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Biography of Herodotus
This ancient Greek historian lived from about 484 to 425 BC. With the light hand of Cicero, he received the honorary nickname – “Father of History”. The main treatise that glorified Herodotus is called History.
It tells about the Greco-Persian wars and events from the life of many peoples of the “Old World”. The works of Herodotus were of great importance for the people of the era of Antiquity, as the most detailed collection of information about the world surrounding Hellas. Today they are among the most important written sources for ancient history.
We know about Herodotus himself mainly from two sources. From his own texts, in which he describes his travels and from the encyclopedia “Souda” (Svida), compiled at the turn of the X-XI centuries AD by unknown Byzantine authors.
The birthplace of Herodotus was the city of Halicarnassus. Herodotus belonged to a wealthy and influential family. He was involved in politics and joined the party that fought against the tyrant Ligdamid. This political activity led to the expulsion of Herodotus from his hometown.
He traveled a lot, visiting many countries. Around 446 BC, he settled in Athens and became one of the friends and associates of their then democratic ruler Pericles.
Two years later, Herodotus takes an active part in the creation of the Athenian colony of Furia on the territory of modern Calabria in southern Italy. Died in 425 BC NS.
Works of Herodotus
The works of the “Father of History”, of course, cannot fully meet all the requirements for historical works today. At that time, these requirements were not yet developed. The ancient Greeks did not consider history as a science at all, they perceived it as art.
Herodotus, nevertheless, is a very talented and gifted author, endowed with great curiosity and sociability, who saw, heard and read a lot. He fascinatingly tells the reader about all the information that he managed to collect in travels, in the books he read and from the stories of other people.
Some fragments of “History” in content are close to an encyclopedia with detailed information about a particular area, touching on a wide range of different topics.
The beginning of the treatise tells about the history of the birth and prosperity of the Persian state, about the peoples and lands gradually included in the orbit of its influence and about the neighboring countries such as Scythia, Libya and Arabia.
Map of Herodotus
From the very beginning, the narrative is held together by a certain common plot. This is the author’s intention to tell readers about the origins and causes of the conflict between the inhabitants of Hellas and the Asian barbarians.
Moreover, the historian does not easily take on faith everything that someone once told him. He subjects the information he has collected to his skeptical assessment, trying to determine the degree of their reliability.
However, not possessing the techniques of modern critical analysis, he predominantly uses naive rationalism in his reasoning. And nevertheless, it allows the reader to form his own judgment about the validity of the information presented.
Herodotus was one of the first thinkers to take serious steps towards the application of the method of historical criticism. He rightfully deserves the title of “Father of History”.
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