Question

[chickenfeet]

Some of you must have a view on this. What's the best translation/edition of Herodotus' The Histories?

Comments

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Readers who want a real taste of Herodotean style can do a lot worse than the 1858 translation of George Rawlinson (Everyman's Library; $25)... (http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/04/28/080428crbo_books_mendelsohn?currentPage=all)

Mendelsohn doesn't really chose, mind you - the new Landmark Herodotus he reviews here sounds perfect in every way, except that the English translation sounds pretty blah. tell me which way you went eventually!

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I suspect that (Rawlinson) is the version I have been listening to on audiobook. It's written in a sort of high 19th century English. The effect of this is 'enhanced' by it being read by Bernard Mayes who sounds uncannily like Slartibartfast.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

My copy is the 1850s Rawlinson translation, too, and I'm also very happy with the upper-class writing voice. It makes giant ants that much better.

[c-mantix.livejournal.com]

Stick with the Rawlinson.

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

I use the de Sélincourt, revised by Burns, i.e., the Penguin edition, because that is what was assigned when I was an undergrad and grad student.

[darcydodo]

Of any that I've looked at, Rawlinson. Available (previously?) in moderately cheap and compact paperback, and apparently also available for free online.