The Histories

Penguin Classics

By: Herodotus, Tom Holland

Narrated by: Frank Laverty

Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic of Tom Holland's 'stirring new translation' (Telegraph) of Herodotus' Histories, one of the great books in Western history, is narrated by Frank Laverty.

The Histories of Herodotus, completed in the second half of the fifth century BC, is generally regarded as the first work of history and the first great masterpiece of non-fiction writing. Joined here are the sheer drama of Herodotus' narrative of the Persian invasions of Greece, and the endless curiosity - turning now to cannabis, now to the Pyramids - which make his book the source of so much of our knowledge of the ancient world.

This absorbing new translation, by one of Britain's most admired young historians, allows all the drama and mysteriousness of this great book to be fully appreciated by modern listeners.

©2013 Tom Holland (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Unquestionably the best English translation of Herodotus to have appeared in the last half-century, and there have been quite a few...fast, funny, opinionated, clear and erudite.... I am in awe of Tom Holland's achievement." (Edith Hall, TLS)

"A labour of love...full of rattling good yarns...the minister for education should present each of his cabinet colleagues with a copy of Holland's admirable translation." (Economist)

"Tom Holland has been captivated by Herodotus since he was a child. His pleasure shines through his relaxed, idiomatic, expansive and often dramatic translation.... He, like Herodotus, is a storyteller par excellence." (Peter Jones, New Statesman)

Excellent translation and narration

I was surprised to read that some of the reviews faulted the narrator on his performance and even on account of his Irish accent, supposedly being unclear.
It took me no more than a few minutes to get used to the narrator's accent, and I found him very easy to understand and follow, and with a lively and captivating delivery, as opposed to boring or monotonous. The narration, in my opinion, did justice to the translation, which is the best translation of Herodotus I've come across.