The Beginnings of History: Herodotus and the Persian Wars James Allan Evans The Beginnings of History collects and updates the major work of this distinguished scholar, on the subject for which he is particularly noted: the ancient historian of the Persian Wars, Herodotus of Halicarnassus. Creating more than a collection of his articles, Evans prefaces each of the chapters in this book with a commentary bringing up to date the state of knowledge and discussion of the topic dealt with, making this work an invaluable tool for the study of Herodotus. The topics range over military history, the date of Herodotus' writing, the historian's methodology, important Greeks and Persians of the time of the Persian Wars and beyond, to create a broad understanding of both the Greek writer and the Persian Wars themselves. In addition to these articles, Evans presents here a hitherto unpublished work on the French historian of the Iroquois in Canada, Joseph Francois Lafitau, who patterned his account ot those native inhabitants of Canada on the historiographic and ethnographic writing of Herodotus. James Allan Evans, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Canada, is the author of many books and articles on Greek and Roman history, including the Emperor Justinian and the Byzantine Empire, The Age of Justinian: The Circumstances of Imperial Power, and Herodotus, Explorer of the Past: Three Essays. He taught for many years at McMaster University and the University of British Columbia, and after retirement he was Visiting Professor of History at the University of Seattle and Whitehead Visiting Professor at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. He currently resides on Mayne Island, British Columbia.