Herodotus

Herodotus
The 5th-century bc Greek historian Herodotus provided information about ancient Greece, North Africa, and the
Middle East. Herodotus traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean world, observing the different peoples
he encountered and studying the military history of the region. Known as the father of history, Herodotus
produced a narrative compilation of his findings, entitled History.
Hulton Deutsch
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Herodotus (484?-425 BC), Greek historian, known as the father of history, born in Halicarnassus (now Bodrum,
Turkey). He is believed to have been exiled from Halicarnassus about 457 BC for conspiring against Persian rule. He
probably went directly to Sámos, from which he traveled throughout Asia Minor, Babylonia, Egypt, and Greece.
The direction and extent of his travels are not precisely known, but they provided him with valuable firsthand
knowledge of virtually the entire ancient Middle East. About 447 BC he went to Athens, then the center and focus
of culture in the Greek world, where he won the admiration of the most illustrious men of Greece, including the
great Athenian statesman Pericles. In 443 BC Herodotus settled in the Panhellenic colony of Thurii in southern Italy.
He devoted the remainder of his life to the completion of his great work, entitled History, the Greek word for
“inquiry.”

The History has been divided by later authors into nine parts. The earlier books deal with the customs, legends,
history, and traditions of the peoples of the ancient world, including the Lydians, Scythians, Medes, Persians,
Assyrians, and Egyptians. The last three books describe the armed conflicts between Greece and Persia in the early
5th century BC. In the History the development of civilization moves inexorably toward a great confrontation
between Persia and Greece, which are presented as the centers, respectively, of Eastern and Western culture.
Herodotus's information was derived in part from the work of predecessors, but it was widely supplemented with
knowledge that he had gained from his own extensive travels. Although he was sometimes inaccurate, he was
generally careful to separate plausible reports from implausible ones.

The History may be the first known creative work to be written in prose. Both ancient and modern critics have paid
tribute to its grandeur of design and to its frank, lucid, and delightfully anecdotal style. Herodotus demonstrates a
wide knowledge of Greek literature and contemporary rational thought. The universe, he believed, is ruled by Fate
and Chance, and nothing is stable in human affairs. Moral choice is still important, however, since the gods punish
the arrogant. This attempt to draw moral lessons from the study of great events formed the basis of the Greek and
Roman historiographical tradition, of which Herodotus is rightly regarded as the founder.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.