Herodotus of Halicarnassus - Revision history

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	Typically modern accounts of his life go something like this:<ref>George Rawlinson, ''The History of Herodotus'' Vol.I, D.Appleton and Co., New York (1859), Introduction)</ref><ref>A.R.Burn, ''Herodotus: The Histories'', Penguin Classics (1972), Introduction</ref>		Typically modern accounts of his life go something like this:<ref>George Rawlinson, ''The History of Herodotus'' Vol.I, D.Appleton and Co., New York (1859), Introduction)</ref><ref>A.R.Burn, ''Herodotus: The Histories'', Penguin Classics (1972), Introduction</ref>
	Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus around 484 BC. There is no reason to disbelieve the Suda's information about his family, that it was influential and that he was the son of Lyxes and Dryo, and the brother of Theodorus, and that he was also related to [[Panyassis]], an epic poet of the time. The town was within the Persian empire at that time and maybe the young Herodotus heard local eye-witness accounts of events within the empire and of Persian preparations for the invasion of Greece, including the movements of the local fleet under the command of [[Artemisia I of Caria\|Artemisia]]. Inscriptions recently discovered at Halicarnassus indicate that her grandson Lygdamis negotiated with a local assembly to settle disputes over seized property, which is consistent with a tyrant under pressure, and his name is not mentioned later in the tribute list of the Athenian [[Delian League]], indicating that there might well have been a successful uprising against him sometime before 454 BC. Herodotus reveals affection for the island of Samos (III, 39-60) and this is an indication that he might have lived there in his youth. So it is possible that his family was involved in an uprising against Lygdamis, leading to a period of exile on Samos and followed by some personal hand in the tyrant's eventual fall.		Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus around 484 BC. There is no reason to disbelieve the Suda's information about his family, that it was influential and that he was the son of Lyxes and Dryo, and the brother of Theodorus, and that he was also related to [[Panyassis]], an epic poet of the time. The town was within the [[Persian Empire\|Persian empire]] at that time and maybe the young Herodotus heard local eye-witness accounts of events within the empire and of Persian preparations for the invasion of Greece, including the movements of the local fleet under the command of [[Artemisia I of Caria\|Artemisia]]. Inscriptions recently discovered at Halicarnassus indicate that her grandson Lygdamis negotiated with a local assembly to settle disputes over seized property, which is consistent with a tyrant under pressure, and his name is not mentioned later in the tribute list of the Athenian [[Delian League]], indicating that there might well have been a successful uprising against him sometime before 454 BC. Herodotus reveals affection for the island of Samos (III, 39-60) and this is an indication that he might have lived there in his youth. So it is possible that his family was involved in an uprising against Lygdamis, leading to a period of exile on Samos and followed by some personal hand in the tyrant's eventual fall.

