One of the most important works of history in Western literature, by the freshest and liveliest of all classical Greek prose authors, Herodotus's Histories is also a key text for the study of ancient Greece and the Persian Empire. Covering a central and widely studied period of Greek history, Book V not only describes the revolt of the east Greeks against their Persian masters, which led to the great Persian Wars of 490–479 BC, but also provides fascinating material about the mainland Greek states in the sixth century BC. This is an up-to-date edition of and commentary on the Greek text of the book, providing extensive help with the Greek, basic historical information and clear maps, as well as lucid and insightful historical and literary interpretation of the text. The volume is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, teachers and scholars.

'There are numerous passages of the commentary which historians should value highly … [and] sometimes the commentary gets refreshingly witty …' translated from Listy filologické - Folia philologica
'Hornblower can be delightfully erudite when enthused by one of his personal hobby horses - personal names excite him - but he never forgets the needs of the more general reader who turns to the pivotal fifth book of the Histories.' Sean Sheehan, Dublin Review of Books

Simon Hornblower is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. His previous books include The Greek World, 479–323 BC (first published 1983, fourth edition, 2011); The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume VI: The Fourth Century BC (new edition, 1994); and the Oxford Classical Dictionary (fourth edition, 2012), co-edited with Tony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow.