Abstract
‘Herodotus as storyteller’ explains how The Histories is made up of self-contained tales, most of which are microcosms of the larger text and offer guideposts as to how to read it. Slowing down the pace of our journey, these stories enable us to pause and zoom in on one corner of Herodotus's world to gain an enhanced understanding of the big picture and how we might approach Herodotus's account of it. Since the greatest attempt at destabilizing equilibrium in the world of The Histories was Persian aggression, it is not surprising that Herodotus includes several stories on the theme of underdogs whose cunning saved them from being overmastered by the more powerful.
