HERODOTUS: BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, CONTRIBUTIONS, WORKS AND QUOTES - HISTORY - 2025

Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484 and 425 BC) was one of the first historians of mankind. He also stood out as a geographer, as he was in charge of drawing various boundaries and territories of classical antiquity. He is considered the father of history as a discipline in the Western world, because he was a pioneer in the structured writing of human actions.

In order to carry out his geographical and historical research, Herodotus had to make a large number of trips in order to obtain truthful information and provide materials that had great value not only historiographical, but also literary.

Herodotus is considered one of the first historians. Source: pixabay.com

One of the themes that Herodotus decided to study in depth consisted in the development of the military actions between the Persians and the Greek army.

According to those familiar with the work of this author, it can be said that Herodotus was characterized by three elements: firstly, he was an intellectual, since his texts demonstrate an excellent ability to write detailed descriptions.

As a second element, it can be established that he was the first to describe the traditions and customs of the groups belonging to Hellas in a detailed and rigorous way, which is why he is considered a pioneer in conducting anthropological-ethnographic studies.

Finally, it can be noted that Herodotus began cultural historical studies, since the historian not only described the barbarian peoples, but also tried to understand the war by studying the different human groups that were in dispute.

For these and other reasons, this Greek historian has been extensively studied by various expert authors who have been in charge of analyzing the composition of his work; Furthermore, Herodotus has also had an influence on other disciplines such as anthropology. However, other scholars consider Herodotus to be a great liar in history.

Biography

Halicarnasso under the yoke of the tyrant Ligdamis

Due to the great chronological distance that separates Herodotus from the present, as well as the scarcity of records from that time, it is difficult to pin down the year of his birth and the year of his death.

However, it is believed that Herodotus was born in 484 BC. C. in the city of Halicarnassus, what is now known as Bodrum, a small city located in Asia Minor. At the time of his birth, Halicarnasso was under Persian rule: it was ruled by a tyrant known as Ligdamis.

As a consequence, Herodotus's parents were subjects of Persian authority; however, they were Greeks by blood and it is probable that this family had once belonged to the aristocracy of that city.

During a revolt against Ligdamis an uncle of Heródoto was assassinated, reason why the family decided to leave their homeland to go to the city of Samos. Thanks to this change, the future historian was able to maintain direct contact with the cultural world of the Ionians.

In fact, in this city Herodotus was able to learn the Ionic dialect, with which he later wrote his texts. This dialect was also used in Halicarnassus.

According to some sources, in the year 454 a. The future historian returned together with his family to Halicarnasso with the purpose of being participants in the overthrow of the tyrant Ligdamis, who was assassinated on that same date.

After this, Herodotus went to the foundation of the colony of Turios, which happened between 444 and 443 BC. Some historians assure that Herodotus was part of the founding expeditions led by Pericles, but this has not been proven.

The age of Pericles

It is considered that, after the fall of Ligdamis, Herodotus made several trips and visited different Greek cities where he used to read his texts. He was even offered a considerable sum of money to perform a reading in the Agora in the city of Athens.

At that time Athens was ruled by Pericles, which allowed Herodotus to experience the golden years of that city, contemplating one of the best political and cultural moments of the Athenian golden age.

During this trip, the historian was able to meet two great Athenian thinkers, such as Protagoras -who proclaimed the sophistic revolution- and Sophocles -who was considered the best tragic poet of the moment.

The texts of this writer were a strong influence for the later texts of Herodotus, who incorporated this literary character to his historical works.

Similarly, during this period Herodotus was also able to visit some cities in Egypt, to later tour part of Phenicia and Mesopotamia. He also knew the country of the Scythians.

Last years

This author is described as an observant, curious and intelligent man, also constituted by a scholarly and encyclopedic training. He made many trips, because he had a latent desire to know and to increase his learning.

The legendary writer Aristophanes made a parody of Herodotus' work in 425 BC. C., which suggests that the Histories of this geographer were already very popular at that time.

Little is known about the author's later years; some establish that he kept traveling until the end of his days. The last texts on Greece by Herodotus are based on the events of the year 430, so it is considered that the writer must have died in the city of Turios between 426 and 421 BC. C.

Trips you made

Bust of Herodotus, in the Massimo Palace in Rome. Livioandronico2013

Journey to Babylon

According to some texts, Herodotus went to Babylon between 454 and 449 BC. During his journey to this city, the historian made a stop at the Phoenician colony located on the coast of Syria, which was a few kilometers from the famous city of Alexandria.

Later he went east with the intention of crossing the Euphrates River, in order to reach Babylon.

According to their texts, the city of Babylon was made up of a great fortress that was intercepted by a river that extended throughout the territory, thus dividing the city into two parts. About this city, Herodotus placed special emphasis on the architectural development of the infrastructure and the customs of its inhabitants.

