What was Herodotus most important work?
Sometime around the year 425 B.C., Herodotus published his magnum opus: a long account of the Greco-Persian Wars that he called “The Histories.” (The Greek word “historie” means “inquiry.”) Before Herodotus, no writer had ever made such a systematic, thorough study of the past or tried to explain the cause-and-effect ...
Why Herodotus is known as father of history?
Because he wrote a book. Because he inquired about the Greco-Persian wars. Because he was the first historian to systematically record the events that happened.
What did Herodotus invent?
Herodotus (c. 484 – 425/413 BCE) was a Greek writer who invented the field of study known today as `history'.
Who is called the father of history?
HerodotusHerodotus has been called the “father of history.” An engaging narrator with a deep interest in the customs of the people he described, he remains the leading source of original historical information not only for Greece between 550 and 479 BCE but also for much of western Asia and Egypt at that time.
Who is the greatest historian of all time?
Description— Henry Adams. (1838-1918) Collected works: 12+ ... — 170. Edward Gibbon. (1737-1794) ... — 213. Henry Buckle. (1821-1862) ... — 249. Herodotus. (484-425BC) ... — 349. Oswald Spengler. (1880-1936) ... — 527. Bede. (672-735) ... — 569. Thucydides. (460-395BC) ... — 611. Livy. (59BC-17AD)More items...
Who used history word first?
Herodotus , the great historian of the 5th century B.
Who wrote library of history?
Diodorus SiculusBibliotheca historica / AuthorDiodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily, was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history Bibliotheca historica, in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, between 60 and 30 BC. The history is arranged in three parts. Wikipedia
What is significant about Herodotus quizlet?
Herodotus is considered the "Father of History" in the Western world because he went beyond listing names of rulers or retelling of ancient legends. He traveled to many lands collecting information from people who remembered the actual events he recorded.
Why was Herodotus important to history?
Herodotus is undoubtedly the “Father of History.” Born in Halicarnassus in Ionia in the 5th century B.C., he wrote “The Histories.” In this text are found his “inquiries” which later became to modern scholars to mean “facts of history.” He is best known for recounting, very objectively, the Greco-Persian wars of the ...
What is significant about Herodotus Histories?
Herodotus Told Stories Many Had Ever Heard Before In The Histories, Herodotus focused on the Greco-Persian wars, examining the way society changed before, during and after the cataclysmic conflicts between Greece and Persia that took place.
What wars did Herodotus write about?
Herodotus wrote about the wars between Persia and Greece. Thucydides wrote about the civil war between Athens and Sparta. Together these ancient Greek writers became the first true historians in Western civilization.
Why is Herodotus important?
Herodotus has been called the “father of history.” An engaging narrator with a deep interest in the customs of the people he described, he remains...
What did Herodotus write?
Herodotus’s History is an account of the Greco-Persian Wars (499–479 BCE) and the story of the growth and organization of the Persian empire. Herod...
What did Herodotus do?
In addition to writing, Herodotus traveled widely, visiting a large part of the Persian empire: he went to Egypt, Libya, Syria, Babylonia, Susa in...
Is Herodotus’s History accurate?
Herodotus was not one to resist a good story, and he has developed a reputation for credulity. However, he did not endorse everything he reported....
What is Herodotus interested in?
Herodotus moves fluidly through his work from culture to culture & is always most interested in telling a good story.
Where was Herodotus born?
Scholar Robin Waterfield comments on Herodotus' early life: Herodotus was not a native of Athens. He was born in Halicarnassus ( the modern Turkish city of Bodrum), about the time of the Persian Wars.
How does Herodotus bring a reader into the events of the stories he relates?
Herodotus is able to bring a reader into the events of the stories he relates by creating vivid scenes with interesting characters and, sometimes, even dialogue. He was hardly an impartial observer of the world he wrote about and often gives personal opinions at length on various people, customs, and events.
Why did Herodotus refuse to read his book to the crowd?
Herodotus once refused to read his book to A crowd until there was ample cloud cover to shade him on the platform.
Does Herodotus have personality?
Herodotus' personality, in fact, comes through quite often in the pages of his works. A reader understands that one is hearing from an individual with certain tastes and interests and that the author considers that what he has to say is important enough to require no explanation, qualification, or apology for perceived inaccuracy; if Herodotus felt like including something, he would include it and he never seems to care if readers found fault with that.
Who is the father of history?
