Herodotus was born in about 485 B.C. in the Greek city of Halicarnassus, a lively commercial center on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. He came from a wealthy and cosmopolitan Greek-Carian merchant family.

When was Herodotus alive?

Herodotus, (born 484 bce?, Halicarnassus, Asia Minor [now Bodrum, Turkey]? —died c. 430–420), Greek author of the first great narrative history produced in the ancient world, the History of the Greco-Persian Wars.

What was Herodotus known for?

Herodotus is undoubtedly the “Father of History.” Born in Halicarnassus in Ionia in the 5th century B.C., he wrote “The Histories.” In this text are found his “inquiries” which later became to modern scholars to mean “facts of history.” He is best known for recounting, very objectively, the Greco-Persian wars of the ...