Herodotus

Timeline

1. c. -484–-460Halicarnassus · CariaHerodotus was born in Halicarnassus on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor, part of the Hellenized city-state world. Tradition holds that he came from a wealthy family, received a good education in his youth, and was at one point forced to leave his homeland due to political disputes or his pro-Athenian stance.
2. c. -460–-440Eastern Mediterranean · Greek worldHerodotus traveled extensively through Egypt, the Persian Empire, the Black Sea region, and the Greek cities, gathering material through oral tradition, personal observation, and documents. His extensive ethnographic and geographical descriptions reflect a historical method of supplementing oral traditions with field investigation.
3. c. -440–-430Athens · AtticaHerodotus publicly recited and completed the main body of The Histories in Athens and elsewhere, centering on the Persian Wars while also describing the peoples, forms of government, and customs of various lands. The work is regarded by later ages as the first systematic historical narrative in the West, establishing the paradigm of narrative historiography.
4. c. -430–-425Thurii · CalabriaHerodotus may have settled in his later years in Thurii and other newly founded colonial cities in southern Italy, continuing to revise The Histories and completing the final version. His reputation was quickly established after his death, becoming one of the most admired historians of the classical age.