Definition. Herodotus (c. 484 – 425/413 BCE) was a Greek writer who invented the field of study known today as `history'. He was called `The Father of History' by the Roman writer and orator Cicero for his famous work The Histories but has also been called “The Father of Lies” by critics who claim these `histories' are little more than tall tales.
Is Herodotus's account of the world accurate?
While it is true that Herodotus sometimes relays inaccurate information or exagger ates for effect , his accounts have consistently been found to be more or less reliable. Early criticism of his work has been refuted by later archaeological evidence which proves that his most-often criticized claims were, in fact, accurate or, at least, based on accepted information of the time. In the present day, Herodotus continues to be recognized as The Father of History and a reliable source of information on the ancient world by the majority of historians.
Who is Herodotus?
430–420), Greek author of the first great narrative history produced in the ancient world, the History of the Greco-Persian Wars. Top Questions.
What was Herodotus' duty?
He believed that his duty was to record the traditions of various peoples, no matter how dubious. Despite mistakes, Herodotus is an invaluable source of information about the Greco-Persian Wars. Scholars believe that Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus, a Greek city in southwest Asia Minor that was then under Persian rule.
What book describes the Persian advance into Greece proper?
Book V describes further Persian advances into Greece proper from the Hellespont and the submission of Thrace and Macedonia and many more Greek cities to Persian might, then the beginning of the revolt of the Greek cities of Ionia against Persia in 499, and so to the main subject of the whole work.
Where did Herodotus travel?
In addition to writing, Herodotus traveled widely, visiting a large part of the Persian empire: he went to Egypt, Libya , Syria , Babylonia , Susa in Elam , Lydia, and Phrygia. He journeyed up the Hellespont to Byzantium, visited Thrace and Macedonia, and traveled beyond the Danube to Scythia and as far as the Don River.
Where did Sophocles live?
He is thought to have resided in Athens and to have met Sophocles and then to have left for Thurii, a new colony in southern Italy sponsored by Athens . The latest event alluded to in his History belongs to 430, but how soon after or where he died is not known.
Who is the father of history?
Herodotus has been called the “father of history .”. An engaging narrator with a deep interest in the customs of the people he described, he remains the leading source of original historical information not only for Greece between 550 and 479 BCE but also for much of western Asia and Egypt at that time.
Did Herodotus plan the Persian invasion?
One likely opinion is that Herodotus began with a plan for the history of the war and that later he decided on a description of the Persian Empire itself. For a man like Herodotus was bound to ask himself what the Persian-led invasion force meant. Herodotus was deeply impressed not only by the great size of the Persian Empire but also by the varied and polyglot nature of its army, which was yet united in a single command, in complete contrast to the Greek forces with their political divisions and disputatious commanders, although the Greeks shared a common language, religion, and way of thought and the same feeling about what they were fighting for. This difference had to be explained to his readers, and to this end he describes the empire.
Who was Herodotus?
484 – c. 425 BC) was an ancient Greek writer, geographer and historian born in the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey ). He is known for having written the Histories – a detailed account of the Greco-Persian Wars. Herodotus was the first writer to do systematic investigation of historical events. He is referred to as " The Father of History ", a title conferred on him by the ancient Roman orator Cicero.
How did Herodotus make his research known to the world?
Herodotus would have made his researches known to the larger world through oral recitations to a public crowd. John Marincola writes in his introduction to the Penguin edition of The Histories that there are certain identifiable pieces in the early books of Herodotus's work which could be labeled as "performance pieces." These portions of the research seem independent and "almost detachable," so that they might have been set aside by the author for the purposes of an oral performance. The intellectual matrix of the 5th century, Marincola suggests, comprised many oral performances in which philosophers would dramatically recite such detachable pieces of their work. The idea was to criticize previous arguments on a topic and emphatically and enthusiastically insert their own in order to win over the audience.
Why was Herodotus criticized?
Herodotus has been criticized for his inclusion of "legends and fanciful accounts" in his work . Authors such as fellow Ancient Greek historian Thucydides have accused him of making up stories for entertainment purposes. In response, Herodotus has explained that he reported what he "saw and [what was] told to him.".
When was Herodotus born?
Modern accounts of his life typically go something like this: Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus around 485 BC. There is no reason to disbelieve the Suda 's information about his family: that it was influential and that he was the son of Lyxes and Dryo, and the brother of Theodorus, and that he was also related to Panyassis – an epic poet of the time.
