Should I read this?

(regarding the Persian stuff and the invasion of Greece that is. You'll find The Histories is about all kinds of shit)

Did the chart work well for you?

The words are bigger

Is that the only reason?

It's definitely an interesting read. Make sure you actually read the notes to whatever edition you get.

Reading Homer, and having at least some knowledge of the material it is based around will certainly be helpful, but aren't necessarily mandatory if you aren't intending on doing a thorough study of it. This is especially true if you get an edition that has good notes.

If you're literally just reading it on a "casual" level, then you can go in pretty blind and still probably get at least something out of it.

That being said I'd imagine most people who are interested in Herodotus probably have enough of an interest in the material that getting the background required to get more out of it would be something that they wouldn't mind doing anyway, so for most people I'd recommend doing at least some background reading before jumping in.

Kys

Why?

Yes absolutely, I can vouch fro Penguin version having informative footnotes.
Don't read the introduction though its a load of shit.

Penguin is good. Gives a lot of little footnotes of useful info you won't find in other copies.

Yeah, I loved it and I don't usually read history books. This is a case where falling for the meme is good.

Get this edition. Has lots of maps, pictures, etc. that really help to contextualize everything.