Herodotus lived between 484 and 425 BCE. He is best known for his work the Histories, written around 430 BCE, which focused on the Greco-Persian Wars. The first invasion of Greece took place between 492 and 490 BCE, ending just six years before Herodotus was born. The second invasion of Greece took place between 480 and 479 BCE, when Herodotus was a child. Histories was divided into 9 books by those who transmitted his work after his death. Elizabeth Vandiver states that, “Herodotus’s Histories is the first example of historiographical writing in the European intellectual tradition.” The Roman writer Cicero gave him the title Father of History, “because he was the first writer to attempt fully to describe events and also to explain their causes. He wrote on the recent, human past rather than the distant, heroic past. He attempted to explain the causes of those events, not just to narrate—there is the invention of history.” Here are historical sites that you can visit that are associated with the life of Herodotus:

The Life of Herodotus

Miletus, modern day Turkey: Vandiver states that, “When Herodotus set out to record the recent human past, rather than the distant mythic past, he was not the first Greek to do so. The logographers were chronicles who predated him. Many of the logographers came from Ionia.” Both Hecataeus of Miletus and Thales of Miletus were influential on Herodotus. You can visit the ruins of Miletus today, the images below come from Wikipedia.

Halicarnassus, modern day Turkey: located within the modern city of Bodrum, this is where Herodotus was born in the year 484 BCE. It is famous for the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, built more than 100 years after the time of Herodotus. The mausoleum was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but was destroyed during the Middle Ages. The images come from Wikipedia.

Island of Samos, modern day Greece: Vandiver states that, “we can be certain about very little about the life of Herodotus. He says in The Histories that he travels widely (including to Egypt, Tyre, and Babylon–although this is disputed). The ancient biographical information says that he was exiled, at one point, to the island of Samos, probably for taking part in an uprising against the tyrant Lygdamis II.” Today on Samos you can visit the Heraion, an ancient sanctuary that Herodotus wrote about.

Athens, modern day Greece: during his life, Herodotus lived and worked in Athens, where it is said that he was friends with the playwright Sophocles. The Parthenon began construction in 447 BCE, when Herodotus was 37 years old, and was completed in 438 BCE, when he was 46.

Thurii, modern day Italy: In 443 BCE, Herodotus moved to Thurii, Greek colony, where he likely died. The city was abandoned during the Middle Ages and today is in ruins.

Vandiver states that in The Histories, “Herodotus’ overall purpose was to memorialize great deeds and to record and explain the events of the Greco-Persian Wars. To do that, he had to explore the background of that war, to branch out geographically and chronologically.” The first invasion of Greece took place between 492 and 490 BCE, ending just six years before Herodotus was born in 484 BCE. The second invasion of Greece took place between 480 and 479 BCE, when Herodotus was a child. The Histories were written around 430. The work was divided into 9 books after his death. Book I outlines the beginnings of the conflict between east and west; Herodotus traces the origins back to the Trojan War, the subjugation of Ionia by Croesus and the rise of Cyrus the Great. Here are historic sites you can visit today mentioned in Book I:

Book I

Argos, modern day Greece: according to legend, enmity between east and west began when a princess named Io was kidnapped from the Greek island of Argos by the Phoenicians and taken to Egypt. Today you can visit the ruins of the Heraion of Argos

Tyre, modern day Lebanon: in response to the kidnapping of Io, some Greeks landed in the Phoenician city of Tyre and kidnapped the princess Europa. Today in Tyre you can visit the Al Bass Necropolis Site

Vani, modern day Georgia: after the kidnapping of Io and Europa, Greeks sailed to the ancient kingdom of Colchis and kidnapped Medea. “Herodotus says that Medea’s father sent to Greece to demand her return and ask for reparations, but the Greeks justified their refusal to give her back by saying that Asians had never paid any compensation for Io.” Below are images from the museum at Vani, the best studied site from ancient Colchis, which is modern-day Georgia

Sparta, modern day Greece: the most famous kidnapping was of Helen by the Trojan prince Paris, starting the legendary Trojan War. Helen, said to be the most beautiful woman in the world, was married to Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Today you can see the Menelaion, a shrine associated with Menelaus and Helen

Troy, modern day Turkey: according to most tellings of the Trojan War, Paris kidnapped Helen and took her to Troy, the ruins of which were uncovered in the 19th century by Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann.

