The History

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was born about 484 BCE & died some 60 years later. He traveled over much of the known ancient world, making trips to places such as southern Italy, lower Egypt & the Caucasus. His great History, the 1st major prose work in world literature, is an account of his world at the time of the Persian Wars. The book, here ably translated by University of Chicago scholar David Grene, earned Herodotus the epithet “The Father of History” in ancient times. He distinguishes between the things seen with his own eyes & those of which he had only heard. But he was often too credulous of things told to him by his peers along the way, for which reason his younger contemporary Thucydides called him “The Father of Lies.” Renowned in his own time for his humanity & wide-ranging curiosity, Herodotus shows an insatiable appetite for both useful information & a good yarn. The History is a starting point for any student of the past.