Herodotus of Halicarnassus
| Herodotus | |
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A Roman copy (2nd century AD) of a Greek bust of Herodotus from the first half of the 4th century BC
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| Native name | Ἡρόδοτος |
| Born |
c. 484 BC Halicarnassus, Caria, Asia Minor, Persian Empire |
| Died |
c. 425 BC (aged approximately 60) Thurii, Calabria or Pella, Macedon |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Notable work | The Histories |
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Herodotus (/hᵻˈrɒdətəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἡρόδοτος Hēródotos, Attic Greek pronunciation: [hɛː.ró.do.tos]) was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire (modern-day Bodrum, Turkey) and lived in the fifth century BC (c. 484–c. 425 BC), a contemporary of Socrates. He is widely referred to as "The Father of History" (first conferred by Cicero); he was the first historian known to have broken from Homeric tradition to treat historical subjects as a method of investigation—specifically, by collecting his materials systematically and critically, and then arranging them into a historiographic narrative.The Histories is the only work which he is known to have produced, a record of his "inquiry" (or ἱστορία historía) on the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars, including a wealth of geographical and ethnographical information. Some of his stories were fanciful and others inaccurate; yet he states that he was reporting only what he was told; a sizable portion of the information he provided was later confirmed by historians and archaeologists. Despite Herodotus' historical significance, little is known of his personal life and academic history.
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