipse apparently ended a battle that was ongoing. The Battle of Halys was fought in Anatolia between the Medes and the Lydians. According to Herodotus in the Histories, "just as the battle was growing warm, day was on a sudden cha…
“# Part 1 I've answered a similar question on this sub before, but some of the discussion in that thread is actually outdated in light of more recent scholarship, … them. It's entirely possible that his name is a product of mistranslation. The Persian words for Immortal (Anausha) and Companion (Anush…
“**Herodotos** (Ἡρόδοτος, "Gift of Hera") was a Greek from Halikarnassos in Karia (modern-day Bodrum in southwestern Turkey). He is the author of the oldest work of historical prose that survives in full. All later historians recognise him as the ultimate ancestor of their profession and their method…
“There's a degree of accident that goes into the story of what we do and don't have from the ancient world. The default position for any book from roughly … important] is the Laurentianus manuscript. [Here](
Convinced? Pick up The Histories
What else does r/AskHistorians read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
Guides featuring The Histories
Ranked best-of lists and editorial guides where this book's tracked mentions place it.
The Histories — frequently asked
What does Reddit actually use The Histories of Herodotus for?+
Primarily as a primary-source citation. Of 12 total mentions in the tracked data, 11 come from r/AskHistorians, where commenters quote Herodotus to document specific events — the pharaoh Rhampsinitus thief story (↑807), Croesus's invasion justifications (↑165), Egyptian customs. It's a reference text on Reddit, not a book people finish and evangelize.
Is the Holland translation of The Histories the best one to buy?+
Probably not the consensus pick. An r/AskHistorians commenter (↑55) went through all the major Holland translation reviews and found positive notices but also 'at least one persistent criticism worth noting' — stopping short of calling it a new standard. The tracked Reddit data doesn't settle on a preferred translation, so check recent r/AskHistorians threads before committing.
How reliable is The Histories as a historical source?+
Depends on the passage. r/AskHistorians treats it as citable but requiring attribution caveats — the ↑807 comment describes Herodotus as 'doubtless reporting a tale told by his Egyptian guide' and uses that framing to discuss the story rather than dismiss it. For Persian Wars and Croesus, he's the primary source you use while noting the limitations. For Egyptian customs, the same applies.
Should I read The Histories before or after Thucydides?+
Herodotus first, chronologically and pedagogically. The Histories covers the Persian Wars that precede the Peloponnesian War Thucydides documents. More practically, Herodotus shows you what ancient historiography looked like before Thucydides reacted against it — the digressions, the myths, the admitted hearsay. That contrast makes Thucydides's methodology declaration in Book 1 land harder.