Herodotus and His Sources：Citation, invention and narrative art

ProfessorFehling'simportantstudyofsource-citationsinHerodotusfirstappearedinGermanin1971(DieQuellenangabenbeiHerodot).Itprovedcontroversialatthetime,settingitsfaceasitdidagainstthegeneraltrendofHerodoteanstudiesovertheprecedingfewdecades.Herodotusandhis'Sources're-opensthequestionoftheveracityofHerodotus'source-citations,raisedinthelastcenturyinBritainbyA.H.SayceandinGermanybyH.Panofsky.Theirview,inessencethatHerodotussimplyinventedmostofthesourcestowhichheattributedhisinformation,sothattheywerewithoutfactualbasis,metwithgeneraldisbelief.However,modernargumentsinfavourofafactualbasisare,asFehlingsuggestsinhisIntroduction,logicallyuntenable.ArigorousanalysisinChapters1and2ofHerodotus'methodsofsource-citation,andofhisnarrativestrategies,laysthefoundationforchaptersontheroleoffreeinventioninHerodotusandonHerodotus'useof'typicalnumbers'.Somecomparativematerialfromotherauthors,mainlyancientbutalsomedieval,isadduced.Ashortconcludingchaptersketchessomeofthewiderimplicationsoftheviewadoptedinthisstudy.InthisEnglishedition,translatedbyJ.G.Howieinclosecollaborationwiththeauthor,numeroussmallrevisionsandafewmajoronesareincorporated.Thetranslatorhasaimedatclarityandeaseofcomprehension.Thisbookwillbeofprimaryconcerntoancienthistoriansandhistoriographers;narratologistswillalsofindmuchinittointerestthem.