Herodotus
Ostensible bust of Herodotus
Born	c. 484 BC Halicarnassus, Ancient Greece
Died	c. 425 BC Thurii, Macedon or Pella, Macedon
Occupation	Historian

Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Ἡρόδοτος Ἁλικαρνᾱσσεύς Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (c. 484 BC–c. 425 BC) and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure depicting a person's head and Neck, as well as a variable portion of Circa (often abbreviated c, ca, ca or cca and sometimes Italicized to show it is Latin) means "about" Halicarnassus (Άλικαρνᾱσσός &mdash Halikarnassós or Ἁλικαρνασσός &mdash Alikarnassós Halikarnas modern The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Circa (often abbreviated c, ca, ca or cca and sometimes Italicized to show it is Latin) means "about" Thurii &ndash Greek:, called also by some Latin writers and by Ptolemy, Thurium ( Ptol Macedon or Macedonia ( Greek grc Μακεδονία grc-Latn Makedonía) was the name of a kingdom centered in the northern-most Pella (Πέλλα was the Capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedon. Macedon or Macedonia ( Greek grc Μακεδονία grc-Latn Makedonía) was the name of a kingdom centered in the northern-most Halicarnassus (Άλικαρνᾱσσός &mdash Halikarnassós or Ἁλικαρνασσός &mdash Alikarnassós Halikarnas modern The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c The Greeks ( Greek: Έλληνες) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it The 5th century BC started the first day of 500 BC and ended the last day of 401 BC. Circa (often abbreviated c, ca, ca or cca and sometimes Italicized to show it is Latin) means "about" Events By place Persian Empire Xerxes I quells the Egyptian revolt against Persian rule Circa (often abbreviated c, ca, ca or cca and sometimes Italicized to show it is Latin) means "about" Events By place Persian Empire Artaxerxes I, Achaemenid king of Persia, is succeeded by his son Xerxes II History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology He was the first historian to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative. ^[1] He is almost exclusively known for writing The Histories, a record of his "inquiries" (or ἱστορίαι, a word that passed into Latin and took on its modern connotation of history) into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars which occurred in 490 and 480-479 BC—especially since he includes a narrative account of that period, which would otherwise be poorly documented, and many long digressions concerning the various places and peoples he encountered during wide-ranging travels around the lands of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology Events By place Greece Darius I sends an expedition under Artaphernes and Datis the Mede across Events By place Greece May — King Xerxes I of Persia marches from Sardis and onto Thrace Events By place Greece The Persian commander Mardonius, now based in Thessaly, wins support The Black Sea is an inland Sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula ( Turkey Although some of his stories are not completely accurate, he states that he is only reporting what has been told him, and here displays an honesty lacking in many historians.

Biography

Much of what is known of Herodotus's life has been gathered from his own work. Additional details have been garnered from the Suda, an 11th-century encyclopaedia of the Byzantium. The Suda or Souda ( also, Suidas) is a massive 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean This article is about the city See also Byzantine Empire. Byzantium ( Greek: Βυζάντιον Latin: la BYZANTIVM It seems likely that the Suda took its information from traditional accounts. It holds that he was born in Halicarnassus, 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. Halicarnassus (Άλικαρνᾱσσός &mdash Halikarnassós or Ἁλικαρνασσός &mdash Alikarnassós Halikarnas modern According to this account, after being exiled from Halicarnassus by the tyrant Lygdamis, Herodotus went to live on Samos. Samos (Σάμος is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off Later returning to Halicarnassus, Herodotus took part in the removal of Lygdamis from the city. The traditional biography includes some time spent in Athens, and has Herodotus joining a Hellenic colony named Thurii in Southern Italy. Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's His death and burial are placed either at Thurii or at Pella, in Macedon. Macedon or Macedonia ( Greek grc Μακεδονία grc-Latn Makedonía) was the name of a kingdom centered in the northern-most

How much of this is correct we do not know. It was common practice in antiquity for the biographies of poets to be drawn from inferences collated from their works. Something similar may have happened in Herodotus's case. His casting as a tyrannicide may simply reflect the pro-freedom attitude that he expresses in the Histories, while the stays at Samos and Athens may have been invented to explain the pro-Samian and pro-Athenian bias that has often been thought to pervade his work. His exile from Halicarnassus may also be fictional: later historians, such as Thucydides and Xenophon, underwent periods of exile, and their fate may have been later retrospectively imposed on Herodotus by later writers. Thucydides ( C 460 BC &ndash C 395 BC) ( Greek Θουκυδίδης Thoukydídēs) was a Greek Xenophon (Ancient Greek, Modern Greek "Ξενοφών" "Ξενοφώντας" ca