Memphis, modern day Egypt: according to Herodotus, Helen was never in Troy. James W. Neville writes that, “at Memphis, there is a temple dedicated to ξείνη Ἀφροδίτη (Foreign Aphrodite). Inquiries of the priests elicited the story that Paris, after eloping with Helen, was shipwrecked off the coast of Egypt.” Herodotus stresses that if Helen had been in Troy, “the Trojans, if not Priam, would have surrendered her because of the great hardship caused to them all.” Today in Memphis you can see the ruins of various sites, including an ancient temple dedicated to Hathor, the goddess of love.

Sardis, modern day Turkey: the Trojan War is said to have occurred around 1200 BCE. Moving forward in the historical record, Vandiver states that, “Ionia was an increasingly important part of the Greek world from the late 7th century onward. According to Greek tradition, it had been settled by colonists from the Greek mainland.” In his work, Herodotus establishes the idea that the east-west conflict has existed for thousands of years although, “Herodotus’ real starting point is Croesus of Lydia, whom Herodotus sees as the first man that he can verifiably claim wronged the Greeks. Croesus ruled Lydia from around 585 to 546 BCE, and conquered the Greek cities of Ionia. This is an example of the use of individuals to explain the processes of history, and Herodotus’ debt to the narrative patterns of traditional myth and of Homer. Croesus was supposedly the richest king who had ever lived; he violated two of the most important maxims of Greek life, which were carved on Apollo’s temple at Delphi—nothing in excess and know yourself.” Croesus lost his kingdom to Cyrus, the king of the Achaemenid Empire, who took the capital of Sardis in 547 BCE.

Ecbatana, modern day Iran: Vandiver states that, “Cyrus was the first Persian ruler to conquer other nations and form the beginnings of an empire. Cyrus is marked out as exception by his conception, his birth, his escape from early death, and his restoration to his rightful position. Before Cyrus, the Persians were a subordinate group to the Medes. They ruled from a capital called Ecbatana, which Cyrus conquered in 550 BCE.”

Babylon, modern day Iraq: after conquering Ecbatana, Cyrus conquered Lydia. He then conquered Babylon in 539 BCE. Joshua J Mark writes that, “Herodotus was a great storyteller who, in keeping with the practice of his time, was as interested in relating a compelling tale as sticking to factual details. It seems increasingly clear, based on archaeological evidence and ancient cuneiform records, that the Babylon of Herodotus’ Histories differs from the actual ancient city of his time, but this is not to say his description is wholly inaccurate.” Herodotus did, “encourage the image of Babylon as a city of licentiousness rather than a more accurate picture of it as a great cultural, religious, and trade center.” Never wholly abandoned, excavations of Babylon began in the 19th century. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Books II, III, and IV

The Pyramids in Egypt: In Books II, III, and IV, Herodotus continues the description of the spread of the Achaemenid Empire. Book II focuses on Egypt, Book III concentrates on the rule of Darius, and Book IV looks at Darius’ campaigns against Scythia. After the death of Cyrus the Great, his son Cambyses ascended to the Persian throne in 530 BCE. In 525, the Persians conquered Egypt. Elizabeth Vandiver states that, “Herodotus interrupts his account of Cambyses reign and the formation of the Persian Empire with the largest ethnographic digression in the Histories. For Herodotus’, Egyptian customs are either topsy turvy—mirroring but reversing Greek customs—or else are the sources of Greek customs. He sees Egyptian religion in many ways as the source of Greek religion. Herodotus says that he writes at length about Egypt because Egypt contains more wonders than any other country. He describes the pyramids. When he asks his informants what the hieroglyphics say, they give him answers that are completely and utterly ridiculous. One of his informants say that one of the inscriptions says how many radishes, onions, and garlic the workers ate. The most probable explanation for this is that Herodotus’ guide didn’t know how to read hieroglyphics. The meaning had been forgotten by this time. The onion plant is a hieroglyphic for king.”

