Hello everyone,
I am thinking about to start a Herodotus reading group and I would like to know, if someone is willing to join. So I would be very glad, if everyone wishing to participate, will give a vote.
Though I am sure, that mostly everyone here knows Herodotus, I want to explain briefly, why I think such group should be started.
I think Herodotus is interesting in how and what he writes. He uses chiefly Ionian dialect with a small amount of other dialects, e.g. the epic dialect. So by reading Herodotus, one gets in contact with the language of Homer and if one has already studied Homer, but wants to read some prose now, the Histories yield an interesting text without getting too far from the language of Homer, but still shows forms not found in Homer. I also believe, that a beginner of greek will get acquainted with Ionic quickly.
Since Herodotus covers in his work nearly every aspect - big and small - of human life, the Histories seem to be a nearly inexhaustible source of good stories or even wisdom. He gives detailed descriptions of ancient peoples from Europe, Middle-East or Africa, and provides informations about art, customs, geography, languages and literature, medicine, natural sciences, various religions, how to find truth, warfare, zoology and so on ad infinitum. Besides this, he of course also describes greek and middle-east history and the Persian Wars.
I suggest that the group will read the book from start to end and will submit a certain amount of translation, say 250 words, which is approximately a Teubner page, weekly. Questions will be discussed and probably answered by the group. I think it might be interesting, if we could do some i(storia/s on our own, e.g. in poetry or LXX, if the text suggest this.
Mark