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Herodotus: Historians
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Herodotus’ other big break from the Homeric tradition came in the form of style. He shifted the nature of historical writing from poem to prose. Herodotus wished to challenge Homer as an interpreter of the past and he knew that was a monumental challenge. He had to develop a style that would provide an intriguing narrative while maintaining historical accuracy (a task which historians today still find challenging). Herodotus pulls this off by connecting events by theme rather than by chronology and he does it masterfully. And while he has been criticized by other historians, both ancient and modern, for drifting in his narratives, thematic prose is still the method of some the most successful historical writers of modern times.
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From there, Herodotus journeyed on to Busiris, where he observed and recorded some of the practices of the cults of Osiris and Isis. He traveled cross-country to Bubastis, on the eastern bank of the Pelusian branch of the Nile.<34> Though little remains of Bubastis today, Herodotus apparently had fond memories of its tree-lined streets and large temples. From there it is believed that Herodotus traveled to Heliopolis, whose inhabitants, Herodotus believed, were the most learned in Egypt. It is presumed that the priests in Heliopolis related the details of their religion and culture to Herodotus, but for once he Greek historian is tight-lipped about what he had learned.<35>
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A medieval dictionary, the so-called Suda, mentions Herodotus' tomb on the market of Thurii; some historians have believed this statement. However, Athens and Pella (in Macedonia) ... claimed his tomb, and it is imaginable that the Thurians have invented theirs after reading Aristotle.
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The documentary evidence that is so valued among modern day historians was simply of no use to Herodotus. In the first place, the temple archives that housed what little documentary evidence there was did not simply open their doors to every wanderer who happened by.<64> Unless a document was published--which means it was inscribed and set in a public place--the average person would not have had access to it, let alone been able to read it. Herodotus cites twenty-four inscriptions, half of them Greek, half not.<65> Some of these he wrote down, some he recalled from memory,<66> but for the most part Herodotus does not value documentary evidence very highly-- the reason was not that it was unavailable, but that it was inaccessible.<67>
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