Herodotus, The Histories

Herodotus (c. 484–426 BC) was a Greek historian, traveller, and writer from Halicarnassus in Asia Minor. He is considered the “Father of History” because he was among the first to attempt not only to describe events but also to investigate their causes and verify accounts provided by different witnesses. His most important and only preserved work, The Histories, consists of nine books presenting the history of the Greco-Persian Wars as well as descriptions of the geography, culture, and customs of many ancient peoples.

He came from a wealthy family and was related to the poet Panyassis, who probably influenced his literary and historical interests. As a result of political conflicts in his native city, he was forced into exile and spent time, among other places, on the island of Samos. Later, he travelled to Athens, where he established contacts with important figures of cultural and political life, such as Pericles and Sophocles. Eventually, he settled in the colony of Thurii in southern Italy, where he probably spent the final years of his life.

Herodotus undertook numerous journeys that had a profound influence on his writings. He visited, among other places, Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Macedonia, and the regions around the Black Sea. During his travels, he gathered information, spoke to inhabitants and priests, and observed the customs of various peoples. Unlike earlier authors, he did not merely repeat legends but attempted to verify information and question its reliability.

His works were of enormous importance for the development of historiography and research into the ancient world.

The Histories were written in the Ionic dialect. The division into nine books (named after the Muses) is a work of Alexandrian grammarians and arbitrarily divides the flow of the narrative. Originally, the author probably published each book separately. Although the immediate inspiration for writing the work was the Greek struggle against Persia, Herodotus viewed these wars as a clash between Hellas and the entire barbarian East. The first four books describe the history of the Persian Empire, while the remaining five ones focus on the armed conflict. Herodotus based his work on his own observations, oral traditions of various peoples, and earlier literary texts. He frequently presented several versions of the same event, leaving the reader the possibility of choosing between them. Oracles and divine signs play an important role in his work, and human history is governed by divine laws that punish excessive success with downfall.