The Histories by Herodotus - 0 - Introduction
Introduction
Quote
"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."
Notes
- Herodotus, the 'father of history', lived from about 485 BC to 420 BC. That's about 2500 years ago.
- His book, The Histories, is about the Persian Wars between the Greeks and the Persian empire. It also covers a lot of background and lead up to the wars, including lots of cultural details of various ancient cities and peoples living around that time.
- It is arguably the first history book ever written, at least in the Western tradition, since it was written with the aim to record what really happened, and not just propagandize on behalf of some emperor or king.
Thoughts
Usually the first thing you hear about Herodotus is that he is the "father of history." It was Cicero, the Roman senator, who first called him that. Although in the same breath Cicero also said that "there are countless fabulous tales in Herodotus," meaning tales that are probably not true.
Herodotus seems to have that reputation, since he includes some pretty far out stuff in his Histories. But he's also one of the first ever to make an effort to write down - and preserve for all time (well over 2000 years now) - what really happened.
The version I'll be reading here is the Oxford World's Classics version, translated by Robin Waterfield and published in 2008.