Herodotus Essay

Herodotus, consider as the father of history, was born in the ancient Halicarnassus, current Turkey, and lived between 485 and 425 BC, about 150 years previous to the creation of the Library of Alexandria. Moreover, due to Persian rule over greece, Herodotus fled to Samos resulting from his conflicts with the local government and will not return until 450 BC, when he participated part in the campaign to defeat Lygdamis, to once again leave the city after the completion of the campaign. Furthermore, Herodotus traveled to Athens at the time of its peak, allowed him to contemplate the great political and cultural boom of the city. During his stay in Athens, Herodotus met Pericles, and became friends with both Sophocles and Anaxagoras, focusing

Who is the best example of a hero? Hercules. He is the mortal son of zeus. Hercules is the strongest hero of all time. Not only does he have incredible strength, but he is very caring of his family and mortals. Hercules is not just one of those basic, amatuer heros, he has so much experience since he had performed 12 labours. These are some of the reasons why Hercules is known as the greatest hero of all time.

Achilles, on the other hand, can almost be fully comprehended from his initial disagreement with Agamemnon. Agamemnon's unreasonable actions seem to justify Achilles' refusal to engage his men in battle, primarily, because his pride will not allow him to act. Achilles believes himself to be the most important man in the army and the injury cannot be forgiven. Even when a diplomatic escape is contrived by Agamemnon, Achilles sees his position as unchanged-doubtlessly, Odysseus would have relented but Achilles is unable to forget past grievances.

A tragic hero is a character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw, which combined with fate, results into a tragedy. The tragic hero must fall from good luck and well being to misery and misfortune. The tragic hero causes a sense of pity through the tragic downfall that weakens the character. In Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone follows her own beliefs by giving her brother a proper burial, even if she has to break the law of King Creon. Because of her innocent actions, Antigone is punished unjustly and unfairly. Through her risky and unselfish actions, ability to follow her own beliefs, and perseverance Antigone is the tragic hero of this play.

His cowardly act will definitely tarnish his name and left humiliation to his offspring and to the next generation of Greeks. Thus, honor would not allow him and his allies to take a step back and peacefully solve the conflicts because the highest honor can only be gained through heroism in battles.

In 431 B.C., even before the Peloponnesian War, Athens’ strength compared to other Greek polises was evident. Athens had islands, a powerful, a well-trained navy, and one, if not the best, general at the time: Pericles. Pericles says in his speech that, “war is inevitable,” but in fact the war was preventable (72). Even with all of the military strengths and assets that Athenians had afforded to them, they chose to be merciful to the Peloponnesians who were in no shape to go to war. They did not have the experience, money, manpower, or means to participate in a lengthy war and Pericles makes the citizens aware of this (70). Pericles is both modest and humble for choosing to point out these facts which in turn helps the Athenians see the potential

The structure of The Histories presents a problem. The secondary structure of The Histories almost obscures the primary structure, making the book difficult to follow. We are presented with two possibilities. Either Herodotus is not a good author or The Histories was not meant to be read as a book. Given the oral nature of fifth century Athens the later is far more likely. Books were likely a rarity in Herodotus' time given the difficulty in reproducing them. Given the oral

“Herodotus of Halicarnassus here gives the results of his researches, so that the events of human history may not fade with time and the notable achievements both of Greeks and of foreigners may not lack their due fame; and, among other things, to show why these peoples came to make war on one another.” Herodotus is considered one of the founders of historiography. It had long been argued that Herodotus was important for his military histories of Ancient Greece, but although his works focused on military and war he put specific emphasis on detailed factors that related more to the cultural aspects of Greek history.

IX. I). Herodotus contrast with Thucydides in the fact that Herodotus resigns from characterizing people as barbaric but instead calls them poor and cannot live on their own or claims they are a danger to themselves. While in Thucydides they call Ionians barbaric and Greeks used this as reasoning to enslave them.

I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble -Augustus Caesar (63 BC - 14 AD)

The advancements he made while the act of recording the past was just beginning to flourish were substantial enough to be considered still effective today. In his work called The Histories, Herodotus explores a copious amount of topics while keeping not a word impartial and remaining thoroughly unbiased. His main conflict was centered on the civilizations of the East and the West, a topic that has been illustrated over and over again by many of his successors. Although in his time technology was scarce, he took matters into his own hands and began to ask questions of the people at the places he would write about and unveil their histories, customs, artwork, and buildings.

When Sparta gave its ultimatum to Athens, Pericles was more than happy to oblige and go to war. He embodies Athenian arrogance and overzealousness. Pericles speaks to the Athenian assembly convincing them to go to war because according to him, they cannot lose. Pericles explains how Sparta doesn’t have the same financial advantages that Athens does and how Athens has a far superior navy. According to Pericles, the best strategy is to use that to Athens’ advantage, leaving Attica exposed by only attacking and defending the sea were they have an advantage. Pericles finishes of by saying that Athens possesses all of Sparta’s strengths and none of its weaknesses, and Athens must fight so that future generations will have an Athens that is as good as ever.

In the beginning of the book "The Essential Herodotus" the author Herodotus describes the process through which he crafted his history. Herodotus mentions that he never intended to write a history of Greece, but rather a historie, consisting of research and investigations that he had conducted throughout his travels. Herodotus is known as the "father of history”; he was the first person to begin to create a formal, documented account of the history of Greece. Throughout his travels, Herodotus acquired new knowledge of geography as well as the belief systems of foreign civilizations. Herodotus’ writing style is unique compared to the other ways historians craft histories. For example, Herodotus often starts his chapters off with mythology.

Herodotus wrote, “for it would seem that it is easier to deceive man than one, seeing that he did not prove able to deceive cleomenes, the Lacedaemonian by himself, yet he did this to thirty thousand Athenians.” (Herodotus, The Histories, 97). Xenophon and Plutarch studied how Aristagoras was able to convince thirty thousand athenians but was not able to convince

Have you ever read or watched a play that left your heart into pieces? Then, you have definitely come across what is called a tragedy. A tragedy is a form of drama in which the ending is a deep, serious, and sad one that leaves the audience in sorrow; this devastating ending is caused by the hero’s downfall, which is due to their “tragic flaw”. Every tragedy has a fallen hero known as “the tragic hero”. In the drama, “Antigone”, by Sophocles, there are two main tragic heroes, Antigone and Creon. Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who dies at the beginning of the play leaving his two sons Eteocles and Polyneices, fighting over his thrown. Both of his sons die in the battle leaving the throne to their uncle, Creon, who clashes with Antigone; this clash leads to a tragedy where the two tragic heroes have their own