Herodotus (hɨˈrɒdətəs;
Ἡρόδοτος Hēródotos) was an ancient
Greek historian who was born in
Halicarnassus,
Caria (modern day
Bodrum,
Turkey) and lived in the fifth century BC (484 – 425 BC). He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent, and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative.
The Histories—his masterpiece and the only work he is known to have produced—is a record of his "inquiry" (or
ἱστορία historía, a word that passed into Latin and acquired its modern meaning of "history"), being an investigation of the origins of the
Greco-Persian Wars and including a wealth of geographical and
ethnographical information. Although some of his stories were fanciful, he claimed he was reporting only what had been told to him. Little is known of his personal history.