History Of Herodotus: The Father Of History

Herodotus is known as the “Father of History,” because he is the first person to write what we would consider real history. I addition, he is the person who wrote the first recorded instance of the word history. Herodotus tried to write a history that was truer and more objective. He typically wrote about the culture and people in their societies. Herodotus also had drawn on and Ionian tradition of storytelling, collecting, and interpreting the oral histories he chanced upon in his travels. These oral histories often contained folktale motifs and demonstrated a moral. Herodotus also wrote about the Greek mythology as in the book Herodotus: On the War for Greek Freedom. Some may think that because the book is small there is no material in it,

At the Battle of Thermopylae, Leonidas and his troops fenced off the Persian attacks for seven days straight, including three days of intense battle, while killing off large numbers of enemy troops. On page 134, Demaratus told Xerxes, “Greece has poverty as her birthright, but she has also won courage by her own merits, namely by her wisdom, and the strength of her laws. With courage, Greece is able to keep both poverty and despotism from her shores … don’t bother to ask how man they are that they are able to do this; if there are but a thousand in the field, these will fight you; if they are fewer, or more, these will fight you just the same.” So that is how the Greeks withstood the Pesian force for so long and even their elite special force ‘The Immortals.’ Eventually Leonidas became aware that his force was going to be attacked and taken over, and therefore diminished the vast majority of the Greek army rather than suffer more high casualties. Leonidas himself however remained behind and defended Sparta with his 300 Spartan soliers and some other remaining Thespians and Thebans. Leonidas was killed in the resulting battle. Xerxes was a very angry man who fought for revenge and power whereas Leonidas fought for his country. There is also the comparison of Xerxes and Alexander the Great. Alexander, ages 20-32, commanded a much

He had led the first abortive invasion of Greece in 492 BCE under Darius’ rule, so he persuades Xerxes to go to war. So like Xerxes, Mardonius is driven by revenge. Mardonus also boldly exaggerates his achievements in 492 BCE to back up Xerxes’ decision. Artabanus is Xerxes’ uncle and the counterpart of Mardonius. Artabanus is against war on Greece. Herodotus tended to describe Xerxes as ruler who had absolute power who exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way, but that is not one hundred percent correct. Xerxes may be a ruthless ruler with all power, but he did not make the decisions completely on his own. He would go to Mardonius and Artabanus for help, advice and talk to them. He would tell them his thoughts and they would give feedback. Now they may not have had a direct say or impact in the decision, but they could persuade Xerxes, as shown in the beginning of the book, towards a certain