Herodotus

General:

• Born at Halicarnassus in modern Turkey, he was an Ionian
• Narrative: storyteller
• He invented narrative history: contemporary events told in prose
• The divine plays a role, but mostly via dreams, oracles, etc.
• Human action and human culture are his focus
• Interviewed people: research
  
• Ethnography: endlessly curious about other peoples
• The customs and cultures of many peoples are reported
• A whole book (Book 2) is devoted to Egypt
  
• The main theme of his Historia (published ca. 425) was the Persian War of 490-479BCE
• A Greek coalition (Sparta led) fought and defeated a MUCH larger Persian empire
• Famous battles: Marathon (490), Salamis (480), Plataea (479)
• One of THE Decisive Events in Western History: had Persia won, it is hard to see how 'the Greek spirit' could or would have continued to develop
• For Herodotus, Persia represents despotic rule.
• Greece, on the other hand, represents the rule of law, people who decide things via public debate, free and equal citizens
• So it is Greek freedom versus Asiatic slavery
  
• But he is a multiculturalist of sorts: III.38
  
• May have become a citizen of Thurii (a colony founded as a joint effort of several poleis)