2. Who is the father of history? To which country does
he belong to?
Why there cannot be a history without sources
Answers
Herodotus has been called the “father of history.” An engaging narrator with a deep interest in the customs of the people he described, he remains the leading source of original historical information not only for Greece between 550 and 479 BCE but also for much of western Asia and Egypt at that time.
Explanation:
It was in the early days of the Peloponnesian War that Herodotus completed his History and published it. It was something new, something unique. It was not a chronicle, nor was it a local history. It was historia<1>-- researches into a major event of the past. It is no coincidence that Herodotus wrote his work at this time. In his History Herodotus tells of the Persian Empire, its rise to the height of imperialism, and its faltering and ultimate collapse. Some say that Athens, too, had reached the height of her imperialism, and the Peloponnesian war would bring to Athens what the war Herodotus wrote about brought to Persia. The author of the History wanted to do more than retell the events of the past, he want to prove a point and make sure the people of the future remembered and learned from the events of the past. He did not want to relate his story. He wanted to relate history.
The Life and Travels of Herodotus
People sometimes let their own experiences filter the way they interpret the events of the past. For this reason it is important that anyone seeking to study the work of another--whether a history, a diary, or even a personal letter--should devote some effort to the study of that person's life. Only then can a student of history effectively judge the work of the historian in its proper light. Was the author trying to make a point? Was he hoping to convince the reader of something? If there is some deeper meaning to the history that someone creates, the key to unlocking that meaning will be found in his past.
The man known to history as Herodotus is believed to have been born in Halikarnassos around 484 BC. Most of what is know about him comes from a tenth century Byzantine lexicon, the Souda, and even that is incredibly brief:
Herodotus, the son of Lyxes and Dryo, a man of Halicarnassus, belonged to a prominent family and had a brother, Theodoros. He emigrated to Samos because of Lygdamis, the tyrant of Halicarnassus, the third in line after Artemisia. For the son of Artemisia was Pisindelis, and Lydgamis was Pisindelis's son. While in Samos, he mastered the Ionic dialect, and wrote a history in nine books, starting with Cyrus the Persian, and Candaules, the king of the Lydians. He returned to Halicarnassus and drove out the tyrant, but afterward, when he saw that he was hated by the citizens, he went as a volunteer to Thurii when it was being colonized by Athens, and there he died and was buried in the marketplace. But some authorities state that he died in Pella...<2>