| Description |
1 online resource (xi, 370 pages) |
| Contents |
Introduction : Myth, truth, and narrative in Herodotus' Histories / Emily Baragwanath, Mathieu de Bakker -- Myth and legend in Herodotus' first book / Carolyn Dewald -- Herodotus and the 'myth' of the Trojan War / Suzanne Said -- Herodotus' Proteus : myth, history, enquiry and storytelling / Mathieu de Bakker -- The Helen logos and Herodotus' fingerprint / Irene de Jong -- Strangers are from Zeus : Homeric xenia at the courts of Proteus and Croesus / Elizabeth Vandiver -- Herodotus on Melampus / Vivienne J. Gray -- Herodotus and the Heroic Age : the case of Minos / Rosaria Vignolo Munson -- Myth and truth in Herodotus' Cyrus logos / Charles C. Chiasson -- Herodotus and eastern myths and logoi : Deioces the Mede and Pythius the Lydian / Rosalind Thomas -- The mythical origins of the Medes and the Persians / Pietro Vannicelli -- Mythology and the expedition of Xerxes / Angus M. Bowie -- Returning to Troy : Herodotus and the mythic discourse of his own time / Emily Baragwanath |
| Summary |
Herodotus, the 'Father of History', is infamously known for having employed elements more akin to mythological tales than to unvarnished 'truth' in translating his historical research into narrative form. While these narratives provide valuable source material, he could not have surmised the hostile reception his work would receive in later generations. This mythical aspect of the Histories led many successors, most notoriously Plutarch, to blame Herodotus for spinning far-fetched lies, and to set him apart as an untrustworthy historian. Echoes of the same criticism resounded in twentieth-century scholarship, which found it difficult to reconcile Herodotus' ambition to write historical stories 'as they really happened' with the choices he made in shaping their form. Each chapter in this book seeks to review, re-establish, and rehabilitate the origins, forms, and functions of the Histories' mythological elements. These chapters throw new light on Herodotus' talents as a narrator, underline his versatility in shaping his work, and reveal how he was inspired by and constantly engaged with his intellectual milieu. The Herodotus who emerges is a Herculean figure, dealing with a vast quantity of material, struggling with it as with the Hydra's many-growing heads, and ultimately rising with consummate skill to the organisational and presentational challenges it posed. The volume ultimately concludes that far from being unrelated to the 'historical' aspects of Herodotus' text, the 'mythic' elements prove vital to his presentation of history |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and indexes |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Herodotus -- Congresses
|
|
Herodotus |
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HISTORY -- Ancient -- Greece.
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| Genre/Form |
Conference papers and proceedings
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Baragwanath, Emily, 1977-
|
|
Bakker, Mathieu de.
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| ISBN |
9780191625985 |
|
0191625981 |
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9780191745324 |
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0191745324 |
|
9781283602020 |
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1283602024 |
|
