Herodotus

Who would have thought that one of the greatest rivalries in the ancient world stemmed from a former friendship? The Spartans and Athenians started out as allies fighting against the Persian to becoming fierce rivals fighting in Greece. With the increase in naval power of the Athenians to the jealousy of the Spartans, the two Greek city-states would not have the same military might that they once possessed after the conflict was finally resolved. Athens began as a small city-state and grew to…

arachaic Athens. Cleisthenes was an ancient Athenian lawgiver credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting in on a deocratic footing. For these accomplisments, historians refer to him as "the father of Athenian democracy." Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire. He lived in the fifth century. He is often referred to as "The Father of History." Thucydides was an Athenian historian and general. His History of the Peloponnesian…

I have always wondered why only seven structures made it in the list of Wonders of the World. Well, since it was the ancient Greeks such as Antipater of Sidon, Diodoros, and Herodotus, who wrote the list 2,500 years ago it was primarily based on what they know that, existed during their time. Mind you, this list is extraordinary. But if the Greeks only knew that there are other spectacular structures existing outside their neighboring cities and other regions, it is most definite that there will…

Humanity’s insatiable quest for immortality, to escape the cold clutches of death, roots itself in our oldest tales. The mythical Fountain of Youth, first fabled by Herodotus’ writings in the 5th century BCE, and actively searched for by the Spanish explorer Ponce De León in the 16th century CE, idealizes our infatuation with cheating death. The opportunities generated by society’s incredible ameliorations of science and medicine yields a world ever-closer to achieving perpetual life. Fueled by…

Herodotus in the The Histories Book V, claims,“There is nothing in the whole world so unjust, nothing so bloody, as a tyranny” Greece, in 500 BC was under the rule of one such tyrant, Pisistratus. In order to stay in power, tyrants of ancient Greece created a prosperous society which would please its citizens. Tyrants created a prosperous society by establishing worldly order, redistributing power to the middle class and creating a unified society. To start, tyrants in Athens created relations…

Athenian democracy was successful in many ways. For example, it provided for the people. Democracy effectively provided goods for the masses and met their needs. In addition, Athens owed much of its power to its navy, which was largely serviced by the poor thetes. The democratic system rewarded the poor laborers for their service to Athens. Athenian democracy was also successful in that it was generally very stable. Of all the democracies in ancient Greece, Athens’ was the most radical.…

interest of religion is called a Temple Prostitute. Sacred prostitution was practised mostly by Babylonians and ancient sumerians. Sacred prostitution was highly respected among Sumerians and Babylonians. In ancient sources by ancient historian Herodotus and Thucydides, there are several traces of hieros gamos or a holy wedding beginning with Babylon. A similar type of prostitution was practiced in Cyprus and in Corinth, Greece, where the temple housed more than one thousand prostitutes.…

The traditional role of women in the ancient world was to stay home and undertake general household duties. Though Herodotus states, “…the Egyptians… seem to have reversed the ordinary practices of mankind,” continuing to outline that women attended market whereas men stayed home to do the weaving (Williams, 1996). Ancient Egyptian females could also legitimately participate…

Paul Cartledge. The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse. New York: Peter Mayer Publishers, 2003 Paul Cartledge is a scholar and historian who commands great respect. His first general book written on the Spartans. He is known by (The Times) as “the world’s leading expert on Sparta”. The Spartans takes you through times in Ancient Greece that have helped influence western history. Charmingly he thoroughly analyzes the rise and fall…

that creates intense feelings of fear, helplessness, or horror” (Emery 1). Although PTSD wasn’t given a label until 1980 the disorder is found in different historical context. PTSD has been traced back as far as three millennia. The Greek writer Herodotus describes the aftermath of a battle and how soldiers went blind after witnessing fellow soldiers being killed. In another case, an English Parliamentarian Samuel Pepys describes in his journal, symptoms of PTSD he experienced after the Great…