The History of Herodotus

1880

Shoults Eb 1880 H

London: John Murray

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote of our need and desire for history in his essay On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life: ‘…history thus serves life, and expands the sense of what humans are capable of…’. Herodotus (c. 484-425 BC) has been called the ‘father of history’ and despite travelling widely, consulting archives and literary evidence, making observations and interviewing witnesses, he has been criticised for ‘embellishing’ his work. Written in prose in nine books, Histories is ‘an emancipation from myth’ (Watson), a 'factual' work, not one filled with gods and legends. Despite his detractors Herodotus left a seminal work that signalled the beginning of the tradition of historical writing.