HERODOTUS (c. 484-425 B.c.), Greek historian, called the "Father of History," was born at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor, then dependent upon the Persians, in or about the year 484 B.C. Herodotus was thus born a Persian subject, and such he continued until he was 3o or 35 years of age. At the time of his birth Hali carnassus was under the rule of a Queen Artemisia (q.v.). The family of Herodotus belonged to the upper rank of the citizens. His father was named Lyxes, and his mother Rhaeo, or Dryo. He had a brother, Theodore, and an uncle or cousin, Panyasis (q.v.). the epic poet—a personage of so much importance that Artemisia's grandson, Lygdamis, suspecting him of treasonable projects, put him to death. It is probable that Herodotus shared his relative's political opinions, and either was exiled from Halicarnassus or quitted it voluntarily at the time of his execution. At any rate it is clear from the extant work of Herodotus that he must have de voted himself early to the literary life, and commenced that ex tensive course of reading which renders him one of the most in structive as well as one of the most charming of ancient writers. The poetical literature of Greece was already large; the prose literature was more extensive than is generally supposed; yet Herodotus shows an intimate acquaintance with the whole of it. The Iliad and the Odyssey are as familiar to him as Shakespeare to the educated Englishman. He is acquainted with the poems of the epic cycle, the Cypria, the Epigoni, etc. He quotes or other wise shows familiarity with the writings of Hesiod, Olen, Musaeus, Bacis, Lysistratus, Archilochus of Paros, Alcaeus, Sappho, Solon, Aesop, Aristeas of Proconnesus, Simonides of Ceos, Phrynichus, Aeschylus and Pindar. He quotes and criticizes Hecataeus, the best of the prose writers who had preceded him, and makes numerous allusions to other authors of the same class.
It must not, however, be supposed that he was at any time a mere. student. It is probable that from an early age his inquiring disposition led him to engage in travels, both in Greece and in foreign countries. He traversed Asia Minor and European Greece probably more than once; he visited all the most important islands of the Archipelago—Rhodes, Cyprus, Delos, Paros, Thasos, Samo thrace, Crete, Samos, Cythera and Aegina. He undertook the long and perilous journey from Sardis to the Persian capital, Susa, visited Babylon, Colchis, and the western shores of the Black sea as far as the estuary of the Dnieper; he travelled in Scythia and in Thrace, visited Zante and Magna Graecia, explored the antiqui ties of Tyre, coasted along the shores of Palestine, saw Gaza and made a long stay in Egypt. At the most moderate estimate, his travels covered a space of 31 degrees of longitude, or 1,700 miles, and 24 of latitude, or nearly the same distance. At all the more interesting sites he took up his abode for a time; he examined, he enquired, he made measurements, he accumulated materials. Hav ing in his mind the scheme of his great work, he gave ample time to the elaboration of all its parts, and took care to obtain by personal observation a full knowledge of the various countries. The travels of Herodotus seem to have been chiefly accomplished between his loth and his 37th years B.c.) but the dates are difficult to determine.
After Herodotus had resided for some seven or eight years in Samos, events occurred in his native city which induced him to return thither. The tyranny of Lygdamis had gone from bad to worse, and at last he was expelled. According to Suidas, Herodotus was himself an actor, and indeed the chief actor, in the rebellion against him ; but no other author confirms this statement. Hali carnassus became henceforward a voluntary member of the Athenian confederacy. Herodotus would now naturally return to his native city, and enter upon the enjoyment of those rights of free citizenship on which every Greek set a high value. But soon, owing either to political causes or, according to ancient anecdote, to lack of literary appreciation he withdrew (about 447 B.c.) to Athens, where his work won such approval that in the year 445 B.c., on the proposition of a certain Anytus, he was voted a sum of ten talents (L2,400) by decree of the people. But he did not possess the status of a citizen, and at Athens the franchise, jealously guarded at this period, was not to be attained without great expense and difficulty. Accordingly, in the spring of the following year he sailed from Athens with the colonists who went out to found the colony of Thurii (see PERICLES), and became a citizen of the new town.
From this point of his career, when he had reached the age of 40, we lose sight of him almost wholly. He seems to have made but few journeys—one to Crotona, one to Metapontum, and pos sibly one to Athens (about 43o B.c.) being all that his work indi cates. No doubt he was employed mainly, as Pliny testifies, in retouching and elaborating his general history. He may also have composed at Thurii that special work on the history of Assyria to which he twice refers in his first book, and which is quoted by Aristotle. It is not probable that he much outlived 424 B.C. The predominant voice of antiquity tells us that he died at Thurii, where his tomb was shown in later ages.
By this arrangement he is enabled to treat his subject in the grand way, which is so characteristic of him. , Making it his main object in his "introduction" to set before his readers the previous history of the two nations who were the actors in the great war, he is able in tracing their history to bring into his narrative some ac count of almost all the nations of the known world, and has room to expatiate freely upon their geography, antiquities, manners and customs, and the like, thus giving his work a "universal" character, and securing for it, without trenching upon unity, that variety, richness and fullness which are a principal charm of the best his tories, and of none more than his. In tracing the growth of Persia from a petty subject kingdom to a vast dominant empire, he has occasion to set out the histories of Lydia, Media, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Scythia, Thrace; and to describe the countries and the peoples inhabiting them, their natural productions, climate, geo graphical position, monuments, etc. ; while, in noting the contem poraneous changes in Greece, he is led to tell of the various migrations of the Greek race, their colonies, commerce, progress in the arts, revolutions, internal struggles, wars with one another, legislation, religious tenets and the like. The greatest variety of episodical matter is thus introduced ; but the propriety of the occasion and the mode of introduction are such that no complaint can be made ; the episodes never entangle, encumber or even un pleasantly interrupt the main narrative. Of his trustworthiness as a historian varying opinions have been entertained, which are dealt with under GREECE (History "Authorities"). But of his merits as a writer there can be no dispute. "0 that I were in a condition," says Lucian, "to resemble Herodotus, if only in some measure! I by no means say in all his gifts, but only in some single point ; as, for instance, the beauty of his language, or its harmony, or the natural and peculiar grace of the Ionic dialect, or his fullness of thought, or by whatever name those thousand beauties are called which to the despair of his imitator are united in him." Cicero calls his style "copious and polished," Quintilian, "sweet, pure and flowing" ; Longinus says he was "the most Homeric of historians"; Dionysius, his countryman, prefers him to Thucydides, and regards him as combining in an extraordinary degree the excellences of sublimity, beauty and the true historical method of composition.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-About 145o a Latin version of the history of Bibliography.-About 145o a Latin version of the history of Herodotus was made and published by Laurentius Valla. This was revised in 1S36 by Heusbach, and accompanies the Greek text in many editions. The first complete translation into a modern language was the English one of Littlebury (1737), followed (1786) by the French translation of Larcher, a valuable work with copious notes. A good German translation, without note or comment, was brought out by F. Lange (1811) . A. Mustoxidi published an Italian version (182o) ; A. Scholl, German translation with notes (1828-32, new ed. 18J5) ; Isaac Taylor, English version (1829) ; G. Rawlinson, English version (1858-6o) ; G. C. Macauley (189o) . Translations have been made into many languages.