Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.

Responsive image


Histories (Herodotus)

Histories
Fragment from Histories, Book VIII on 2nd-century Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2099
AuthorHerodotus
LanguageAncient Greek
GenreHistory
PublisherVarious
Publication date
c. 430 BC[citation needed]
Publication placeGreece

The Histories (Greek: Ἱστορίαι, Historíai;[a] also known as The History[1]) of Herodotus (Ancient Greek: Ἡρόδοτος, romanized: Hēródotos; c. 484 – c. 425 BC) is considered the founding work of history in Western literature.[2] Although not a fully impartial record, it remains one of the West's most important sources regarding these affairs. Moreover, it established the genre and study of history in the Western world (despite the existence of historical records and chronicles beforehand).

The Histories also stands as one of the earliest accounts of the rise of the Persian Empire, as well as the events and causes of the Greco-Persian Wars between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus portrays the conflict as one between the forces of slavery (the Persians) on the one hand, and freedom (the Athenians and the confederacy of Greek city-states which united against the invaders) on the other. The Histories was at some point divided into the nine books that appear in modern editions, conventionally named after the nine Muses.

The oldest extant copy of Histories by Herodotus are manuscripts from the Byzantine period dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries CE, the (Codex Laurentianus (Codex A))[3]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Herodotus-c430ʙᴄᴇ-Gren-1987 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Arnold-2000-HistShortIntro was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ McNeal, R. (1983). "On Editing Herodotus". L'Antiquité Classique. 52 (1): 110–129. doi:10.3406/antiq.1983.2086.

Previous Page Next Page