Herodotus

Inscribed Bust of Herodotos found in ancient Athribis Roman 2nd century CE marble copy of 4th century BCE Greek bronze.

Title pages of a translation into Italian, printed in Venice, and first published in 1533

Herodotus (/hɪˈrɒdətəs/ HIRR-od-Ə-təs; Ancient Greek: Ἡρόδοτος Hēródotos, Attic Greek pronunciation: [hɛːródotos]; c. 484 – c. 425 BC) was an Ancient Greek historian. He was born in Halicarnassus, a town in south-west Asia Minor (now Bodrum, Turkey)

Herodotus was called the "Father of History" by Cicero. He wrote about the ancient empires of Babylon, Egypt, and Persia, and about the Ancient Greeks.

During his life, Herodotus probably told his stories in front of large numbers of people in Greek cities. Some men at the time did this for pay. He is now most famous for his writings about the wars between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states. He told the story from the Greek side, although the war was mostly finished when he was still a child.

In his books, Herodotus tells us that he travelled a lot. He says that he went to what is now Italy (including Sicily), Ukraine, Egypt and Pakistan. He may also have travelled to Babylon in today's Iraq. He often used stories from people he met to write about other places and happenings.

Some people think that Herodotus wrote about things that were not true. That is possible, because he would have relied on information from various sources. His work is important because there is very little writing on these subjects before his works.

The works of Herodotus are available today in translations.

Herodotus Media

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  Romanticized statue of Herodotus in his hometown of Halicarnassus, modern Bodrum, Turkey

Other websites

• Herodotus Citizendium