Herodotus [Ἡρόδοτος] was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus in the modern-day Turkey in the fifth century BC (c. 484–c. 425 BC). As a contemporary with Socrates, Euripedes and Aeschylus, he lived during what is known as the Golden Age of Greece.
He is often referred to as “The Father of History”, because he broke from Homeric tradition of mythologising events and treated his historical subjects with a method of investigation. The Histories, the record of his “inquiry” (ἱστορία historía)—was the result of his collection of eye witness accounts and other materials and his systematic and critical arrangement of them into a historiographic narrative.
His work meditates on the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars which occurred one generation before his life. While prone to some fancies and inaccuracies, his work played a significant role in establishing a framework for later historical writings.
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