What island did Herodotus live on?
Herodotus expresses affection for the island of Samos (III, 39–60), and this is an indication that he might have lived there in his youth. So it is possible that his family was involved in an uprising against Lygdamis, leading to a period of exile on Samos and followed by some personal hand in the tyrant's eventual fall.
Why did Herodotus get a reward?
According to Eusebius and Plutarch, Herodotus was granted a financial reward by the Athenian assembly in recognition of his work.
Where is Thucydides buried?
Such at least was the opinion of Marcellinus in his Life of Thucydides. According to the Suda, he was buried in Macedonian Pella and in the agora in Thurium.
What did Herodotus use to describe his work?
The word Herodotus used to describe his work was "historia, " which, in time, came to mean history as we understand it today. "Herodotus investigates the causes of past events and offers a narrative of them," Baron said. "However, Herodotus was interested in much more than just political and military narrative. He gives lengthy descriptions of the social and religious customs of other peoples ("ethnography"), of man-made wonders (for instance, the walls of Babylon and the pyramids in Egypt) and of the natural world (the causes of the annual flooding of the Nile)."
Where was Herodotus from?
Herodotus may have had some Carian ancestry as well as Greek, according to Christopher Baron, a professor of classics at the University of Notre Dame. "Perhaps this mixed heritage was one of the things that inspired his curiosity about the world," Baron told All About History magazine in an email.
Why did Herodotus write "Histories"?
It is the world's first known historical narrative, which describes several historical events , including the Ionian Revolt (499 B.C.), as well as the nomadic Scythian horsemen from Eurasia.
What wars did Herodotus write about?
Much of Herodotus' writing about the Greek and Persian wars is dramatic and engaging. Some of the more famous stories in "Histories" include the running Athenian hoplites at the Battle of Marathon (490 B.C.) and the last stand of the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae (480 B.C.). Herodotus' records are the earliest accounts of these events.
What is the most notable feature of Herodotus' writing?
One notable feature of Herodotus' writing is that it explores many different stories away from the main subject of "Histories." "Reading Herodotus requires patience," Baron said. "Some readers feel like he takes too long to get to the point. But most scholars today would agree that those frequent digressions do have a point, in that all that background information helps explain what happened (in addition to being highly entertaining)."
What is all about history?
All About History is the only history magazine that is as entertaining as it is educational. Bringing History to life for readers of all ages.
Where is the Relief of Immortals?
Relief of Immortals, in the Apadana Palace, Iran. Herodotus describes the infamous Persian soldiers in "Histories." (Image credit: Vivienne Sharp/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
What is Herodotus's most important work?
Major Works. Herodotus’ ‘The Histories’ is now considered the founding work of history in Western literature. The seminal work is a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that were known in Western Asia, Northern Africa and Greece at that time.
Where was Herodotus born?
Not much is known about Herodotus' life. Scholars often turn to his own writing for information about his life. He is believed to have been born at Halicarnassus around 484 BC.
Where did the Alcmaeonids move to?
So he migrated to Periclean Athens, a city known for its democratic institutions, in 447 BC. There he became acquainted with leading citizens such as the Alcmaeonids clan. He soon became a respected citizen in the region and was granted a financial reward by the Athenian assembly in recognition of his work.
How many books are in the Histories?
His seminal work covers the wars between Greece and Persia (499–479 BC) and their preliminaries. ‘The Histories’ is divided into nine books, each describing a different aspect of the wars.
What is the first narrative history?
Even though he is known to have produced only one work, ‘The Histories’ , a record of his "inquiry" on the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars, this single work is regarded as the first great narrative history produced in the ancient world.
When did Herodotus travel?
Herodotus probably began travelling as a young man. He went to Egypt sometime after 454 BC or possibly earlier. According to his eye-witness accounts, he might have been associated with Athenians.
Who is the father of history?
Herodotus was a Greek historian widely referred to as 'The Father of History'. He lived in the fifth century BC and was a contemporary of Socrates. A major figure in Greek history, he was the first historian known to have broken from Homeric tradition to treat historical subjects as a method of investigation.
Travels
Herodotus had to rely on observation, traditional lore, his opinion, and the testimony of others regarding the "totally real" events that happened to document. To collect his information, Herodotus traveled widely. He grew up in the Greek colony of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, southern Turkey) and visited much of Greece.