Yeha, modern day Ethiopia: Vandiver states that, “Herodotus describes Cambyses conquest of Egypt and his failed expedition against Ethiopia. Herodotus claims that there were not enough provisions and eventually, the troops had to resort to cannibalism. Lots were drawn and 1 in every 10 were eaten by his fellows. Modern scholars think that Herodotus is overstating the disastrous aspect of the Ethiopian expedition.” The ancient history of Ethiopia is best remembered for the wealthy Kingdom of Axum, but they rose around 150 BCE, several hundred years after the attempted conquest of Cambyses in the region. Before Axum, there was the Kingdom of D’mt, which lasted between 980 and 400 BCE. Their capital was at Yeha, where you can see the oldest standing structure in Ethiopia today–dating to 700 BCE. You can also visit Dungur in Ethiopia, known as the Palace of the Queen of Sheba (who would have ruled several hundred years before Cambyses invaded the region).

Siwa Oasis, modern day Egypt: according to Britannica, Cambyses planned to conquer the Oasis of Amon but the detachment perished in a sandstorm before reaching the site. Several hundred years later, after conquering Egypt (still under Persian rule), Alexander the Great visited the Siwa Oasis to speak to the oracle at the Temple of Zeus Amun, who apparently greeted him as the son of a god. Below are the ruins of that temple.

Hama, modern day Syria: according to the account of Herodotus, “after the Ethiopian campaign, when Cambyses returned to Memphis, he killed the sacred Apis calf—a sacred bull at Memphis. The outrage against the Apis calf is responsible for Cambyses going totally mad. He marries two of his sisters, killing one of them. He murders his brother. He commits various acts of totally irrational cruelty against the Persians. He dies in 522 BCE a small town of Agbatana.” This small town is apparently most likely Hama, Syria. Nearby to Hama are the ruins of Apamea, which was built after the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Mount Behistun, modern day Iran: after the death of Cambyses, an imposter known as Bardiya ruled for a few months. Conspirators met to discuss overthrowing him and Herodotus describes their conversation on the best form of government. “The first speaker, Otanes, recommends the establishment of popular government or democracy. The second speaker, Megabyzus, supports oligarchy or rule by the chosen few. The third speaker, Darius, supports monarchy. Otanes describes some of the problems with a monarchy—it is conducive to jealousy and hubris. Megabyzus agrees with the drawbacks of monarchy, but he says democracy is just as bad because the mob, by its very nature, is stupid and aggressive. You should be ruled by the best, chosen few—the best and brightest. Herodotus specifically insists that this debate took place, but modern scholars consider it to be impossible, as the debate is thoroughly Greek in conception and expression.” Darius becomes king, which is commemorated with the Behistun Inscription. During the time of Darius, he administered from four royal cities: Susa, Ecbatana, Pasargadae, and Persepolis.

Amasya, modern day Turkey: Vandiver tells us that, “the Scythians are the non-Hellenic people who get the most attention in the Histories, second only to the Egyptians. In 513 BCE, Darius marched against Scythia in the north. Herodotus describes the expedition in Book IV of the Histories. Herodotus tells us that the Scythians had no settled towns, no houses, and no agriculture. They were nomads who lived in wagons and herded cattle. They adopted a plan to continually draw the Persians deeper into Scythian territory and then retreating before them. Herodotus sees the Scythians as Europeans and so they are important as the first Europeans to defeat an invading Asian monarch. He says the Scythians are descended from the great Greek hero Heracles through his mating with a snake woman. He attributes this story to the Greeks of Pontus, the Greeks who lived around the Black Sea.” Later, the Kingdom of Pontus would emerge. In Amaysa, Turkey, you can see the Tombs of the kings of Pontus carved into the cliffsides.

Herrmitage Museum, modern day Russia: Vandiver states that, “Herodotus described Scythian royal burial customs… that the kings’ tombs were surrounded by horses and attendants who were killed to honor the king and buried in a circle around the tomb. Archaeology has recently confirmed many of Herodotus’ details. In the 20th century, Scythian royal burial mounds were discovered, which proved his descriptions. Herodotus mentioned that after a burial, Scythians purified themselves with a steam bath and that they threw hemp seeds on the seed bath. Archaeologists have found remans of these saunas. Archaeologists have also found several images in Scythian art of a female figure whose legs are snakes or a series of a snakes.” Many of the artifacts from the Pazyryk burials and the Solokha kurgan can be seen today in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Other sites include the Scythian Neopolis and the Royal Kurgan in the Crimea, the Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari, and the various Kurgan Stelae.

