Herodotus' Histories: the 28 logoi

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	Herodotus' Histories: the 28 logoi
Corinthian helmet (British Museum, London)	The Histories are the account of the researches done by the Greek author Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c.480-c.429). It is an entertaining work of great variety, dealing with history, ethnology, topography and morality. In Antiquity, books consisted of papyrus scrolls. Our division of Herodotus' Histories in nine 'books' goes back to an edition by third century BCE scholars, working in the great library of Alexandria. There are very strong indications that this is not the original division; probably, Herodotus thought about his oeuvre as a collection of twenty-eight lectures, in Greek called logoi. This overview of the contents of Herodotus' Histories is essentially based on Silvana Cagnazzi's article 'Tavola dei 28 logoi di Erodoto' in the journal Hermes 103 (1975), page 385-423, except for book three.
	Book one first logos: the story of Croesus (1.1-94) text: Candaules, his wife, and Gyges text: the story of Arion second logos: the rise of Cyrus the Great (1.95-140) third logos: affairs in Babylonia and Persia (1.141-216) text: The capture of Babylon	Croesus on the pyre (Louvre, Paris;)
	Book two fourth logos: geography of Egypt (2.1-34) fifth logos: customs and animals of Egypt (2.35-99) text: Egyptian customs text: The hippopotamus text: Mummification sixth logos: history of Egypt (2.100-182) text: The relief of Sesostris	The god Anubis balming a deceased man (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden; ©!!!)
	Book three seventh logos: Cambyses' conquest of Egypt (3.1-60) text: The skulls at Pelusium text: The madness of Cambyses eighth logos: the coups of the Magians and Darius (3.61-119, 126-141, 150-160) text: The list of satrapies text: The gold-digging ants text: The edges of the earth text: The fall of Intaphrenes text: The coat of Syloson text: The capture of Babylon ninth logos: affairs on Samos (3.39-60, 120-125, 142-149)	Darius on a relief from the northern stairs of the Apadana of Persepolis (Archaeological museum, Tehran)
	Book four tenth logos: country and customs of the Scythians (4.1-82) text: The circumnavigation of Africa eleventh logos: Persian campaign against the Scythians (4.83-144) twelfth logos: Persian conquest of Libya (4.145-205) text: The Nasamones (4.172-173)	Sakâ tigrakhaudâ. Relief from the eastern stairs of the Apadana at Persepolis
	Book five thirteenth logos: Persian conquest of Thrace (5.1-28) fourteenth logos: beginning of the Ionian revolt; affairs in Sparta (5.28-55) text: The story of Dorieus text: The royal road fifteenth logos: affairs in Athens (5.55-96) sixteenth logos: Ionian revolt (5.97-126)	A Greek soldier (hoplite) (KMKG, Brussel)
	Book six seventeenth logos: Persian reconquest of Ionia (6.1-42) eighteenth logos: affairs in Greece (6.43-93) text: Glaucus nineteenth logos: battle of Marathon (6.94-140)	The Athenian tomb at Marathon (©**)
	Book seven twentieth logos: Persian preparations (7.1-55) text: Xerxes' ancestors text: Xerxes' canal through the Athos text: Xerxes in Abydus twenty-first logos: the Persians cross to Europe (7.56-137) twenty-second logos: battle of Thermopylae (7.138-239) text: Greek spies at Sardes text: the battle of Himera text: the topography of Thermopylae	Xerxes (©!!)
	Book eight twenty-third logos: naval battle off Artemisium (8.1-39) twenty-fourth logos: naval battle off Salamis (8.40-96) twenty-fifth logos: winter (8.97-144) text: the Macedonian royal dynasty	Bust of Themistocles (Museo Ostiense, Ostia; ©**)
	Book nine twenty-sixth logos: battle of Plataea (9.1-89) twenty-seventh logos: liberation of Ionia (9.90-113) twenty-eighth logos: foundation of the Athenian empire (9.114-122)	Plataea (©**)

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