Accuracy
Regarding the lands he visited with his legs and the things he saw with his eyes, his knowledge is considered accurate... His descriptions of practices unknown in Greece—such as those used in Scythian royal burials or Egyptian mummification —correspond somewhat to what archaeologists have discovered...ish.
What does Herodotus say in his introduction?
He explicitly states in his introduction that he wishes to preserve the events in order for the Greeks and the barbarians to receive their due. Filled with digressions and seemingly insignificant tales such as that of Kleobis and Biton, Herodotus includes a complete story with as much information as he can gather.
Who is the father of history?
Herodotus is undoubtedly the “Father of History.”. Born in Halicarnassus in Ionia in the 5th century B.C., he wrote “The Histories.”. In this text are found his “inquiries” which later became to modern scholars to mean “facts of history.”. He is best known for recounting, very objectively, the Greco-Persian wars of the late 5th century.
What did Herodotus develop?
Herodotus developed what Aristotle later called a “strung-along style," which reflects the way in which he constructed his inquiry. Herodotus recorded multiple sources and thus had to work to prove his knowledge; this explains why we get a string of stories, arguments, analogies, and eyewitness accounts.
What are the books Herodotus explores?
If, however, you are more interested in the world that Herodotus explores, then you need to look at different parts of his work. In Book 1, you can find out about the rise of the Persian Empire, while Books 2 and 3 give fascinating details about the history and customs of ancient Egypt.
How did Herodotus create his story?
Herodotus’s work is big, so you need to decide what you want to discover from it! Herodotus created “history” by establishing an overarching narrative with a clear aim in mind. He put together small stories to create a big story, building to a significant climax. Herodotus developed what Aristotle later called a “strung-along style," which reflects the way in which he constructed his inquiry. Herodotus recorded multiple sources and thus had to work to prove his knowledge; this explains why we get a string of stories, arguments, analogies, and eyewitness accounts. For a deeper explanation of Herodotus’s methods, read this article: http://www.historytoday.com/paul-cartledge/herodotus-historian-all-time
When did the writing of history begin?
About 2500 years ago , the writing of history as we understand it didn’t really exist. Then, a man called Herodotus witnessed the Persian invasions of Greece and decided to find out why they happened. Mark Robinson investigates how the idea of "history" came into being.
Overview
Place in history
Herodotus announced the purpose and scope of his work at the beginning of his Histories:
Here are presented the results of the inquiry carried out by Herodotus of Halicarnassus. The purpose is to prevent the traces of human events from being erased by time, and to preserve the fame of the important and remarkable achievements produced by both Greeks and non-Greeks; among the matters covered is, in particular, the cause of the hostilities between Greeks and non …
Life
Modern scholars generally turn to Herodotus's own writing for reliable information about his life, supplemented with ancient yet much later sources, such as the Byzantine Suda, an 11th-century encyclopedia which possibly took its information from traditional accounts. Still, the challenge is great:
The data are so few – they rest upon such late and slight authority; they are s…
See also
• Al-Masudi, known as the Herodotus of the Arabs
• Herodotus Machine
• Historiography (the history of history and historians)
• Life of Homer (Pseudo-Herodotus)
Critical editions
• C. Hude (ed.) Herodoti Historiae. Tomvs prior: Libros I–IV continens. (Oxford 1908)
• C. Hude (ed.) Herodoti Historiae. Tomvs alter: Libri V–IX continens. (Oxford 1908)
• H. B. Rosén (ed.) Herodoti Historiae. Vol. I: Libros I–IV continens. (Leipzig 1987)
Translations
Several English translations of The Histories of Herodotus are readily available in multiple editions. The most readily available are those translated by:
• Henry Cary (judge), translation 1849: text Internet Archive
• George Rawlinson, translation 1858–1860. Public domain; many editions available, although Everyman Library and Wordsworth Classics editions are the most common ones still in print.
Further reading
• Bakker, Egbert J.; de Jong, Irene J.F.; van Wees, Hans, eds. (2002). Brill's companion to Herodotus. Leiden: E.J. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-12060-0.
• Baragwanath, Emily (2010). Motivation and Narrative in Herodotus. Oxford Classical Monographs. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-964550-3.
External links
• Herodotus on the Web
• Herodotus of Halicarnassus Archived 1 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine at Livius.org
• "Herodotus" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 381–384.
• Mendelsohn, Daniel (28 April 2008). "Arms and the Man". The New Yorker. Retrieved 27 April 2008.
• Works by Herodotus at Project Gutenberg