Storiascopio · Era 5 of 12 · primary year 5
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”
Where we are in the era “Ancient Greece”
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about 800 BCEvent 16 of 25about 100 BC
Your turn
Name ______________________ Class ______ Date __________
When did it happen? Find the date at the top and write it here:
Tell it in your own words: what happened?
Draw the scene below.
storiascopio.com/en/event/herodotus-writes-the-histories/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class