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Herodotus: the father of history

Presenter: Annie Warburton

Friday, 28 November� 2003�

Cicero referred to Ancient Greek historian Herodotus as being the 'father of history' and local historian Anthony Boden agrees that he certainly wasn't a bad bloke.

For those of you who might be familiar with the name but not the history, Herodotus lived in the 5th century BC (from 485 to 425).

He was born on the coast of what is now Turkey but during his 20's or 30's migrated to Athens.

During his lifetime Herodotus witnessed many significant events including the rise of the Athenian Empire, the growing hostility between Athens and Sparta and the end of the Golden Age of Athens.

Herodotus wrote histories, which were based on the stories passed down from generation to generation.

Although often described as an historian Anthony told night's presenter, Annie Warburton that Herodotus should be considered an anthropologists and a sociologist as well.

"He was interested in ethnology, geography, you name it," said Anthony.

Herodotus undertook to write a history of the world up until his own time and is probably most famous for the nine books documenting the Persian conflict with Greece.

Find out more about Herodotus

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Last Updated: 28/11/2003 3:21:00 PM AEDT

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