Things I didn’t know about Herodotus and his Histories:

• The title, Histories, is more correctly translated as “Enquiries”, which better describes its wandering, inquisitive, 2,500 year-old narrative.
• Herodotus was the first narrator to attempt to show both sides of the argument.
• Recent archaeological finds have proved correct some of his famously outlandish claims.

In this talk, from the 2014 Hay Festival, Tom Holland discusses his translation of Herodotus’ classic. It’s a worthwhile Weekend Watch:

But, if time is short, try this five minute animation from TED Ed (you still get the gold-mining, giant ants):