help to choose a translation from Herodutus Histories

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Hi all

Please, I ask for input, what is your opinion in the different translations of Herodutus Histories? Right now my chances are:

- Woodsworth version, translated by Rawlinson (it trades about 3-4 euros)
- Penguin, trans by Sellicourt (about 7-8 eur)
- Oxford, trans. Robin Waterfield (about 8-9 eur)

So, any ideas, comments?

best,

rreis

Many here are better qualified to comment, but what about the Landmark Herodotus.

http://www.librarything.com/work/1020

> 2: The various Herodotus Histories editions are combined - so your link doesn't necessarily go to the Landmark edition. What's special about it?

I really cannot speak to the translation, but reviews seem to be good. I more thought the notes and appendixes might be helpful.

Here is a link to the Landmark edition on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Landmark-Herodotus-Histories/dp/0375421092

The Landmark version is AMAZING. Honestly I think translations of anything get kind of a bad rap because really, if you're translating from one language to a very different one about two and a half millennia later, it's unlikely you'll ever be able to get quite the "juice" you could in the original. With that in mind, I don't think the translation in the Landmark version is any worse/better than any of the other ones, but like Richard says, the maps, appendices, etc are absolutely invaluable. I first read Herodotus in the Penguin Classics version, which was fine, but I found myself thinking aloud sometimes "sure would be nice to have some maps to go with this text..." Luckily, someone else seems to have had the same idea; go to your local Borders and look how much bigger the Landmark version is than any other... there's a reason for that ;-)

definitely recommend ALL the Landmark series of translations- they have so much more

I now own the Landmark version of Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon's Hellenica. I have read all of these works but plan on re-reading them in Landmark. They are beautiful editions.

i was just heading out the door for Powell's Books to look for Hellenica (yay bookstore gift certificates!), so perhaps i'll look into that edition.
Thanks!

>3 Nicole_VanK:

Actually considering how many additional materials are there in the Landmark edition, it should have not be combined... (or we should combine all Norton editions into their originals)...

Actually they are not: http://www.librarything.com/work/6684358 - it's just the search showing strange things :)

>1 rreis:
I would go with the Landmark Herodotus if you can afford it... If not - any of the other 3 will do I think.

Generally just a lurker here, but I have been investigating the various translations for a group read later this year. I will chime in to recommend the Landmark translation for the additional materials included with the book. No other edition has so much information--analysis as well as many maps.

The differences in the other translations are in the choice of language used. Here are the opening paragraphs from the choices you listed:

Rawlinson:

"These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due meed of glory’ and withal to put on record what were their grounds of feud."

Selincourt:

"Herodotus of Halicarnassus, his Researches are here set down to preserve the memory of the past by putting on record the astonishing achievements both of our own and of other peoples; and more particularly, to show how they came into conflict."

Waterfield:

"Here are presented the results of the enquiry carried out by Herodotus of Halicarnasus. The purpose is to prevent the traces of human events from being erased by time, and to preserve the fame of the important and remarkable achievements produced by both Greeks and non-Greeks; among the matters covered is, in particular, the cause of the hostilities between Greeks and non-Greeks."

I think it is a personal preference as to how you think Herodotus should "sound" in translation.

Yep, pretty much. Anyone who's ever translated anything knows that sometimes if you do it verbatim, it won't even mean anything in English; in that case, you have to just turn it into something which you think sounds the best. As you can imagine, for dead languages, this can lead to mixed results.

Yes, and ancient Greek is easy by comparison because it's still just another Indo-European language written in an alphabetic script. Now imagine the problems for other ancient texts.

I read the Selincourt originally and I thought it flowed nicely. It was the first ancient Greek primary source I read after Homer, so I really need to re-read Herodotus now that I am more familiar with the territory; hence, my purchase of the Landmark edition which is now on my ever growing TBR

I had a really hard time finishing The Histories. It was tougher going than The Bible, War and Peace and even Don Quixote. I read the old Heritage Press Harry Carter translation. It took me about 2 years off-and-on.

