Herodotus

Popkin, D. Jeremy. Herodotus to H-Net :The story of Historiography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. In the book called Herodotus to he-net that was written by Jeremy Popkin talks about the idea of how historiography started overtime and how it developed. It happen during the Cold War where it began to change in the U.S and the other countries during that time like the civil right movements for equality with Africans and Latinos, in the universities the students begun to tell their…

Thoughout history there have always been scandals. In The Histories, Herodotus was a fan of discussing the scandal in Persia with two impostor kings, which when exposed led to Darius assuming the throne, or the scandal in Delphi when the high priestess was bribed to make fake oracles that resulted in Sparta attacking Athens. Nowadays we hear about scandals quite frequently, usually to do with a minister of Parliament misusing public funds, or a celebrity saying something controversial. The…

At first glance it may appear that Herodotus’ account of Egypt is a clear-cut description of the country and what he learned there, intended to educate a Greek audience. However, a closer examination reveals that his intentions and motivations may have been different that originally assumed. The opening passage exemplifies the sort of conflicted view of the Egyptians that the author so frequently presents. Though, at times, he emphasizes their otherness, he seems to admire their achievements and…

something people still do today, and the use of speeches in history helps the listener put his or herself in the place of that people- essentially feeling what they feel. Herodotus was a military commander before he was exiled and therefore knew how Demaratus and Xerxes would have spoken to each other. In the speech by Herodotus, Xerxes asks Demaratus how the Greeks would defend themselves against his attack, and Demaratus asks him if he would like “a true answer… or merely an…

The purpose of ancient Greek History during the time of Herodotus and Thucydides was a period of developing methods for the study of the past, documentation of wars, and creating historical and entertaining stories for the people. It was the time of initial inquiry of developing an understanding of the beginning of the story as well as the methods to gain this information. Roman historians of Polybius, Titus Livius Patavinus, Publius Tacitus, benefited from the previous establishment of…

Socrates, Herodotus, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. These are a few names that are known throughout history for their contributions to modern society. Rather it be in art, philosophy or war, modern society has been influenced one way or another by these men as well as the culture from that time period in history. Their concepts and ideas have been distributed into America’s culture and building practices. The architectural design of that era has also made its way into the very…

Why Women in The Histories Are Nightmare Fuel for Greek Men Herodotus is considered by many as the first historian and his writing in The Histories set a precedence for historical analysis in the ancient Greek world. His choice to begin his narrative by attributing the very beginning of conflict between the East and West to women is a significant move that establishes a reoccurring theme for the rest of the piece (Herodotus 1.1). Although the consequences set forth by the start of this story are…

Plutarch, Herodotus treated Themistocles ambivalently in his writing. He stated many times Themistocles was a greedy man. However, Herodotus also praised Themistocles’ success as an Athenian commander during the Persian Wars. This is comparable to how Plutarch treated Themistocles; except while Plutarch critiqued Themistocles on his ambition, Herodotus critiqued him on his greed. Herodotus included anecdotes that explained how Themistocles was greedy. In book eight of his Histories, Herodotus…

“orient,” namely that the West created a binary division of the world in order to commit and justify violence towards the “other,” Said himself is a perpetrator of the same binaries he cautions his audience to think against. Further, Said names Herodotus as the chief perpetrator of early Orientalism, but in his…

Histories, Xerxes Invades Greece, Herodotus, also known as the “father of history”, attempted to capture what a free society could achieve when they worked together in the form of the poleis. He did this by showing the differences between the Persian and Greek soldiers and their mindsets during the Persian War. Herodotus wrote this narrative after the Persian War was over and during the early years of the Peloponnesian War which was around 431 B.C.E. Herodotus believed that the Greeks were…