This beautiful children's book retells the stories of the ancient world and brings history to life.

Herodotus wrote the first history book in the world. That is why he is sometimes called the ‘Father of History’. He lived about 2,500 years ago, and was born at a place called Halicarnassus in Asia Minor. Here his stories are retold so that future generations can benefit from their wisdom and cultural richness.

Herodotus was a keen traveller who went all over the ancient world and was interested in everything he saw and heard. When he came back from his travels he went to Athens in Greece and gave lectures about the places he had visited. Finally he decided to write a book about them. In the later part of his life he went to Italy where he did more work on his book and finally died there in 425 BC. King Leonidas of Sparta and the Battle of Thermopylae, made famous by the blockbuster movie 300, began with Herodotus' stories.

Retold to be accessible for children, these stories will delight readers of all ages. This book is appropriate to support the curriculum of Key Stage 2.

Lorna Oakes
was a lecturer in Egyptology at Birkbeck College. As a Specialist Assistant in the Education Service of the British Museum, Lorna has also delivered numerous lectures on ancient Egypt and the Near East in the museum's public gallery talks programme. For almost thirty years she has led small group study tours to Egypt, Syria, China and Tibet.

CONTENTS
PART ONE
KING CROESUS OF LYDIA
The story of Croesus and Solon
Croesus’ dream
Croesus and the Oracle at Delphi
The battle for Sardis
Croesus and Cyrus
PART TWO
The Story of Cyrus
PART THREE
HERODOTUS IN EGYPT
Cheops and the Great Pyramid
How Psammeticus became king
Arpies and Amasis
PART FOUR
GREEKS AND PERSIANS
Polycrates, ruler of Samos
Democedes, the famous doctor of Crotona
Darius and the Greeks
Xerxes and the ghost
Xerxes’ invasion of Greece
Leonidas and the battle for Thermopylae
The battle for Athens