Herodotus and the Persian Wars. By JOHN CLAUGHTON. Greece and Rome: Texts
and Contexts. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Pp.
vii + 152. Paper, $25.00. ISBN 978–0–521–68943–4.
Order this text for $25.00 from Amazon.com using this link and
benefit CAMWS and the Classical Journal:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/classjourn-20
Previously published CJ Online reviews are at
http://classicaljournal.org/reviews.php
CJ Forum Online Exclusive 2009.01.01
Claughton’s collection of selections from Herodotus, narrowly arranged
around Herodotus’ account of the Persian Wars proper (few digressions are
included), is attractively produced and provides a very readable
translation of excerpts that provide a good overview of Herodotus’
account of the Persian Wars. This collection is part of Cambridge’s new
series Greece & Rome: Texts and Contexts, which is intended for secondary
schools and undergraduates, with the aim of enabling students to engage
with the primary texts and develop their own informed opinions. While this
is a laudable goal, and while the most dedicated students may find that
this edition piques their interest in Herodotus and encourages them to read
more on their own, this edition provides little real help to the average
student in understanding Herodotus or his Histories or the world and world
view that shaped his work. These limitations reduce the value of this
translation as a text for students.
Claughton’s translation has several strong points that will certainly
prove attractive to students. The appearance of the book is appealing to
the eye with its full color illustrations and well-chosen maps; the method
of indicating footnotes is both visually striking and familiar (key words
and phrases are printed in blue, reminiscent of links on webpages,
indicating the presence of a footnote that is introduced with the lemma
reproducing the highlighted words in the text; the use of footnotes rather
than endnotes is to be applauded). Also useful is the inclusion of
ancillary texts, which are helpfully placed in the main text rather than
relegated to an appendix (e.g., Herodotus’ account of Croesus on the pyre
is accompanied by a selection from Bacchylides’ Ode 11, although its
number is omitted, as is any translation of Bacchylides in the recommended
readings; students who find Bacchylides interesting are left to their own
devices). On the whole, the resemblance to webpages will likely prove
familiar and comfortable, potentially encouraging students to read the
book.
Its eye-catching appearance and the readable translation aside, the narrow
focus and the lack of sufficient help to the novice render this book of
limited use to students who want to understand the Histories. There is no
introduction, and while it is good to encourage students to develop their
own opinions about ancient sources, these opinions need to be informed, and
informed opinions do not spring fully formed from the heads of high school
or undergraduate students. In addition, while each chapter and section ends
with questions that can serve to guide students towards thinking more
deeply about particular issues, these questions tend to be unanswerable on
the basis of the student’s reading of the selection. For example,
students are asked to consider what sources Herodotus had for the Battle of
Marathon and how these sources affected his narrative (p. 48). This is not
a question a student can answer simply from reading the text, and the
question of Herodotus’ sources has not been discussed in an introduction
or footnotes, nor is a source for further reading suggested. An
introduction that set out the background for Herodotus and his methodology,
the Greek world on the eve of the Persian Wars, the Persians themselves,
the nature of Greek warfare, etc. would have helped the student immensely.
Engagement with scholarly issues requires familiarity with the scholarly
background to those issues. A book aimed at students ought not to leave
them floundering about on their own, attempting to make sense of aspects of
the text that they are in no position to know about on their own and have
been given no help in understanding.
The majority of the footnotes are also of limited value in understanding
and appreciating Herodotus. Instead, they tend to be idiosyncratic and in
the earlier sections are often uninformative, enigmatic and undisciplined.
(Those to the sections dealing with Xerxes and his invasion are more
useful). While it is interesting to learn (in connection with
Philippides’ run) that the distance of the modern marathon is that used
in the 1908 London Olympics (with a few extra yards tacked on to ensure
that those in the royal box had a good view of the finish, this information
did not broaden my understanding of the Histories and is probably of
limited interest to North American students. The frequent references to
Shakespeare, Marco Polo and modern politics may allow for a cross-cultural
look at specific themes, but they illustrate little about Herodotus or his
Histories. When the footnotes are geared towards Herodotus, they are too
often of limited use to a student reader. For example, a footnote on
“laughed” (p. 19), generated in response to Cyrus laughing at
Croesus’ suggestion that he send his shackles to Delphi, informs us that
“laughter is not always the right response to advice nor is it the only
response in Herodotus”—but to what end? What is the intended audience
of high school students and undergraduates supposed to make of this? Why is
Cyrus’ laughter correct here? Why is laughter incorrect elsewhere? And
where else is laughter used, correctly or incorrectly, and how do we
determine this?
The Recommended Readings section is useful in providing a starting point
for students interested in secondary literature. All suggestions are all in
English, which is reasonable given the target audience, are relatively
up-to-date (although nothing earlier than 1989 is mentioned), and include a
brief description of the work in question. But what use is it to a student
to learn that Claughton is “deeply antipathetic” to Fehling’s
argument (in Herodotus and his Sources)? What is Fehling’s argument, and
why is Claughton not convinced? If students are to develop their own
informed opinion, it might be more useful to illustrate the specific
weaknesses of Fehling’s argument (or simply omit the comment) rather than
present an enigmatic ipse dixit statement.
Claughton’s selections cover mainly episodes from the Persian Wars
themselves, and digressions from this topic are kept to a minimum. But much
of the text has been omitted (including important thematic sections), and
since there is no introduction to give a sense of the overall scope and
purpose of the work, students will thus not get the full impact of the
Histories. In a translation that consists of selections, choices need to be
made, but concentrating so heavily on the Persian Wars proper compromises
an understanding and appreciation of Herodotus’ achievement. Where is
3.80–2, the discussion of the various forms of government, which is an
inherent element in the Histories’ central theme of freedom vs. autocracy
or Greeks vs. the Persians? Certainly, not all of the Egyptian and Scythian
narratives had to be included (Claughton omits the Scythians entirely), and
the selections from Book 2 do illustrate Herodotus’ interest in
ethnography, but again the student is given little help in understanding
this interest. (Claughton’s comment that “Herodotus wants to show us
something that is timeless, that the customs of people differ, but that
doesn’t mean that one is superior to the other” [p. 23] is again
misleading; regardless of Herodotus’ views on the customs of the
Egyptians, he is clear on the superiority of the Greeks and their customs
over the Persians and theirs.)
Overall, the translation is sound and readable, its presentation is
attractive and appealing, and this book will likely stimulate interest in
Herodotus in the more disciplined student. All the same, the limited help
it offers in understanding the Histories and their larger significance mean
that instructors may get more bang for their buck with Waterfield’s
complete translation in the Oxford World Classics series ($10.95). If only
a selection is desired, Shirley’s translation with Hackett (Herodotus on
the War for Greek Freedom; $8.95) provides both more text and more context.
KELLY A. MACFARLANE
University of Alberta
You may remove yourself from the CJ-Online list-serv by sending an email
to: [log in to unmask] Leave the subject line blank, and in the first
line of the message write: UNSUBSCRIBE
|