Circa 484-Circa 420 B.C.E.
Historian

Acute Observer. Regarded as the "Father of History," Herodotus wrote the first surviving work of history, a sprawling work essentially on the conflicts between Greeks and Persians, but containing a great deal of discursive material as well. Born in the cosmopolitan city of Halicarnassus on the Carian coast of what is now Turkey, Herodotus left for Samos due to political trouble and may not have returned. He was an inveterate traveller, visiting Egypt, Babylon and Thrace, and was always interested in recording foreign customs and beliefs. He visited Athens and seems to have been well received there: Sophocles wrote a poem for him, and his work left its impact on contemporary drama, both tragic and comic. He was one of the settlers of the panhellenic colony of Thurii in southern Italy (444/443 B.C.E.): events from 430 B.C.E., recorded in...