Herodotus
A traveller writes down what he was told, and invents a genre.
- When
- Known to
- ± 10 years
- Era
- Classical, Holocene
Herodotus composes an account of the Persian Wars that ranges across Egypt, Scythia, Babylon and Libya, reporting customs, geography and stories, frequently noting that he does not believe what he is relaying but records it because he was told it. That habit — distinguishing report from judgement — is the beginning of history as an investigation rather than a chronicle. Cicero called him the father of history; others have called him the father of lies.