Herodotus and the Birth of Freedom: Liberty in Ancient Greece and Persia (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781399558914)

Herodotus and the Birth of Freedom examines Herodotus' presentation of Persia in the History, arguing that Herodotus considered the Persians to be free rather than slaves and the Persian monarchs to be legitimate kings rather than oppressive tyrants. Matthew K. Reising offers a new interpretation of the History, supported by a variety of textual and archaeological case studies, drawing on research and secondary literature from across a range of disciplines, including comparative political theory, ancient Near Eastern studies, intellectual history and reception studies.

After making the case that Herodotus considered the Persians to be politically free, this book offers a comparative analysis of the diverging conceptions of freedom found in Greece, Persian, Babylonian and Egyptian sources, and argues that the comparison helps us to clarify the relationship of freedom to constitutional self-government, institutional accountability, political participation and civic equality.

Author: Matthew K. Reising
ISBN-10: 1399558919
ISBN-13: 9781399558914
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Language: English
Published: 07/31/2026
Pages: 216
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.06lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.56d