The foundational work of Western historiography by Herodotus; narrates the Greco-Persian Wars, especially the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea; embeds the military history in an expansive ethnographic and geographical survey of the known world from Scythia to Egypt, Persia to India.
The first systematic work of prose history in the Western tradition; established narrative history as a genre and introduced comparative ethnography, the use of oral sources, and critical inquiry into causation; Cicero called Herodotus 'the father of history'; his cultural relativism and wonder at human diversity remain influential.
Discussing
Ask anything about Histories — their ideas, influences, contradictions, legacy.
Sign in to start a conversation.