Herodotus as historian

Reconstruction of the Oikumene (inhabited world) Ancient Map from Herodotus circa 450 BC

Herodotus provides much information concerning the nature of the world and the status of the sciences during his lifetime. Ecumene (also spelled œcumene or oikoumene) a term originally used in the Greco-Roman world to refer to the inhabited earth (or at least the known He was arguably our first historian, and certainly the first to travel methodically around the known world in a bid to write more accurately, although this still involved second- and third-hand accounts relating to his primary subject, the Persian wars.

He reports, for example, that the annual flooding of the Nile was said to be the result of melting snows far to the south, and comments that he cannot understand how there can be snow in Africa, the hottest part of the known world, offering an elaborate explanation based on the way desert winds affect the passage of the Sun over this part of the world (2:18ff). The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River He also passes on dismissive reports from Phoenician sailors that, while circumnavigating Africa, they "saw the sun on the right side while sailing westwards". Phoenicia ( Phoenician: Phoenician nunsvg|12px|נ]]Phoenician nun Owing to this brief mention, which is put in almost as an afterthought, it has been argued that Africa was indeed circumnavigated by ancient seafarers, for this is precisely where the sun ought to have been.

Herodotus is one of the sources on Croesus and his fabulous treasures of gold and silver, and many stories about his riches. This article refers to the historical King of Lydia For the opera by Reinhard Keiser, see Croesus (opera. Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 Silver (ˈsɪlvɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol " Ag " (argentum from the Ancient Greek: ἀργήντος - argēntos gen

Written between 431 and 425 BC, The Histories were divided by later editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses (the "Muse of History", Clio, represented the first book). Events By place Greece Athens enters into an alliance with King Sitalkes of Thrace, after Nymphodorus an influential Athenian Events By place Persian Empire Artaxerxes I, Achaemenid king of Persia, is succeeded by his son Xerxes II In Greek mythology, the Muses ( Ancient Greek, hai moũsai: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root * men- "think" are CLIO is the Cryogenic Laser Interferometer Observatory, a prototype detector for gravitational waves His accounts of India are among the oldest records of Indian civilzation by an outsider ^[2]. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country

Opinions

Herodotus's invention earned him the twin titles The Father of History and The Father of Lies. ^[3] As these epithets imply, there has long been a debate—at least from the time of Cicero's On the Laws (Book 1, paragraph 5)—concerning the veracity of his tales and, more importantly, the extent to which he knew himself to be creating fabrications. Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Classical Latin ˈkikeroː usually ˈsɪsərəʊ in English January 3, 106 BC &ndash December 7, 43 BC was a Roman Every manner of argument has surfaced on this subject, from a devious and consciously-fictionalizing Herodotus to a gullible Herodotus whose sources "saw him coming a long way off".

Criticisms of Herodotus

There are many cases in which Herodotus, not certain of the truth of a certain event or unimpressed by the dull "facts" that he received, reported the several most famous accounts of a given subject or process and then wrote what he believed was the most probable. Although The Histories were often criticized in antiquity for bias, inaccuracy and plagiarism—Claudius Aelianus attacked Herodotus as a liar in Verae Historiae and went as far as to deny him a place among the famous on the Island of the Blessed—this methodology has been seen in a more positive light by many modern historians and philosophers, especially those searching for an paradigm of objective historical writing. Aelianus Tacticus, Greek military writer of the 2nd century CE resident at Rome is sometimes confused with Claudius Aelianus Of course, given the sensitivity surrounding the issue, the very foundation of the discipline of history, this has not become a common view; attacks have been made by various scholars in modern times, a few even arguing that Herodotus exaggerated the extent of his travels and invented his sources. ^[4]

Discoveries made since the end of the 19th century have helped greatly to restore Herodotus's reputation. The archaeological study of the now-submerged ancient Egyptian city of Heracleion and recovery of the so-called "Naucratis stela" give extensive credibility to Herodotus's previously unsupported claim that Heracleion was founded under the Egyptian New Kingdom. Heracleion was an ancient Egyptian city near modern day Alexandria. The New Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in Ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and Because of this recent increase in respect for his accuracy, as well as the quality and content of his observations, Herodotus is now recognized as a pioneer not only in history but in ethnography^[5] and anthropology.

