Question #ecdc7
1 Answer
Herodotus wrote perhaps the first factually based History in his Enquiries the history of the Persian Wars.
Explanation:
It is often said that history is written by the winners. While it is true that Herodotus wrote his history of the Persian Wars from a Greek perspective his account has been proven to be remarkably accurate by archeology, and current research.
Herodotus was born in Asia Minor and lived under Persian rule before the wars. This might account for his more balanced presentation of the facts of the Persian Wars.
Later Greek historians attacked Herodotus for being a barbarian lover, asserting that he gave too much credit to the Persians and did not glorify the Greeks adequately.
Herodotus was clear even in the title of his history that his goal was to explore and perhaps explain the causes of the wars between the Greeks and the Persians. Perhaps he thought that by understanding this conflict further conflicts might be avoided. His goal was not to glorify his civilization but to understand what caused the the war.