In addition, Heródoto established that the climate of that region was propitious for the cultivation of different types of cereals; These crops were perfectly hydrated by the river that supplied the entire old city.

Persian King Cyrus the Great

In his complex work entitled Histories, the author dedicated a fragment to the taking of Babylon, where Cyrus the Great (being the creator of the Persian Empire) went to the town of Opis, a region of this city, in the course of the spring season.

However, the Babylonians awaited the arrival of the Persians, so they had decided to camp outside the city walls.

As a consequence, the battle took place on the outskirts of the city, where the Babylonians were defeated by the troops of the Persian king. The Babylonians made the decision to seclude themselves behind the city walls, hoping that they would withstand the king's onslaught.

Consequently, King Cyrus could not penetrate the walls of ancient Babylon, so he decided to distribute his army between the entrance of the river to the city and the exit of the water of said city, in order to be able to enter once the water will drop low enough level.

Thanks to this, the Persians managed to enter the city of Babylon, surprising all its inhabitants and causing panic, anguish and misfortune. In this way they managed to conquer foreign territory.

This version of Herodotus has caused much controversy, because in other texts (such as in the Cyrus cylinder) it is stated that Babylon was not taken by force, but that they actually decided to cede the territory to the Persians in order to avoid the battle.

Journey to Egypt

After visiting the city of Babylon, Herodotus decided to return home. However, his adventurous spirit called him back, so a few years later he decided to make a third expedition (the first had been to Athens), choosing Egypt as his final destination.

One of the things that most caught this traveler's attention about Egyptian culture was his religion, so he decided to spend time with the Egyptian priests; in this way he would know the difference between the Greek priests and those of that region.

One of the aspects that most astonished Herodotus was the River Nile, as he was curious about the fact that its flooding occurred regularly and naturally.

This information had been unknown in Greece until that time. In summer, the Greek rivers became shallow, while in the Egyptian country the water cycle was completely the opposite.

Fascinated by this phenomenon, Herodotus went upriver in order to find the source of the Nile. The author presented various theories about the origin of these waters; however, they were all wrong.

Despite this, historians cannot deny the importance of this journey for Western knowledge, since Herodotus was the first to describe and record the different theories, both his own and local, about the origins of that ancient river.

Contributions

Contributions in the area of ​​geography

In the work Histories of Heródoto, the writer established his point of view on the terrestrial area. His proposal differed from the proposals of Hecateus, who established that the Earth was completely surrounded by an ocean current.

For the historian, the Homeric proposal was more acceptable, which established that the Earth was composed of a flat disk through which the Sun made a constant journey from east to west.

Likewise, the author tried to delimit a correspondence of a symmetrical nature on the distribution of the Earth, taking into account the direction of the Ister River (which is currently known as the Danube) and the Nile. However, his knowledge of the Nile was full of mistakes.

Herodotus had the idea of ​​considering that the Caspian was an inland sea, which was a vision opposed to the argument of Hecateus, for whom said sea was actually an arm belonging to the northern ocean. In this respect, Herodotus was one step ahead of his contemporaries.

Mathematical contributions

It is necessary to clarify that Herodotus' contributions were not properly mathematical since his knowledge was directed towards mathematical geography, which is a branch of that sector that is responsible for studying the mathematical representation of the planet.

This author was in charge of drawing the longitude of the meridian, for which he made a drawing of the meridian of Aswan, Troda, Meroe, Alexandria and Borístenes.

This made him one of the first Greek intellectuals to sketch the longitudes and latitudes of the world. However, he found himself limited by the fact that in ancient times west of Greece there were no more territories, which invalidated his research.

Plays

Many historians and researchers have drawn various conclusions about the work of Herodotus. For example, for Fritz Wagner this geographer went beyond the rational explanation of the myths, to annotate following the chronicle pattern and the description of the different territories, as he demonstrated an exceptional ethnological curiosity.

Another author such as Mario Orellana proposed that the richness of Herodotus' texts lies in the fact that the historian knew how to recognize a set of cultural and social traits among the "barbarian" peoples, thus demonstrating how different some ethnic groups were from others.

In other words, his research not only stayed on the sidelines of the warlike events between Hellenes and Persians, but also made an exhibition of the peoples that made up the vast Persian Empire.

The nine books of history

Herodotus's work is titled The Nine Books of History, which is why it is a collection of nine books that are divided, in turn, into a total of 28 themes or logos.

Structure of the work

In the first book the author covered everything corresponding to the history of Croesus, Cyrus the Great and the events between Babylon and Persia. In the second book the author described the geography of Egypt, as well as the customs and animals of this region along with the work of mummification.

In the third book, Herodotus devoted himself to explaining how Cambyses' conquest of the Egyptians occurred, as well as the coups of Darius and the events at Samos.

In the fourth book the author dealt with matters concerning the country of the Scythians, with special zeal in the Persian campaign against this territory. He also described the conquest of Libya by the Persian Empire.

