Biography
Herodotus is a resident of ancient Greece, "Father of History". The Greek became the author of the first-lived treatise "History" to this day, in which the customs of the peoples that existed in the fifth century were described in detail in the fifth century, as well as the course of Greco-Persian wars. Proceedings of Herodotus played an important role in the development of ancient culture.
We have reached two key sources of information about the life path of Herodota: the encyclopedia of the "Court", created in the second half of the tenth century in Byzantium, and the texts of the historian himself. Some data in these sources are contradictory.
The generally recognized is the version that Herodotus was born in Galicarnassa in 484 to our era. This ancient city was located on the territory of the historic area "Kariya", on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in Malaya Asia. The city of Galicarnas was founded by Dorians, the settlement of the Carians (and Doriians, and the Carians are representatives of the main ancient Greek tribes located nearby).
The future ancient Greek historian was born in an influential and secured family of Lixis. In the youth of Herodotus participated in the political life of the people. He joined the party who set the goal to overthrow the tyrannic ruler of the League, was expelled, for some time he lived on the island of Samos.
Then Herodotus went to prolonged and numerous travels. He visited Egypt, Babylon, Malaya Asia, Assyria, Northern Black Sea, Gellesponte, and traveled the Balkan peninsula from Macedonia to Peloponnese. During travel, the historian did sketches for his subsequent creation.
In the forty-age, Herodota settled in Athens. At that time, he was already read by representatives of the highest layers of the urban society excerpts from his "history", which gave researchers the opportunity to conclude that the sketches were written back during travel. In Athens, the historian met and became close to the supporters of Pericla - the commander and a speaker, whom one of the founders of democracy in Athens is considered. In 444 BC, when the Greek Colony of Fouri was founded on the site of the destroyed city of Sibaris, he participated in the restoration of the settlement from the ruins.
The science
Thanks to Herodotus, science has enriched in the fundamental essay of "History". This book cannot be called historical research. It represents an interesting narration of the curious, sociable, gifted man who visited many places and has an extensive knowledge of contemporaries. In the "History" of Herodotus, several components are combined:
- Ethnographic data. The historian gathered an impressive amount of information on traditions, customs, features of life of various tribes and peoples.
- Geographic information. Thanks to the "history", it became possible to restore the outlines of the ancient states as of the fifth century to our era.
- Naturally historical materials. Herodotus included data on historical events in the book, whose witness he managed to become.
- Literary component. The author was a gifted writer who managed to create an interesting and fascinating story.
In total, the composition of Herodotus includes nine books. In this case, the essay is customary to divide into two parts:
- In the first part, the author talks about Scythia, Assyria, Libya, Egypt, Babylonia and a number of other states of that time, as well as on the elevation of the Persian kingdom. Since in the second half of Labor, the author assumed a story about the numerous Greek-Persian wars, in the first part he sought to trace the milestones of the historical struggle between Hellenes and Barbarians. Because of the desire for such unity, the interconnectedness of the presentation of Herodotus did not include all the materials in the work that he was remembered from traveling, but cost limited number. In his work, he often expresses a subjective point of view on certain historical realities.
- The second part of Herodota's labor is a chronological story about a military confrontation between Persians and Greeks. The narration ends in 479 to our era, when the Athenian troops were besieged and took the Persian city of the sister.
When writing his book, Herodotus paid attention to the pleasures of fate and the envy of the Divine Forces in relation to the happiness of people. The author believed that the gods constantly interfere with the natural course of historical events. He recognized the fact that the personal qualities of politicians are also the key to their success.
Herodotus condemned the rulers of Persia for their audacity, for the desire to violate the existing procedure for the device of the world, in accordance with which the Persians should live in Asia, and Ellina - in Europe. In 500 BC, an Ionian uprising was held, due to which ancient Greece was involved in a bloody war. This event the author characterizes as a pride manifestation and extreme inconsistency.
The structure of "History" Herodota
- The first book is "Clio". It tells it about the start of discord between the barbarians and the Hellennas, the history of the ancient country of Lydia is given, the story about Athenian politics and sage Solon, Tirana Pissistrate, the history of mussels and Sparta. In this book, Herodotus mentions the Scythians in the context of confrontation with the Cimmerians, and also talks about the war between Massagets and Persians.
- The book is the second - "EVTERPA". In this part of the work, the historian decided to talk about the history of Libya and Egypt, about pigments and nasamons, about the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. Here Herodotus outlined the legend of how Psammetih I determined that Frigians are the most ancient people in the world.
- The third is the "waist". It provides information about Arabia and India, about the Greek Tirana Polycrat, and also describes the conquest of Egypt to the Persian king Cambis, about the uprising of the magicians, the conspiracy of the Seven and the anti-Persian uprising that happened in Babylon.
- The fourth book is "Melpomen." Here the author described the peoples of Scythia, Frakia, Libya and Asia, and also outlined him the information about the campaign of the Persian Tsar Daria against the Scythians of the Black Sea region.
- The book is the fifth - "Terraticor". This book focuses on the events of Greco-Persian wars. If in previous volumes the author assigned a lot of pages under the description of the ethnographic features of peoples, then here he talks about Persians in Macedonia, about the Ionian uprising, about the coming of the Persian governor of Aristagora in Athens and Athenian wars.
- The book is the sixth - "Erato". Key events of the described - the marine battle of the "Battle of Lady", the capture of the Carian ancient Greek city of Mileta, the campaign of the Persian commander Mardonia, the campaign of the Persian commander of Artafrene and Datis.
- The book is the seventh - "Polhymy". It is about the death of Darius and the Advisions of Xerxes (Darius and Xerxes were Persian kings), about the attempts of Xerxes to conquer Asia and Europe, as well as the sign battle of Persians and the Greeks in the Gorge Fermopyl.
- Book of the eighth - "Uranius". This material describes the sea battle in artemism, the sea battle with Salamin, the flight of the Kerks and the parish of Alexander in Athens.
- The book is ninth - "Callieopa". At the end of the monumental labor, the author decided to tell about the preparation and course of the battle in the payments (one of the largest battles of the Greco-Persian wars, held on land), the battle of Mercale, as a result of which the Persian army caused a crushing defeat, and the siege of the sess.
The "History" of this ancient Greek thinker is also called "Music", since each of its nine parts, Alexandrian scientists decided to call the name of one of the music.
In the course of work, Herodotus used not only his memories and his own attitude towards events, but also was guided by the memories of eyewitnesses, entries of oracles, materials of the inscriptions. To reconstruct each battle as accurately as possible, he specially visited the place of battle. Being a supporter of Pericla, he often sings the merit of his kind.
Despite the faith in the divine intervention, the subjective approach and the limitation of funds for information in antiquity, the author did not reduce his whole job to fight the battle of the Greeks for his freedom. He also tried to determine the causes and consequences to which their victories or defeat were given. Herodotus History has become an important milestone in the development of world historiography.
The success of the work of the historian is due not only to the fact that in one work he collected many facts about the peoples and events of his time. He also demonstrated the high art of the narrator, bringing his "story" to the epic and making it a breathtaking story for both contemporaries and new time for people. Most of the facts set forth in the book were subsequently proven during archaeological excavations.
Personal life
Herodot's biography reached this day only in the form of fragmentary information, in which it is impossible to find data on his own family of a scientist, whether his wife and children have. It is only known that the historian was an inquisitive and sociable person, easily condensed with people and knew how to show amazing perseverance in finding historically reliable facts.Death
Herodotus allegedly died in 425 to our era. The place of its burial is unknown.