Books V – IX

Naxos, modern day Greece: In Book V Herodotus describes the Ionian Revolt. Book VI begins the narrative of the Persian Wars with Darius’ invasion of Greece. Books VII, VII, and IX look at the second Persian invasion under Xerxes. Here are historic sites that you can visit today mentioned in these final chapters. “In 499 BCE, the tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, launched a joint expedition with the Persian satrap Artaphernes to conquer Naxos, in an attempt to bolster his position. The mission was a debacle, and sensing his imminent removal as tyrant, Aristagoras chose to incite the whole of Ionia into rebellion against the Persian king Darius the Great.” Today on Naxos you can visit the Temple of Sangri, which was built in 530, just a few years before the Ionian Revolt.

Ephesus, modern day Turkey: Elizabeth Vandiver states, “the revolt spread quickly. Sparta and Athens were asked for help. Athens responded favorably. They sent a fleet of 20 ships. The fleet landed at Ephesus and marched to Sardis. The Athenians were involved in the sacking and burning of the city. The Athenians took no further part in the revolt after this. The Ionian revolt ended eventually with the decisive defeat of the rebels at the Battle of Lade in 494 BCE.” Ephesus is one of the most popular Greco-Roman sites to visit in Turkey today. Nearby you can visit the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, which was constructed around 550 BCE.

Aegina, modern day Greece: Vandiver states that, “Darius had been enraged by the burning of Sardis and he vowed vengeance, specifically against the Athenians, culminating in the first Persian invasion of Greece in 490 BCE. Before invading, Darius had sent heralds to several Greek city-states demanding that they give earth and water and many did, including the island of Aegina.” Joshua J Mark writes that, “According to Herodotus, Aegina was a colony of the city of Epidaurus.” Today on Aegina you can visit the Temple of Aphaea (a Greek goddess who was worshipped almost exclusively at this sanctuary), which was built around 500 BCE.

Marathon, modern day Greece: Vandiver states that, “as Herodotus tells the story of the Battle of Marathon, it is an example of extraordinary valor and success against great odds. When the Athenians heard that the Persian fleet was approaching, they sent a runner to Sparta to ask for assistance. While he was running, the runner encountered the god Pan. The Spartans did not send help. They said they could not leave until the full moon, which was six days away. The only allies the Athenians had against the Persians were the Plataeans from Plataea, a city-state near Athens. The Athenian success at Marathon was due, in large part, to the Hoplite phalanx and discipline. The Persians broke and ran. It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of Marathon in the Athenian popular imagination. The Marathon fighters very quickly assumed an almost legendary status. The veterans would be invoked later in the 5th century as examples of old-fashioned values, of the way Athenian men acted and behaved in the good old days. Marathon also contributed to Athens’ view of itself as the savior of Greece.” Today you can visit the Marathon tumuli, which contain the remains of the Athenians and Plataeans who died during the battle.

Xerxes Canal, modern day Greece: Vandiver continues that, “After the defeat at Marathon, Darius began to plan another campaign against Greece. After his death in 486 BCE, Darius was succeeded by Xerxes. His invasion was much larger. Herodotus says that Xerxes brings forces from every nation in Asia. Herodotus sees Xerxes invasion of Greece as the culmination of all previous conflicts between east and west. He says that this army is far larger than any other raised in any other war ever and that the army drinks rivers dry in Asia Minor. In late 2001, archaeologists identified the traces of Xerxes’ canal through Mount Athos. Herodotus says that Xerxes undertook this engineering feat in order to show his power and leave a memorial behind. He violated the boundary between Asia and Europe by bridging the Dardanelles. The first bridges he builds are destroyed by a storm. When this happens, Xerxes has the Hellespont whipped in a fury. He has a second bridge built and the troops cross.”

Delphi, modern day Greece: Vandiver states that, “given the size of Xerxes’ force and the number of Greek city-states that were medizing, Athens’ doom must have seemed inevitable.” The Athenians went to the oracle at Delphi to ask what they should do to meet the Persian threat. Delphi was a religious shrine dedicated to the god Apollo. The high priestess was called Pythia. After a questioner posed their query, she would make inarticulate sounds, which were then written out as words by the priests. It is not at all surprising that the oracle predicted disaster for Athens. Today, Delphi is one of the most famous sites to visit in Greece.

