Log Book

Leandro Moore: Herodotus 1.) Personality: Herodotus 2.) Early life / Family / Nationality Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus around 484 BC to Lyxes and Dryo together with his brother Theodorus. He particularly shows affection to Samos, an island in the Aegan Sea and this indicates that he couldve spent some time there. 3.) Career: Political / Military Herodotus is often referred to as The Father of History and was the first man to collect information systematically. Regarding military he was particularly uncritical in dealing with military operations, since he had no personal experience and couldnt always assess. 4.) Major Events: In Herodotuss book, Histories, he writes about a multitude of events that happened throughout his life. The most significant even though would be the Persian wars, in fact, no preserved author but Xenophon can compete as a contemporary source on the Persian Empire. Even if Ctesias or the first generation Alexander historians had survived in full, Herodotus would still claim a special place. 5.) Availability of sources: Herodotus has written nine books available in good modern translation from the original Greek. They make up The Histories which is all that we have of Herodotus yet it a very large resource of information. 6.) Significance? His significance is enormous, since he was the first to write history in a systematic manner. Sources Herodotus: www.bookrags.com/biography/herodotus/ The landmark Herodotus THE HISTORIES Edited by Robert B. Strassler The extensive written work of Herodotus and the only that we are known to have gives a very in depth analysis into the Peloponnesian war and is one of the many annotated and

http://cco.cambridge.org/extract?id=ccol052183001x_CCOL052183001XA016 A very reliable source from Cambridge University explains the political history and thought of Herodotus and what his ideas on an ideal state would be. http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/herodotus01.htm This website has no proof of reliability yet it has an extensive archive on historical events and figures so it can be safely assumed that it is quite reliable and it gives a brief overview on Herodotus and who he was, where he was born and the works that he has produced. American Journal of Philology by Johns Hopkins Athenian Democratic Ideology and Herodotus This book documents many historical figures, including Herodotus and goes quite in depth about him and his works, especially the Histories, his work composed of 9 books. Usefulness to your study. Perspective Audience.

Justification: I personally believe that Herodotus is a very interesting person and his stature ad Father of History is quite inspirational. He was the first man to systematically write about History and with quite objective take on it. His literary contributions to the historical community have been passed down and still to this day they are highly regarded. Supplementary Questions Who did he tutor? Herodotus was the tutor of Thucydides and he wrote about the Peloponnesian wars and that was also the life work of his. Thucydides was also considered to be the father of history in his respective branch of historiography. He was the father of scientific history and wasnt interested in being an entertainer and rather just proposed the facts. Herodotus in contrast wrote the histories in the form of logoi and each was to go for three hours each when recited. Thucydides works are also highly regarded such as Herodotus and he was a great figure in historiography. What Impact has Herodotus had on History? Herodotus life piece was THE HISTORIES. He didnt write a series of books he only wrote this one piece and he dedicated his life to it. The Histories is a primary source for many battles such as the legendary battle of Thermopylae

and Mycenae. To him all that history meant was inquiry and that is precisely what he did, he was a great explorer, geographer and historian. He travelled the majority of the known world and wrote many first hand accounts of what he saw, some have labelled him the Father of Lies as Plutarch called him and that term stuck with him amongst some people but that is only for a few lies which he wrote about in his book. One of the most famous examples is his definition of the hippopotamus which in Greek means water horse so he described a hippopotamus as having a long mane and tail which they obviously didnt but Herodotus wasnt inventing such things he was simply asking other people so his books mainly consisted of first hand account and those were very vivid and precise descriptions. Herodotus established history as the analysis of past events in a form of prose and was the first to do so, people previous to him wrote historical analyses in form of poems and stories to pass down but he systematically wrote them in 28 logoi and not in forms of books (the nine books of the histories are a modern day representation of them). Context / Asia Minor. Greek City states. Influences on him / early life experiences. Family tree. Travel experiences. Context of Greece v Persia. Empires collide.