Herodotus's Tales of the Greco-Persian Wars and Much More

7 hrs. 47 min.

Language Russian

Author Gasparov Mikhail

Narrator Mikhail Roslyakov

Description

Until now, Herodotus’s work was considered only a source of historical information. However, academician M. L. Gasparov argues that Herodotus is interesting first and foremost as a writer. In an effort to eliminate the shortcomings of earlier Russian translations, Gasparov offers readers not a translation, but a retelling designed for the understanding of a non-specialist reader.

This retelling of Herodotus’s story was made by academician M. L. Gasparov imagining that he is writing for schoolchildren—“the way I would like to tell it to my own children.” In the book’s preface, he reminds readers that Herodotus was always rendered not as a writer, but as a source of information about Ancient Greece—using a businesslike bureaucratic style. “That wasn’t quite fair. I wanted to correct that injustice. Which meant: to offer Russian readers not a translation, but a retelling of Herodotus.”