	As Herodotus himself reveals, Halicarnassus, though a Dorian city, had ended its close relations with its Dorian neighbours after an unseemly quarrel (I, 144), and it had helped pioneer Greek trade with Egypt (II,178). It was therefore an outward-looking, international-minded port within the Persian empire and the historian's family could well have had contacts in countries under Persian rule, facilitating his travels and his researches. His eye-witness accounts indicate that he travelled in Egypt probably sometime after 454 BC or possibly earlier in association with Athenians, after an Athenian fleet had assisted the uprising against [[History of Persian Egypt\|Persian rule]] in 460-454 BC. He probably travelled to [[Tyre]] next and then down the [[Euphrates]] to [[Babylon]]. For some reason, probably associated with local politics, he subsequently found himself unpopular in Halicarnassus and, sometime around 447 BC, he migrated to [[Pericles\|Periclean Athens]], a city for whose people and democratic institutions he declares his open admiration (V, 78) and where he came to know not just leading citizens such as the [[Alcmaeonids]], a clan whose history features frequently in his writing, but also the local topography (VI, 137; VIII, 52-5). According to [[Eusebius]]<ref>Eusebius ''Chron. Can. Pars. II p339, 01.83.4 (cited by George Rawlinson, ''The History of Herodotus'' Vol.I, D.Appleton and Co., New York (1859), Introduction)</ref> and [[Plutarch]],<ref>Plutarch ''De Malign. Herod.'' II p862 A (cited by George Rawlinson, ''The History of Herodotus'' Vol.I, D.Appleton and Co., New York (1859), Introduction)</ref> Herodotus was granted a financial reward by the Athenian assembly in recognition of his work and there may be some truth in this. It is possible that he applied for Athenian citizenship - a rare honour after 451 BC, requiring two separate votes by a well-attended assembly - but was unsuccessful. In 443 BC, or shortly afterwards, he migrated to [[Thurium]] as part of an Athenian-sponsored colony. [[Aristotle]] refers to a version of ''The Histories'' written by 'Herodotus of Thurium' and indeed some passages in the ''Histories'' have been interpreted as proof that he wrote about southern Italy from personal experience there (IV, 15, 99; VI 127). Intimate knowledge of some events in the first years of the [[Peloponnesian War]] (VI,91; VII,133,233; IX,73) indicate that he might have returned to Athens, in which case it is possible that he died there during an outbreak of the plague. Possibly he died in Macedonia instead after obtaining the patronage of the court there or else he died back in Thurium. Either way, there is nothing in the ''Histories'' that can be dated with any certainty later than 430 and it is generally assumed that he died not long afterwards, possibly before his sixtieth year.		As Herodotus himself reveals, Halicarnassus, though a Dorian city, had ended its close relations with its Dorian neighbours after an unseemly quarrel (I, 144), and it had helped pioneer Greek trade with Egypt (II,178). It was therefore an outward-looking, international-minded port within the Persian empire and the historian's family could well have had contacts in countries under Persian rule, facilitating his travels and his researches. His eye-witness accounts indicate that he travelled in Egypt probably sometime after 454 BC or possibly earlier in association with Athenians, after an Athenian fleet had assisted the uprising against [[History of Persian Egypt\|Persian rule]] in 460-454 BC. He probably travelled to [[Tyre]] next and then down the [[Euphrates]] to [[Babylon]]. For some reason, probably associated with local politics, he subsequently found himself unpopular in Halicarnassus and, sometime around 447 BC, he migrated to [[Pericles\|Periclean Athens]], a city for whose people and democratic institutions he declares his open admiration (V, 78) and where he came to know not just leading citizens such as the [[Alcmaeonids]], a clan whose history features frequently in his writing, but also the local topography (VI, 137; VIII, 52-5). According to [[Eusebius]]<ref>Eusebius ''Chron. Can. Pars. II p339, 01.83.4 (cited by George Rawlinson, ''The History of Herodotus'' Vol.I, D.Appleton and Co., New York (1859), Introduction)</ref> and [[Plutarch]],<ref>Plutarch ''De Malign. Herod.'' II p862 A (cited by George Rawlinson, ''The History of Herodotus'' Vol.I, D.Appleton and Co., New York (1859), Introduction)</ref> Herodotus was granted a financial reward by the Athenian assembly in recognition of his work and there may be some truth in this. It is possible that he applied for Athenian citizenship - a rare honour after 451 BC, requiring two separate votes by a well-attended assembly - but was unsuccessful. In 443 BC, or shortly afterwards, he migrated to [[Thurium]] as part of an Athenian-sponsored colony. [[Aristotle]] refers to a version of ''The Histories'' written by 'Herodotus of Thurium' and indeed some passages in the ''Histories'' have been interpreted as proof that he wrote about southern Italy from personal experience there (IV, 15, 99; VI 127). Intimate knowledge of some events in the first years of the [[Peloponnesian War]] (VI,91; VII,133,233; IX,73) indicate that he might have returned to Athens, in which case it is possible that he died there during an outbreak of the plague. Possibly he died in Macedonia instead after obtaining the patronage of the court there or else he died back in Thurium. Either way, there is nothing in the ''Histories'' that can be dated with any certainty later than 430 and it is generally assumed that he died not long afterwards, possibly before his sixtieth year.

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Notes

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	* [[Ancient Greece‎ ]]		* [[Ancient Greece‎ ]]

	==~~Notes~~==		==References==
	{{reflist\|3}}		{{reflist\|3}}

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	~~{{Cleanup}}~~{{History}}		{{History}}
	'''Herodotus''' of Halicarnassus (/hɨˈrɒdətəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἡρόδοτος Hēródotos, pronounced [hɛː.ró.do.tos]) was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria (modern-day Bodrum, Turkey) and lived in the fifth century BC (c. 484–425 BC). Widely referred to as "The Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative.<ref>[[New Oxford American Dictionary]], "Herodotos", [[Oxford University Press]]</ref> He is exclusively known for writing ''The Histories'', a record of his "inquiries" (or ἱστορίαι, a word that passed into Latin and took on its modern meaning of ''history'') into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars which occurred in 490 and 480-479 BC—especially since he includes a narrative account of that period, which would otherwise be poorly documented; and many long digressions concerning the various places and peoples he encountered during wide-ranging travels around the lands of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Although some of his stories were not completely accurate, he claimed that he was reporting only what had been told to him.		'''Herodotus''' of Halicarnassus (/hɨˈrɒdətəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἡρόδοτος Hēródotos, pronounced [hɛː.ró.do.tos]) was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria (modern-day Bodrum, Turkey) and lived in the fifth century BC (c. 484–425 BC). Widely referred to as "The Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative.<ref>[[New Oxford American Dictionary]], "Herodotos", [[Oxford University Press]]</ref> He is exclusively known for writing ''The Histories'', a record of his "inquiries" (or ἱστορίαι, a word that passed into Latin and took on its modern meaning of ''history'') into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars which occurred in 490 and 480-479 BC—especially since he includes a narrative account of that period, which would otherwise be poorly documented; and many long digressions concerning the various places and peoples he encountered during wide-ranging travels around the lands of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Although some of his stories were not completely accurate, he claimed that he was reporting only what had been told to him.

