"Best English Herodotus Translation?" Topic

What is the best one available and why?

I read the Penguin version. No reason other than it was on the bookshelf.

The Landmark Herodotus is an excellent translation with lots of good backup material added.

Chris

I have the translation by Robin Waterfield (Oxford, 1998).

Here are presented the results of the enquiry carried out by Herodotus of Halicarnassus. The purpose is to prevent the traces of human events from being erased by time, and to preserve the fame of the important and remarkable achievements produced by both Greeks and non-Greeks; among the matters covered is, in particular, the cause of hostilities between Greeks and non-Greeks.

I find it to read well, but I can't address directly its fidelity to the original language.

I also possess a copy of the George Rawlinson translation (c.1850; mine is a reprint):

These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due meed of glory; and withal to put on record what were their grounds of feud.

…and so on, for some seven hundred pages. Rawlinson's style has vigor, but our own language has changed in the past 160 years; of the two, I prefer Waterfield. "Best" is rather subjective, so best to read a few excerpts from the book before buying.

Ron

There are so many excellent translations of Herodotus that it is hard to pick a categorical "best." For the serious first time reader, I would recommend Bob Strassler's translation in <The Landmark Herodotus>, mainly because the annotations, maps and supplementary material make the book far more accessible than the text alone. My personal favorite for just reading enjoyment remains that of Aubrey de Selincourt, which just sounds like "Herodotus" to my ear. If you want a really good close translation, however, try Pamela Mensch's new volume -- I also recommend her translation of Arrian. I have not had a chance to look at Tom Holland's recent version. -- Hans

The Landmark edition is splendid (the translation is by Purvis and is very good), and the supporting materials are excellent. [All of the Landmarks are good and recommended, with the partial exception of the Thucydides, which uses Crawley's translation – which while fluent to read is often actively misleading, albeit improved somewhat here by Strassler]. Personally I use Waterfield's Oxford translation most often, as it is reasonably close to the Greek (and so the most useful as a crib) but also very readable. It's also a more convenient size for comfortable reading and carrying around than the rather unwieldy Landmark. And it's a bit cheaper, while still having decent notes and maps. But De Selincourt's Penguin and Godley's Loeb are also very fine as translations: though they have less in the way of supporting material. As Hans and Ron have already said, 'best' in this case is rather subjective so see which one you get on with best.

Rawlinson's magisterial work is still worth a look, especially as you can find it easily online.

I haven't seen Mensch's translation yet, but Hackett editions are usually accurate (when they are new translations) in my experience.