HERODOTUSof Halicarnassus.

‘The Father of History’

Homer

The Apotheosi

s of Homer

•The Iliad

•The Odyssey

Herodotus?Bald head

Cleft beard

Furrowed brow

Herodotus ΗροΔοτογ

Born: c484 BC?Died: c430 BC?

Does not mention anything after 430 BC, especially the destruction of

Aegina in 424.

Herodotus of Halicarnassus

• Born Halicarnassus• Son of Lyxes and

Dryo.• Related to the epic

poet Panyasis.• Exiled to Samos.• Died at Thurii,

southern Italy.

Halicarnassus

Halicarnassus

= ModernBodrum, Turkey.

The Persian Empire

Persepolis

Halicarnassus• Greek colony.

• 353 BC Mausolus’ tomb – a wonder of the world

Ίστορίης (Historiê)

• Originally a series of lectures?

• Arranged into 9 scrolls or ‘Books’.

• Romans named each book after a muse.

• Each book consists of three units, or logoi = one lecture?

The Muses

• Book 6- Erato: Muse of love poetry and mimicry.

The invasion of Darius.• Book 7 – Polymnia:

Muse of dancing and geometry.

The invasion of Xerxes.

History?

The English Patient effect

The Histories.

• Style.• Content.• Personal

opinion.• Beliefs.• Evidence.• Facts.• Accuracy.

Scope of the ModuleThis module deals principally with areas of literature and society, but is also concerned with history and politics. Candidates should have a detailed knowledge of the set texts; they also need to know in outline the history of the period with which the prescribed text deals, but detailed historical knowledge is not required. The course might begin with some study of the ancient historians’ collection and treatment of their material: what did they regard as historical sources, how carefully did they test the accuracy of their evidence, what did they think was the purpose of writing history? In tackling these questions, appropriate comparisons with the attitudes and approaches of modern historians might well be made. Candidates might then examine selected episodes from the prescribed texts in detail, comparing the different ways in which the different writers select, represent and explain events, and contrasting the approaches of historians and biographers. Some important considerations would be the literary form chosen by the writers (for example, their use of speeches and set-piece descriptions), the moral values and social attitudes implicit in their works, and their treatment of religion and of supernatural causation.