Herodotus
Herodotus (484 B.C. – 425 B.C.)
•
Herodotus was born in
Halicarnarssus. Which is a Greek
colony on the coast of Asia Minor
around 485 B.C.
• He was called the “father of
history”. This was because his
history of the Persian War was the
first narrative in the form that later
came out be considered written
history.
• Herodotus was one of the first to
disregard that supernatural in his
writing.
• He was the first writer who tried to
write what happened in the past.
A statue of Herodotus
Travels
• The colonies were freed from the Persian yoke, he left his home
and traveled to Asia Minor, Greece, Macdedonia, Thrace, the
coasts of the Black Sea, Persia, and Egypt.
• The colony of Thurii was founded by Athens on the Tarentine
Gulf, and Herodotus joined it in 443 B.C.
• During the travel he collected historical, geographical,
ethnological and archeological material for his History.
Fame
• Herodotus’ fame has endured
as the first constructive artist in
the field of historical
scholarship.
• He was the first writer to imply
that the task of the historian is
to reconstruct the whole past
life of man.
• The scholarship included,
author of the earliest
comprehensive historical work.
A book about
Herodotus
Halicarnassus in the Persian War
A book with information
about Herodotus and the
Persian War
• Lyxes, the father of Herodotus, was
probably from Caria, in Asia Minor. So
was the female despot in Halicarnassus,
Artemisia, who joined Xerxes in his
expedition against Greece in the Persian
Wars.
• Following victories over the Persians by
the mainland Greeks, Halicarnassus
rebelled against foreign rulers.
• In consequence of his part in rebellious
actions, Herodotus was sent into exile to
the Ionian island of Samos (home of
Pythagoras), but then returned to
Halicarnassus around 454 to take part in
the overthrow of Artemisia’s son,
Lygdamis.
Occupation
• Celebrating the Greek victory over the Persians,
Herodotus’ Histories were written in the mid-fifth
century B.C.
• Herodotus wanted to present as much information
about the Persian War as he could.
• He included information on the entire Persian
Empire, and simultaneously explains the orgins
(aitia) of the conflict, by reference to mythological
prehistory.
• Herodotus’ history was an advance over the previous
writers of quasihistory, who are known as
logographers