wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Herodotus is just wonderful. He would have been a delightful dinner guest, in contrast to Thucydides who would have been too serious. I started reading him as soon as I began my Greek lessons fifty years ago and have never tired of enjoying his superbly rich account of the ancient world as he saw it. To read Herodotus is to see all humanity: Robert Strassler's review is perfect. Thank you.

The Greeks thought of the Egyptians as the most cultured people in the world, rather the way the Romans looked at the Greeks. But that helps explain why Herodotus devoted so much of his work to the Egyptians.

I wonder if Mr. Strassler can address the adaptation of "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."