Herodotus writes the Histories

about 430 BC Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey) and Athens

In short

Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus, on the coast of today's Turkey, and said he had travelled to Egypt, Babylon and the shores of the Black Sea. In his “Histories” he set out to explain why the Greeks and Persians had gone to war. He collected stories, visited places and compared different versions, but sometimes he also passed on incredible legends, like the one about giant ants that dig for gold. Centuries later, the Roman Cicero called him ‘the father of history’.

Why it matters He was the first to turn telling the story of the past into an inquiry, which in Greek is exactly ‘historia’.

Source: Treccani, entry “Erodoto”

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Illustration: Herodotus writes the Histories (Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey) and Athens) — Illustration created with AI for Storiascopio

Where: Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey) and Athens

Study card about 5 minutes of reading

The story

A Greek from Asia

Herodotus was born around 484 BC at Halicarnassus, a Greek city in Caria, on the south-western coast of present-day Turkey, which at the time was part of the Persian empire. His family was noble: his mother, Dryo, had a Greek name, his father, Lyxes, one of Asian origin. So he grew up between two worlds, that of the Greeks and that of the Persians, and this gave him a curiosity that never left him.

Halicarnassus was ruled by a tyrant, Lygdamis II, who governed with the support of the Persian king. Herodotus opposed him, and a relative of his, Panyassis, was put to death. He managed to escape to Samos, where he perfected the Ionic dialect, in which he would later write his work. According to tradition, around 455 BC he was able to return home. Later, from 447 BC, he lived in Athens, where he met figures such as Pericles, Sophocles and the philosopher Protagoras. Around 444–443 BC he took part in the founding of Thurii, a Greek colony in southern Italy, and received citizenship there.

Travelling to understand

Herodotus travelled a great deal, as far as one can tell from his work. He visited a large part of the eastern Mediterranean, and we know his stay in Egypt was long. For other places we depend mostly on his account, and scholars argue about how much he really saw himself. In any case, he asked everyone he met: priests, guides, merchants, soldiers. What he heard he wrote down and, when the versions did not agree, he compared them.

The “Histories”

His great work is called the “Histories” and is divided into nine books. The division is not his: it was made centuries later by the grammarians of Alexandria. The main theme is the wars between Greeks and Persians. The story starts far back: with the kings Croesus and Cyrus, and arrives at Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis and the battle against the general Mardonius. But Herodotus does not limit himself to battles. Every time a new people comes on stage, he opens a long digression, a “logos” in Greek, to explain how its inhabitants live, what their customs, their religion and their geography are. So the “Histories” are at once a book of war, of travel and of anthropology.

The book begins with a famous sentence. Herodotus writes that he is publishing “the display of his inquiry”, so that the deeds of men may not be forgotten with the passing of time and the great works, of Greeks and of barbarians, may not go without glory. The Greek word for “inquiry” is “historie”, the word that gave our “history” its name.

How he worked

Herodotus based his work on three elements: what he saw with his own eyes, what he heard from others and the personal judgement with which he chose among the information. When versions disagreed, he used logic and what seemed likely to him, and sometimes left the choice to the reader. He also declared that he wrote certain things only “from hearsay”, that is, because they had been told to him. This honesty was something new.

That is why he sometimes also reports things that seem incredible to us today. In Book III, for example, speaking of India, he tells that there were ants that dig up gold, a story that had been told to him. Today we regard it as a legend. Herodotus reports it as a rumour in circulation, without proving it.

The judgement of the ancients and the moderns

Herodotus was widely read, but also criticised. The Roman Cicero called him the “father of history”. The Greek writer Plutarch, on the other hand, wrote a treatise against him, accusing him of being too spiteful towards certain cities, even though he used his work as a source. For a long time Thucydides, who wrote about the Peloponnesian War, was considered more scientific. Herodotus seemed more a teller of stories, in the best sense of the words, than a historian in the modern sense.

Today we know that Herodotus remains a precious source. For many peoples, such as the Egyptians or the Persians, his pages are a very extensive Greek source. Even where he is wrong, he is useful for understanding what the Greeks believed.

Why it happened

Herodotus writes because the war with the Persians had changed the Greek world. It had been an enormous trial: never before had the poleis faced such a powerful and vast enemy. The events seemed worthy of being remembered for ever. Herodotus, who was not Athenian but had direct knowledge of many Persian regions, could tell both sides.

There was also a new cultural setting. In the Ionian cities, like Miletus, people had long been looking for natural explanations of phenomena. Before Herodotus there had already been authors who collected stories about peoples, but he managed to merge geography, customs, traditions and wars into a single narrative, under the question: why did Greeks and Persians go to war?

What changed

With Herodotus history became a literary genre. After him, authors such as Thucydides and Xenophon wrote books about the recent past, and in the Roman world the historian became a respected figure. The idea that to understand the past you must investigate, compare sources and say openly where information comes from carries Herodotus' legacy.

Even today the “Histories” are read with pleasure, and they give information we do not find elsewhere, for example on how the Greeks saw the Egyptians and the Persians. Historians use them by checking them against other sources.

The word “history” itself comes from him, and the question he raises, that is, how far one can trust those who tell a story, remains the problem of every study of the past. If a teacher today says to check several sources before believing a piece of news, they are unknowingly repeating a lesson that begins with Herodotus.

Key people and places

People

Herodotus: Greek historian born at Halicarnassus around 484 BC and died around 425: author of the “Histories”.
Lygdamis II: Tyrant of Halicarnassus, supported by the Persians, who drove Herodotus into exile.
Pericles: The leader of Athens, whom Herodotus met in his Athenian period.
Cicero: Roman orator who called Herodotus the “father of history”.
Plutarch: Greek writer who criticised Herodotus in a treatise.

Places

Halicarnassus: City of Caria, now Bodrum in Turkey, where Herodotus was born.
Samos: Aegean island where Herodotus found refuge during his exile.
Thurii: Greek colony in southern Italy whose founding Herodotus took part in around 444–443 BC.
Athens: City where Herodotus stayed from 447 BC and met Pericles and Sophocles.

Good to know

The word “history” comes from the Greek “historie”, which in Herodotus' “Histories” means “inquiry”.
The division of the “Histories” into nine books was made centuries later by the scholars of Alexandria.
Herodotus openly declared when he was writing only “from hearsay”.
Around 445 BC, according to one tradition, Herodotus read parts of his work in Athens and received ten talents.
In Book III he speaks of ants that dig up gold: a story that scholars today read as a legend.