Gold-digging ants

Gold dust and nuggets

One of the most recent developments in Herodotus scholarship was made by the French ethnologist Michel Peissel. Michel Peissel (born in Paris in 1937 is a French anthropologist explorer and author who writes in English and speaks fluent Tibetan On his journeys to India and Pakistan, Peissel claims to have discovered an animal species that may finally illuminate one of the most "bizarre" passages in Herodotus's Histories. In Book 3, passages 102 to 105, Herodotus reports that a species of fox-sized, furry "ants" lives in one of the far eastern, Indian provinces of the Persian Empire. This region, he reports, is a sandy desert, and the sand there contains a wealth of fine gold dust. Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 These giant ants, according to Herodotus, would often unearth the gold dust when digging their mounds and tunnels, and the people living in this province would then collect the precious dust. Ants are social Insects of the family Formicidae and along with the related families of Wasps and Bees belong to the order Now, Peissel says that in an isolated region of the Deosai Plateau between India and Pakistan there exists a species of marmot (a type of burrowing squirrel) that may solve the mystery of Herodotus' giant "ants". Marmots are members of the Genus Marmota, in the Rodent family Sciuridae (squirrels A squirrel is one of the many small or medium-sized Rodents in the family Sciuridae. Much like the province that Herodotus describes, the ground of the Deosai Plateau is rich in gold dust. According to Peissel, he interviewed the Minaro tribal people who live in the Deosai Plateau, and they have confirmed that they have, for generations, been collecting the gold dust that the marmots bring to the surface when they are digging their underground burrows. The Brokpa community is an Dardic community residing in the Dha-Hanu valley in Ladakh.

Bobak marmot in central Asia

Even more tantalizing, in his book, "The Ants' Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas", Peissel offers the theory that Herodotus may have become confused because the old Persian word for "marmot" was quite similar to that for "mountain ant". Because research suggests that Herodotus probably did not know any Persian (or any other language except his native Greek), he was forced to rely on a multitude of local translators when travelling in the vast polylingual Persian Empire. Therefore, he may have been the unwitting victim of a simple misunderstanding in translation. (It is also important to realize that Herodotus never claims to have himself seen these "ants/marmot" creatures - he may have been dutifully reporting what other travellers were telling him, no matter how bizarre or unlikely he personally may have found it to be. In an age when most of the world was still mysterious and unknown and before the modern science of biology, the existence of a "giant ant" may not have seemed so far-fetched. ) The suggestion that he completely made up the tale may continue to be thrown into doubt as more research is conducted. ^[6][7]

However, it must be noted that this theory of the marmots fails to take into consideration Herodotus' own follow-up in passage 105 of Book 3, wherein the "ants/marmots" are said to chase and devour full-grown camels; nevertheless, this could also be explained as an example of a tall tale or legend told by the local tribes to frighten foreigners from seeking this relatively easy access to gold dust. On the other hand, all these details of the "ants" are eerily similar to the description of the camel spider (Solifugae), which strictly speaking is not a spider, and is even sometimes called a "wind scorpion". Solifugae is an order of Arachnida containing more than 1000 described Species in about 140 genera. Camel spiders are said to chase camels (they can run up to 10mph), they have lots of hair bristles, and they could quite easily be mistaken for ants given their rather bizarre appearance. And as has been noted by some, on account of the fear factor of encountering one there have been "many myths and exaggerations about their size" ^[8]. Images of camel spiders ^{[9] [10]} could give the impression that this could be mistaken for a giant ant, but certainly not the size of a fox.

See also

• The Histories
• Thucydides, ancient Greek historian who is often said to be also "the father of history"
• Life of Homer (Pseudo-Herodotus), a short biography of Homer that claims falsely to be the work of Herodotus
• Pliny the Elder
• Naturalis Historia

