Fragments and
testimonia of other early logographers do not encourage one to take them seriously as rivals of Herodotus or -- where they are earlier -- as important sources for him.
Herodotus was aware of Hecataeus's work, clearly knew the poets -- especially Homer -- looked at inscriptions on occasion, and read some of the small amount of prose that existed in his time; but it is unlikely that he did much of what would now be called research or even that he took many notes. He is, in fact, his own most important source, because, as he relates, his three essential tools are opsis (personal inspection), historiê; (inquiry), and gnômê; ( judgment). Essentially, then, Herodotus stands alone, and however modern historians may criticize him for occasionally mistaking the facts, the record that he has left is invaluable and unlikely to be superseded by new discoveries. If one evaluates his book solely as a repository of historical data, however, one's view of Herodotus is much impoverished.
The proem, or title page, of Herodotus's History of the Persian Wars plunges the reader directly into the problems of his biography and the nature of his achievement: "Here is a display, the inquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassus." The Greek word here translated as inquiry (and oral inquiry is clearly meant) is historiê;, cognate with the English word history (also, incidentally, with story).
This is a free page. This page contains 197 words. This
biography contains 5,602 words (approx. 19 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Herodotus Access Pass.
