Herodotus, prolific Ancient Greek writer. The Histories of Herodotus (490/480–425 bc), a native of Halicarnassus in Asia Minor, are not a history in the modern sense: the Greek word historia means ‘an investigation’. Herodotus’ main subject is the conflict between the Greeks and the Persians, and as such his book is history; but it is also an investigation into the geography and anthropology of the east in Herodotus’ own day, for as a young man he had travelled widely in the Greek-speaking world and in Egypt and Africa.