In the fifth section the historian was in charge of exhaustively narrating the conquest of Thrace, as well as the events related to the Ionia rebellion and Sparta. Similarly, he addressed some Athenian events and what happened during the Ionian revolt.

The sixth section shows the reader the reconquest of Ionia by the Persians, as well as some elements of Greece. One of the most important events is found in this text, as Herodotus described the Battle of Marathon in detail.

In the seventh book Herodotus drew up the Persian preparations for battle, which is why he also mentioned the customs of Xerxes. He also recounted the manner in which the Persians entered and crossed Europe. Also, in this book you can find a forceful description of the Battle of Thermopylae.

As for the eighth section, Herodotus decided to explain the naval battle that occurred at Artemisio; He also gave some specifications on the Battle of Salamis and on the Macedonian kingdom. Finally, in the ninth book Herodotus addressed the Battle of Plataea, the liberation of the Ionians, and the founding of the Empire of Athens.

Herodotus on his own work

In the introduction to his book, Herodotus argued that his investigative work was aimed at remembering the great works carried out by men, so that in this way the feats and feats (of both the barbarians and the Hellenes) would not be forgotten.

For this reason he decided to study in depth the different societies that made up the Empire of the Medes, going back not only to the military events but to their antecedents. Despite the defeat of the Persians, Herodotus wished to record his actions, for these too were full of boldness and courage.

Customs and sociability

In the first book, entitled Clío, the author described the people of the Lydians, whose main and tourist attraction lay in the fact that gold nuggets could be found in that territory.

Likewise, the author established that there were many similarities between the Lydians and the Greeks, with the exception that that culture had a normalized custom of prostituting their daughters in order to earn more money for the family and for the young woman's marriage dowry..

About the Persians

Regarding the culture of the Persian Empire, the traveler expressed that Persian men were the citizens who most accepted foreign customs. That is why they used the Median suit, as it seemed more attractive than their own; in addition, they used the Egyptian breastplates for war.

In the same way, Herodotus affirmed that the Persians maintained homosexual relationships, a question that they learned from the Greek culture, in his opinion. In addition, the Persians liked to have several legitimate wives, trying also to have a large number of concubines.

Taking this into account, it can be established that the author showed a sensible concern for the social customs of the other; However, the description of these customs was always carried out from the comparison with the Hellenic forms.

One of the aspects that historians admire about Herodotus is the fact that the author avoided making negative judgments about the behavior of barbarian societies, demonstrating genuine historical commitment.

About the Egyptians

The Egyptians were the preferred culture of Herodotus, since the writer extended forcefully in the description of that city and developed his writing with special care.

About this culture, the historian affirmed that it was the one that had more wonders to offer compared to any other country, and that its beauty surpassed any type of weight.

Herodotus was amazed at the different Egyptian customs, such as the fact that women in that culture had the power to perform labor tasks, while men could stay weaving at home.

Furthermore, Herodotus was astonished by the writing of the Egyptians, which was completely different from his own. In Egyptian culture only men could be priests and only they could wear long hair, while the rest of the men had to shave.

Quotes

In the texts of Herodotus you can find different phrases that attract the attention of scholars due to their stylistic beauty and their wise reflections. The most famous quotes of this historian are the following:

"If you start with certainties you will end with doubts, but if you settle for starting with doubts you will end up with certainties even if words are lacking."

“No man is so foolish to wish war and not peace; for in peace children lead their parents to the grave, and in war it is parents who lead their children to the grave ”.

"Of all the miseries of man, the most bitter is this: knowing so much and not having control of anything."

"Democracy bears the most beautiful name that exists… Equality."

“But against extraordinary criminals, one must have extraordinary resources. We will send ”.

"Don't try to cure evil through evil."

"Your state of mind is your destiny."

"It is easier to fool many together than one alone."

"Haste is the father of failure."

"The most bitter pain among men is that of aspiring to much and not being able to do anything."

"Give all the power to the most virtuous man that exists, soon you will see him change his attitude."

References

1. (SA) (nd) Herodotus: biography, contributions, phrases, trips around the world and more. Retrieved on February 21, 2019 from Historical Characters: historical characters.com
2. Berdorf, B. (2013) Herodotus in the history of Greek philosophy. Retrieved on February 21, 2019 from DSpace: diposit.ub.edu
3. Herodotus (nd) The nine books of History. Retrieved on February 21 from Universal Virtual Library: Biblioteca.org, ar
4. Lecaros, M. (2015) Herodotus, a historian of culture. An approach to the History of customs and norms. Retrieved on February 21, 2019 from WordPress: talesdelorbiterrarum.files.wordpress.com
5. Wells, J. (sf) A commentary on Herodotus: with introduction and Appendixes. Retrieved on February 21, 2019 from Mirror Mission: mirror.xmission.net