HERODOTUS

HERODOTUS: translation

(fl. C. 484–420 B.C.)

Greek traveler and historian. He was born at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor, was exiled to Samos, lived in Athens, and died in Sicily. He wrote nine books of Histories that chronicle the wars between the Greeks and the Persians. He was interested to show the historical antecedents of the Achaemenid empire and thus included accounts about Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and Syrians. It is not clear how many of the places he actually visited in person, although some descriptions are lively and almost ethnographic reports. His sources for Mesopotamian history are relatively poor; he often confuses Assyrian and Babylonian places and personages and includes much fictional material that served to demonstrate the cultural superiority of the Greeks.