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External links

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	* [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Herodotus 1911 Britannica article "Herodotus"]		* [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Herodotus 1911 Britannica article "Herodotus"]
	* {{cite web\|url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/04/28/080428crbo_books_mendelsohn \|title=Arms and the Man \|work=[[The New Yorker]] \|author=Mendelsohn, Daniel \|date=2008-04-28 \|accessdate=2008-04-27}}		* {{cite web\|url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/04/28/080428crbo_books_mendelsohn \|title=Arms and the Man \|work=[[The New Yorker]] \|author=Mendelsohn, Daniel \|date=2008-04-28 \|accessdate=2008-04-27}}
	* [http://www.losttrails.com/pages/Tales/Inquiries/Herodotus.html Herodotus Inquiries]—new translation with photographic essays of the places and artifacts mentioned by Herodotus hyperlinked to the text
	* {{gutenberg author\| id=Herodotus \| name=Herodotus}}
	**{{gutenberg\|no=2707\|name=The History of Herodotus, vol. 1}} (translation by George Campbell Macaulay, 1852–1915)
	**{{gutenberg\|no=2456\|name=The History of Herodotus, vol. 2}}
	* [http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html The History of Herodotus] at The Internet Classics Archive (translation by George Rawlinson)		* [http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html The History of Herodotus] at The Internet Classics Archive (translation by George Rawlinson)
	* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/index.htm Parallel Greek and English text of the History of Herodotus] at the Internet Sacred Text Archive		* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/index.htm Parallel Greek and English text of the History of Herodotus] at the Internet Sacred Text Archive

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Translations

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	==Translations==		==Translations==
	~~{{wikiquote}}~~
	~~{{wikisource author}}~~
	~~{{wikisourcelang\|el\|Ηρόδοτος}}~~
	* Several English translations of ''The Histories of Herodotus'' are readily available in multiple editions. The most readily available are those translated by:		* Several English translations of ''The Histories of Herodotus'' are readily available in multiple editions. The most readily available are those translated by:
	** C.E. Godley, 1920; revised 1926. Reprinted 1931, 1946, 1960, 1966, 1975, 1981, 1990, 1996, 1999, 2004. Available in [[Loeb Classical Library#Herodotos\|four volumes]] from [[Loeb Classical Library]], [[Harvard University Press]]. ISBN 0-674-99130-3 Printed with Greek on the left and English on the right.		** C.E. Godley, 1920; revised 1926. Reprinted 1931, 1946, 1960, 1966, 1975, 1981, 1990, 1996, 1999, 2004. Available in [[Loeb Classical Library#Herodotos\|four volumes]] from [[Loeb Classical Library]], [[Harvard University Press]]. ISBN 0-674-99130-3 Printed with Greek on the left and English on the right.

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	As mentioned earlier, Herodotus has sometimes been labeled 'The Father of Lies' due to his tendency to report fanciful information. Much of the information that others subsequently reported about him is just as fanciful, some of it is vindictive and some of it is blatantly absurd, yet it is interesting and therefore worth reporting: Herodotus himself reported dubious information if it was interesting, sometimes adding his own opinion about its reliability.		As mentioned earlier, Herodotus has sometimes been labeled 'The Father of Lies' due to his tendency to report fanciful information. Much of the information that others subsequently reported about him is just as fanciful, some of it is vindictive and some of it is blatantly absurd, yet it is interesting and therefore worth reporting: Herodotus himself reported dubious information if it was interesting, sometimes adding his own opinion about its reliability.

