Considered one of the most important works of history in Western literature, Herodotus's Histories is a key text for the study of ancient Greece and the Persian Empire. 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. The importance of Herodotus as the freshest and liveliest of all classical Greek prose authors and the historical centrality of the period covered are the main reasons for studying Book V. This is...