Thermopylae, modern day Greece: Vandiver states that, “The second Persian war began with two crucial battles, which took place on the same day. Thermopylae was a narrow pass, flanked on one side by towering mountains and on the other side by a drop to the sea. At its narrowest, the path was only wide enough for a single cart to pass through. For the first two days of battle, the Persians could make no headway. On the third day, a Greek traitor told Xerxes about a path through the mountain and after that, there was no hope. The army of Greek defenders split. 300 Spartans and 900 helots remained. 700 Thespians stayed of their own accord. In the version of Thermopylae that is most often recounted, the stress is always on the 300 Spartans. The topography has changed at Thermopylae, the sea has moved out so there is now marshy land where there used to be the drop to the sea, the path is now a four-lane highway, but you can see the burial mound the Spartans are buried under and a plaque of a famous epitaph by Simonides. Thermopylae assumed the status of legend almost immediately. It became as important to Sparta’s self-image as Marathon was to Athens, but in purely military terms, it was a terrible set back for the Greeks.”

Mount Parnassus, modern day Greece: Vandiver continues, “After Thermopylae, Xerxes continued his advance into Greece, heading southward towards Athens, which was about a 3 days march. Herodotus reports that a detachment of Xerxes’ troops turned aside to Delphi with the intention of plundering the temple. When the Persian troops reached the temple of Athena, which is down the mountain side from the main shrine of Apollo, supposedly two enormous crags broke off out Mount Parnassus, fell down and killed several Persians. He says that one could see these rocks embedded in the ground within the sacred precinct of Athena Pronaia. The Persians turned and fled instead of sacking the temple.”

Mycale, modern day Turkey: The Persians did reach Athens, however, and burned it. But after this defeat for the Greeks, a joint effort defeated the Persians at the naval Battle of Salamis. Vandiver tells us, “Xerxes was afraid that the Greeks might follow up their advantage at Salamis by sailing to the Hellespont and destroying his bridge there, which would strand him in Europe and so he left the army and sailed back towards the Hellespont. When he arrived, he found that the bridge had been destroyed by a storm. After Salamis, the Persians renewed their attacks on Athens. They were then decisively defeated with the battles of Plataea and Mycale. These were the last significant battles of the war.” In Mycale you can visit the ruins of Priene, although this city was built after the Greco-Persian wars during the Hellenistic period.

Vandiver concludes that, “Herodotus’ work clearly contains all sorts of elements that modern critics would normally associate with literature rather than with history, including recurring patterns. Herodotus gives no summing up of the end of the Persian wars, he doesn’t say what happened next, he doesn’t give any kind of great final paragraph, he doesn’t tell us what happened later on to Xerxes. This makes people think the Histories was unfinished when Herodotus died. The usual assumption that scholars make is that Herodotus’ work was published by February 425. The reason we can be that precise is that most scholars think that a passage in the comedy Acharnians by Aristophanes is a parody of the opening logos of the Histories when Herodotus describes the abductions of women, the demythologized versions of famous myths. We know that this play was performed in February of 425. It seems quite clear that Herodotus wrote at least part of the Histories during the early years of the Peloponnesian War, which began in 431 BCE. The question of Herodotus’ writing and publication date is significant because one possible motivation for Herodotus’ writing the Histories is that he may have wanted to remind the warring Greeks of a time when they had worked together. No author writes in a vacuum, anymore than any author writes truly objectively. There must have been resonances to and from contemporary events in his work. It would have been impossible to write a work about the Persian Wars during the Peloponnesian Wars and not at least think about the contrast. By the time of Plutarch, the idea had grown that Herodotus was deeply untrustworthy, that he was in fact the father of lies rather than the father of history. Even his admirers in late antiquity tended to praise him for his charm of style, rather than his achievement as a historian. Herodotus re-entered western European consciousness in the Renaissance when many Greek manuscripts were brought from Constantinople. In 1474, a Latin translation of the Histories was published. The first printed edition of the Histories was brought out in Venice in 1502.”

• Turkey: Miletus, Halicarnassus, Troy, Sardis, Amasya, Ephesus, Mycale
• Greece: Island of Samos, Athens, Argos, Sparta, Naxos, Aegina, Marathon, Xerxes Canal, Delphi, Thermopylae, Mount Parnassus
• Italy: Thurii, Lebanon: Tyre, George: Vani, Iraq: Babylon, Ethiopia: Yeha, Syria: Hama, Russia: Hermitage Museum
• Egypt: Memphis, the Pyramids, Siwa Oasis
• Iran: Ecbatana, Mount Behistun