	[[Plutarch]], a [[Thebes ~~(Greece)~~\|Theban]] by birth, once composed a "great collection of slanders"<ref>George Rawlinson, ''The History of Herodotus'' Vol.1, D.Appleton and Company, New York (1859), page 14</ref> against Herodotus, titled ''On the Malignity of Herodotus'', including the allegation that the historian was prejudiced against Thebes because the authorities there had denied him permission to set up a school. [[Dio Chrysostom]] similarly attributed prejudice against Corinth to the historian's bitterness over financial disappointments<ref>Dio Chrysostom ''Orat. xxxvii</ref>, an account supported by [[Marcellinus]] in his ''Life of Thucydides''.<ref>Marcellinus, ''Life of Thucydides''</ref> In fact Herodotus was in the habit of seeking out information from empowered sources within communities, such as aristocrats and priests, and this also occurred at an international level, with [[Pericles\|Periclean Athens]] becoming his principal source of information about events in Greece. As a result, his reports about Greek events are often coloured by Athenian bias against rival states - [[Thebes ~~(Greece)~~\|Thebes]] and [[Corinth]] in particular.<ref>A.R. Burn, ''Herodotus: The Histories'', Penguin Classics (1972), pages 8,9,32-4</ref> Thus the accounts given by Plutarch and Chrysostom may be regarded as 'pay-back'.		[[Plutarch]], a [[Thebes\|Theban]] by birth, once composed a "great collection of slanders"<ref>George Rawlinson, ''The History of Herodotus'' Vol.1, D.Appleton and Company, New York (1859), page 14</ref> against Herodotus, titled ''On the Malignity of Herodotus'', including the allegation that the historian was prejudiced against Thebes because the authorities there had denied him permission to set up a school. [[Dio Chrysostom]] similarly attributed prejudice against Corinth to the historian's bitterness over financial disappointments<ref>Dio Chrysostom ''Orat. xxxvii</ref>, an account supported by [[Marcellinus]] in his ''Life of Thucydides''.<ref>Marcellinus, ''Life of Thucydides''</ref> In fact Herodotus was in the habit of seeking out information from empowered sources within communities, such as aristocrats and priests, and this also occurred at an international level, with [[Pericles\|Periclean Athens]] becoming his principal source of information about events in Greece. As a result, his reports about Greek events are often coloured by Athenian bias against rival states - [[Thebes\|Thebes]] and [[Corinth]] in particular.<ref>A.R. Burn, ''Herodotus: The Histories'', Penguin Classics (1972), pages 8,9,32-4</ref> Thus the accounts given by Plutarch and Chrysostom may be regarded as 'pay-back'.

	Herodotus wrote his ''Histories'' in the [[Ionian]] dialect yet he was born in Halicarnassus, originally a [[Dorian]] settlement. According to the ''[[Suda]]'' (an 11th-century encyclopaedia of [[Byzantium]] which likely took its information from traditional accounts), Herodotus learned the Ionian dialect as a boy living on the island of [[Samos]], whither he had fled with his family from the oppressions of Lygdamis, tyrant of Halicarnassus and grandson of [[Artemisia I of Caria]]. The Suda also informs us that Herodotus later returned home to lead the revolt that eventually overthrew the tyrant. However, thanks to recent discoveries of some inscriptions on Halicarnassus, dated to about that time, we now know that the Ionic dialect was used there even in official documents, so there was no need to ssume like the Suda that he must have learned the dialect elsewhere.<ref>A.R.Burn, ''Herodotus: The Histories'', Penguin Classics (1972), page 11</ref> Moreover, the fact that the Suda is the only source we have for the heroic role played by Herodotus, as liberator of his birthplace, is itself a good reason to doubt such a romantic account.<ref>George Rawlinson, ''The History of Herodotus'' Vol.I, D.Appleton and Co., New York (1859), page 11</ref>		Herodotus wrote his ''Histories'' in the [[Ionian]] dialect yet he was born in Halicarnassus, originally a [[Dorian]] settlement. According to the ''[[Suda]]'' (an 11th-century encyclopaedia of [[Byzantium]] which likely took its information from traditional accounts), Herodotus learned the Ionian dialect as a boy living on the island of [[Samos]], whither he had fled with his family from the oppressions of Lygdamis, tyrant of Halicarnassus and grandson of [[Artemisia I of Caria]]. The Suda also informs us that Herodotus later returned home to lead the revolt that eventually overthrew the tyrant. However, thanks to recent discoveries of some inscriptions on Halicarnassus, dated to about that time, we now know that the Ionic dialect was used there even in official documents, so there was no need to ssume like the Suda that he must have learned the dialect elsewhere.<ref>A.R.Burn, ''Herodotus: The Histories'', Penguin Classics (1972), page 11</ref> Moreover, the fact that the Suda is the only source we have for the heroic role played by Herodotus, as liberator of his birthplace, is itself a good reason to doubt such a romantic account.<ref>George Rawlinson, ''The History of Herodotus'' Vol.I, D.Appleton and Co., New York (1859), page 11</ref>

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External links

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	[[Category:Historians]]		[[Category:Historians]]
	[[Category:484 BC births]]		[[Category:484 BC births]]
	~~[[Category:425 BC deaths]]~~
	[[Category: Ancient Greece]]		[[Category: Ancient Greece]]

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	==See also==		==See also==
	* [[~~Histories (Herodotus)\|The Histories~~]]		* [[:Category:Historians]]
	* [[~~Thucydides]], ancient Greek historian who is often said to be also "the father of history"~~		* [[Ancient Greece‎ ]]
	* [[Naturalis Historia]]
	* [[Pliny the Elder]]

	==Notes==		==Notes==