Notes

Translations

• Several English translations of The Histories of Herodotus are readily available in multiple editions. The most readily available are those translated by:
  • C. E. Godley, 1920; revised 1926. Reprinted 1931, 1946, 1960, 1966, 1975, 1981, 1990, 1996, 1999, 2004. Available in four volumes from Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press. Harvard University Press ( HUP) is a Publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in Academic publishing. ISBN 0-674-99130-3 Printed with Greek on the left and English on the right.
  • Aubrey de Sélincourt, originally 1954; revised by John Marincola in 1972. Aubrey de Sélincourt (7 June 1894 – December 1962 was an English writer Classical scholar and translator Several editions from Penguin Books available. Penguin Books is a British Publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane.
  • David Grene, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985. David Grene ( 13 April 1913 - 10 September 2002) was a professor of Classics at the University of Chicago from 1937 until
  • George Rawlinson, translation 1858–1860. Canon George Rawlinson ( 23 November, 1812 &ndash 7 October, 1902) was a 19th century English Scholar and Historian Public domain; many editions available, although Everyman Library and Wordsworth Classics editions are the most common ones still in print. Everyman's Library is a series of reprinted classic literature currently published by Alfred A
  • Robin Waterfield, with an Introduction and Notes by Carolyn Dewald, Oxford World Classics, 1998. Robin Anthony Herschel Waterfield is a British classical scholar translator editor and writer of children's fiction
  • Strassler, Robert B. , (ed. ), and Purvis, Andrea L. (trans. ), The Landmark Herodotus, Pantheon, 2007. ISBN 978-0-37542109-9 with adequate ancillary information.

Bibliography

• Bakker, Egbert e. a. (eds. ), Brill's Companion to Herodotus. Leiden: Brill, 2002
• Dewald, Carolyn, and John Marincola, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Herodotus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2006.
• Evans, J. A. S. , Herodotus. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982.
• —. Herodotus, Explorer of the Past: Three Essays. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.
• Flory, Stewart, The Archaic Smile of Herodotus. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1987.
• Fornara, Charles W. Herodotus: An Interpretative Essay. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.
• Harrington, John W. , To See a World. C. V. Mosby Company, 1973. Harrington explored Herodotus's deduction that deltas, including Egypt's, were deposited over a great period of time.
• Hartog, F. , "The Invention of History: From Homer to Herodotus". Wesleyan University, 2000. In History and Theory 39, 2000.
• Hartog, F. , The Mirror of Herodotus. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988.
• Immerwahr, H. , Form and Thought in Herodotus. Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University Press, 1966.
• Kapuscinski, Ryszard, "Travels with Herodotus". New York, NY: Alfred A Knopf, 2007.
• Lateiner, D. , The Historical Method of Herodotus. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989.
• Momigliano, A. , The Classical Foundations of Modern Historiography. University of California Press, 1992.
• Pritchett, W. K. , The Liar School of Herodotos. Amsterdam: Gieben, 1991.
  • Kwintner, Michelle. The Liar School of Herodotus (Review). Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 1994.
• Romm, James S. Herodotus. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 1998 (hardcover, ISBN 0-300-07229-5; paperback, ISBN 0-300-07230-9).
• Thomas, R. , Herodotus in Context; ethnography, science and the art of persuasion. Oxford University Press 2000.
• Selden, Daniel. "Cambyses' Madness, or the Reason of History," Materiali e discussioni per l'analisi dei testi classici 42 (1999), 33-63.
• Simons, Marlise. Himalayas Offer Clue to Legend of Gold-Digging 'Ants'. New York Times: 25 November 1996.
• Peissel, Michel. "The Ants' Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas". Collins, 1984. ISBN-13: 978-0002725149.

External links

• Herodotus at About. com
• A reconstructed portrait of Herodotos, based on historical sources, in a contemporary style.
• Herodotus on the Web
• Herodotus for Kids
• Herodotus of Halicarnassus at Livius. org
• 1911 Britannica article "Herodotus"
• Mendelsohn, Daniel (2008-04-28). 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1192 - Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title Arms and the Man. The New Yorker. The New Yorker is an American Magazine that publishes reportage commentary criticism essays fiction satire cartoons and poetry Retrieved on 2008-04-27. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1124 - David I becomes King of Scotland. 1296 - Battle of Dunbar: The Scots are defeated

Online translations

• Herodotus Inquiries—new translation with extensive photographic essays of the places and artifacts mentioned by Herodotus hyper-linked to the text
• Works by Herodotus at Project Gutenberg
  • The History of Herodotus, vol. 1, available at Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works (translation by George Campbell Macaulay, 1852–1915)
  • The History of Herodotus, vol. 2, available at Project Gutenberg. Year 1852 ( MDCCCLII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Year 1915 ( MCMXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works
• The History of Herodotus at The Internet Classics Archive (translation by George Rawlinson)
• Parallel Greek and English text of the History of Herodotus at the Internet Sacred Text Archive
• Excerpts of Sélincourt's translation
• Herodotus Histories on Perseus