The Herodotus encyclopedia: a grand edition to the anniversary of the “father of history”

In 2021 the Wiley Blackwell Publishing turned out a huge (three monumental volumes, over 1,700 pages) encyclopedia devoted to the historian Herodotus and everything related to him: Ch. Baron (ed.) The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 (A-D). Vol. 2 (E-O). Vol. 3 (P-Z). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2021. LII+XXXII+XXXII, 1653 p. ISBN 9781118689646 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119113539 (adobe pdf). This grand edition was compiled to commemorate the 2,500th birthday of the “Father of History”. The work brought together over 180 scholars from dozens of academic centers from 18 counties. The head of the writing team, Christopher Baron, strove to make “The Herodotus Encyclopedia” represent the entire contemporary state of the Herodotus studies. The book encompasses a broad range of subjects: every anthroponym, ethnonym, toponym, hydronym mentioned in the work of the Father of History is dealt with in a separate entry. Of special interest are conceptual, controversial entries related to various theoretical and methodological aspects of Herodotus’ work. The authors of the review decided against focusing on purely informational entries (which constitute the bulk, similar to every encyclopedia), but concentrated on the conceptual ones, they also made a number of critical remarks, since even the best works cannot be devoid of flaws. The work compiled to commemorate the grand jubilee of the “Father of History” is undoubtedly comprehensive and useful, and in spite of some minor flaws of the edition, this project of vast dimensions cannot help but impress.