I don't know if this translation was "drier", "more awkward", etc. I just don't know if The Histories, ie the Landmark edition, is significantly better. But for my next endeavor, I will certainly refer to LT discussions such as these!

Wow, Sandydog, that's really unfortunate! It could be that your translation was just uninviting... some of the older translations of the classics can be dense and no fun to read. Herodotus says so much cool stuff, you owe it to yourself to read it in a good translation (i.e., no Shakespearean English!), and as we've all recommended, the Landmark version is superb.

Landmark is the one I'm reading, and it's quite entertaining.

Thanks Feicht, auntmarge, et al. I'll re-read with Landmark some day.

And no, Feicht, good ol' Jerry Garcia and I really weren't seperated at birth!

it was me who thought you were the author of "Bertha"

Wait... so that's not a picture of Jerry Garcia? :-o

18, 19

Yes that is a photo of my literary hero, uncle Jerry. Garcia-Hunter is much preferred by me, over most of the Weir-Barlow catalog.

Robin Waterfield's Oxford does has the advantage of more recent scholarship and it is probably the most fluid translation. If you decide to get de Sélincourt's translation, be sure to get John Marincola's Penguin revision, not de Sélincourt's original (the text has been revised in the light of more recent scholarship and the notes are worth paying for - as are Waterfield's). Forget Rawlinson - we know much more about the Persian world than Rawlinson did, and besides he's a bit heavy going. I don't know anything about the Landmark edition except what I can see on Google Books - they seem to stay to the West of the Atlantic. But I'm sure that with the maps and with dozens of appendices on topics like the Spartans by Paul Cartledge and the Persians by Christopher Tuplin, you can't go too far wrong. Yes, Waterfield for a text, but it sounds like Landmark for everything else (as I say, I don't know what Andrea Pervis's text is like, so I can't evaluate it) if you can afford it. Hmm, I'll have to get myself a copy. Damn!

Well, Waterfield's edition is coming in the mail right now...

Thanks for everyone input!

Is is true that there is to be a Landmark edition of Xenophon's Anabasis? Is is due anytime soon?

There better be! It's way cooler than Hellenika, I don't know why they did that one first...

Hellenika probably got issued first Josh because they we were going for chronological continuity. Hellenika does pick up where Thucydides leaves of, although I must agree that Hellenika was hard going and Anabasis was a terrific read. I must admit that I am looking forward to reading my copy of Landmark Hellenika because the first time I read it in the Loeb edition my knowledge of the 4th century was much weaker and I frequently had no f@#&in clue what he was talking because his writing is so disconnected and the Loeb had such few footnotes.

It's funny how Anabasis is so exciting and you need very little additional information to put the story -- which is such a stimulating read - in perfect context.

Ah yeah, good point, hadn't thought about it that way.

The difference between autobiography and historiography. Xenephon is an excellent writer, but not in Thucydides' league as a historian. He tries to adhere to Thucydides as a model, and this affects his writing. In the Anabasis, he is writing much more naturally (and, naturally, has no dependence on the reports of others) and can concentrate on telling the story. So the Hellenika is good where the Anabasis is great.

Well said shikari. And if we are to believe it -- and there is no reason not to -- Anabasis is memoir and memoir always has the potential to be more exciting than historical narrative

Landmark, definitely. I've spent a number of years studying Herodotus and that's the most useful translation I can think of.

For sheer "readability," I suppose I'd go with David Grene's.

Not exactly an expert here, but I had both the Oxford edition and the Penguin one assigned as texts for different classes at university. I'm rather more familiar with the Penguin as it's the one I read the most recently. Quite liked it too.

I also ended up buying the Landmark edition as well last year - mostly for the extra material.

I prefer David Grene to Godley (Loeb) and de Selincourt. Grene does affect archaic English diction here and there to give some of what he seems to regard as the flavor of Herodotus's Greek. An annoying quirk, at least in Grene. But it's a lively work with a sense that it's literature and not an exercise. Grene is out of print, but available used at reasonable prices, though I did see a relict new edition offered for about $190.00!

M. rreis went with Waterfield I see. Can't go wrong with Waterfield IMHO. I can see I am going to have to read that one next, then maybe Strassler.