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Herodotus was a Greek historian living in Ionia during the fifth century BCE. He traveled extensively through the lands of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and collected stories, and then recounted his experiences with the varied people and cultures he encountered. Cicero called him “the father of history,” and his only work, The Histories, is considered the first true piece of historical writing in Western literature. With lucid prose that harks back to the time of oral tradition, Herodotus set a standard for narrative nonfiction that continues to this day.
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Herodotus is the ancient writer and reporter called "The Father of History." He was among the first to approach the reporting of history in a logical and skeptical way; he tried to separate true events from myth, and made a point of identifying his sources and noting his trust (or lack of trust) in them. It didn't hurt that he was a colorful writer and commentator; his most famous work, The Histories, remains a widely-read account of ancient facts and legends and (in particular) of the Persian invasion of ancient Greece. (It's the main source for details on the famous battles at Marathon and Thermopylae.) Ironically, the details of Herodotus' own life are unclear. He is believed to have been born at Halicarnassus, on the Aegean Sea in Asia Minor, and to have traveled widely, collecting and recording stories as he went.
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In the case of Herodotus, along with the facts he added his bias opinions, hearsay tales, and to spice it up in places, mythology was included. Yet, there were no guidelines for the proper way to convey historical accounts for Herodotus. Perhaps it's possible he wasn’t trying to be a 'historian' at first, that for whatever reason he was just using historical events as a backdrop similar to the Iliad. Perhaps only later did he recognize there could be interest in factual accountings. At any rate, his works are called The Histories apparently based on the term ‘historia’ (Latin/Greek) which means ‘inquiry’.
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Herodotus is generally referred to as the "father of history" in many books. While some may disagree with the notion that Herodotus was the first historian, in part because his works lack the chronological cohesiveness of modern historical works and because he is not beyond adding some tall tales to his history to enliven the narrative, no one will disagree with the fact that he greatly contributed to our knowledge about the Ancient Greeks. The Histories is written in a folkloric, storytelling style that allows it to seamlessly make the transition to an audio format. Throughout this narrative, Herodotus presents his first hand-account of what life was like in Ancient Greece. He not only discuses the customs, culture, and day to day life in Ancient Greece, but he ... describes the history of Greece. As well, he chronicles the military actions that Greece engaged in during his lifetime, in particular the Persian War, and he also takes an intimate look at the political situation in Greece as well as in surrounding areas.
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Herodotus is preeminent as a historian of the conflict of cultures. Throughout his work, food behavior is often the focus for sensitive and striking portrayals of culture clash. When Persian ambassadors visited the king of Macedonia, their stupidity in demanding the company of women at dinner, in conflict with local custom, was justly rewarded: the "women" who entered the dining hall were young men in disguise, armed with daggers, and the ambassadors were never heard of again (Histories, book 5, sections 18รข€“20).
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Herodotus wrote a history of the Persian invasion of Greece in the early fifth century B.C., known simply as The Histories of Herodotus. This work was recognized as a new form of literature soon after its publication. Before Herodotus, there had been chronicles and epics, and they too had preserved knowledge of the past. But Herodotus was the first not only to record the past but ... to treat it as a philosophical problem, or research project, that could yield knowledge of human behavior.
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