There are many legends and rumors about who is called the father of history. They say that by publishing his work, he achieved the recognition of history as a real science, they write that he was such a unique scientist that he left almost no students behind him, point to controversial points in his works and immediately refer to them during scientific discussions. Such a long memory can only be deserved by truly unique scientists who have left behind the most significant research in their field. And one of these scientists was the great Herodotus, who lived in Ancient Greece in the 5th century BC, who rightfully received the nickname the father of history.
Herodotus and philosophy
The name of Herodotus was inextricably linked with history in ancient and modern science. The volume of his heritage is difficult to perceive from the point of view of modern historians, because for us the recording and analysis of historical events is a natural and natural phenomenon. The ancient Greeks had a completely different worldview.
AmongGreek philosophers were dominated by the idea that only the unchanging can be known. They focused on the study of natural phenomena, ignoring social and historical realities. It was believed that the study of the past of mankind is a hopeless task, since the passage of time is transient, which means that history is unknowable.
Herodotus and his "History"
The satirist Lucian describes that Herodotus achieved fame in just four days. For a long time he worked on his own essay describing the past of his ecumene. The father of history lived in sunny Halicarnassus, where he worked for a long time on collecting and analyzing the meager historical facts that he could collect. Having finished his work, he went to Olympia, where by that time the Olympic Games were being held. There Herodotus spoke to the audience in the temple of Zeus and arranged public readings of his work there. The audience was so shocked by the knowledge and presentation of their own past that they immediately assigned the nine volumes that made up the History of Herodotus the names of nine muses. By the end of the competition, the audience was interested not so much in the performances and sporting successes of their favorite champions as in the new pages of Herodotus' creation.
Herodotus in the ancient world
Lucian was not a contemporary of Herodotus, he wrote his notes six hundred years after the death of the great Greek. Therefore, many details of his story raise certain doubts. It is unlikely that the father of history could publicly read the "History" in front of the public in its entirety. His whole work is longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey, togethertaken. In addition, some scientists argue that this monumental work remained unfinished. The "History" of Herodotus ends with a description of the scene of the execution of one Persian. And some chapters have survived only in the form of links and marked up paragraphs.
Thucydides is officially considered a student of Herodotus, but the principles of his description, in particular in the "History of the Punic War", are fundamentally different from everything written by Herodotus. His "History of the Punic Wars" is written in a completely different vein, not continuing, but rather refuting the theses of his predecessor.
Indirect confirmation of the wide popularity of Herodotus can serve as a parody of his story in the comedies of Aristophanes. Agree that it is difficult to make a parody based on little-known or unpopular books. The bust of the first explorer of past centuries stood in the famous library of Pergamon. Many years later, Aristotle praised the work of Herodotus, calling him a model of an exemplary historian.
Father of history or father of geography?
The name of the father of history can easily be supplemented with various titles. Those with which he was endowed both by his contemporaries and by researchers of the future. With equal rights, he deserves the titles of "father of history", "father of geography", "father of ethnography". Each of his historical stories is preceded by a short prologue, which describes the geographical location, name and customs of the people that will be discussed. For example, describing the campaign of Xerxes to Sparta, Herodotus does not forget to mention the artisans who make honey on Mount Callateb,or talk about wild animals that lived at that time in the forests of France. A variety of information - true and invented, was described by him with equal care, as if offering descendants to independently understand the intricacies of truth and fiction.
Echoes of Glory
But different historical schools agree on one thing - it was Herodotus who became the first person who gave history the status of a science, it was through the prism of his work that ancient Roman and then medieval schools led the tradition of describing their own modernity. The discovery of his works during the Renaissance gave a new impetus to the understanding of ancient culture. In the historical Russian school, the works of Herodotus were highly valued by Karamzin, who achieved the popularization of ancient authors among his contemporaries.
