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Delahoyde & Hughes
Orpheus
HERODOTUS
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Herodotus (c. 490-480 c. 425 bce) is considered the "father of history"
since with his work, The Histories he seems to have invented the
genre in the Western world. Indeed, he here too first coins the term
history, meaning "inquiry." His subject is the Persian threat to
Greece (500 - 449 bce) and the Persian invasions, the first of which took
place before his birth and the second when he was a child.
Within this new historical perspective, which because he was relying on
oral traditions ends up being at times an uncomfortable mix of history
proper and myth, he conveyed his own slant that history is comprised of
the whims of mighty and influential people and that behind this, destiny
serves as the root cause of events (hence the regular reporting of
oracles). He reports the stories of many individuals, and is regarded as
a compelling storyteller. In The Histories he also tends to
glorify Athens; for example, he attributes the Athenian victory over the
Persian army near Marathon to Athens' general virtue and its system of
"freedom" (Histories 5.78). In fact, because of detectable lapses
in objectivity, he was also called the "father of lies" by some.
For his text on the Persian Wars, click here.
Powell, Barry B. Classical Myth. 3rd edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2001.
Wilkie, Brian, and James Hurt, eds. Literature of the Western World, Volume 1. 5th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2001.