Herodotus' Histories are the primary source for the conflict between Greece and the enormous Persian Empire in the fifth century BC. Book VII begins after the defeat of the first Persian invasion by Athens at the Battle of Marathon and covers the Persian decision to launch the second invasion through to the first encounter of its army with a small but determined Greek force at Thermopylai. After fierce resistance, the Greeks are outflanked and surrounded, and the rearguard is massacred. The story of the battle passed rapidly into legend and has exercised a profound and lasting influence on the imagination across the world. Book VII merges many of the central themes of the Histories and is arguably Herodotus' most sustained engagement with Greek epic, whilst also rich in ethnographic and geographical detail. This edition provides all the linguistic help and historical background required by students to read and appreciate it.
