Histories

This is one of my favorite books of all time. The depth and color with which Herodotus covers ancient Persia, Greece, and surrounding nations was gripping from start to finish. The conclusion in Greece is still one of the classic battles in history. The fact that the book was actually completed in the author's lifetime is another amazing aspect of the book (unlike _The History of the Peloponnesian War_, _The Aeneid_, etc.). Add to that the fact that we get our word for the study of history from this book, and it's basically a must read. Some of the stories have turned out to be less than true, but that's part of history and we can learn from what the historian was told or what he thought was reasonable to believe at the time. Seeing this book here makes me want to dig it out of the basement and have another go at it.