'Herodotus, from Halicarnassus, here displays his enquiries, that human achievement may be spared the ravages of time, and that everything great and astounding, and all the glory of those exploits which served to display Greeks and barbarians alike to such effect, be kept alive - and additionally, and most importantly, to give the reason they went to war.' So begins The Histories, the very first work of history and one of the most dramatic accounts of the ancient world ever written, brought to life again in Tom Holland's gripping new translation. 'Thrilling, a masterpiece on the grandest scale, the world's first prose epic . . . Holland brings a bristling new Herodotus to a new generation.' Justin Marozzi, Spectator 'Energizing fast, funny, opinionated, clear and erudite . . . the best English translation of Herodotus to have appeared in the past half-century.' Edith Hall, The Times Literary Supplement 'Tom Holland, like Herodotus, is a storyteller par excellence.' Peter Jones, New Statesman With an Introduction and Notes by Paul Cartledge