![]() ![]() ![]() In Book 1, Herodotus announces his purpose to memorialize the great and marvelous deeds of the Greeks and their barbarian neighbors, and, more particularly, to show why they came into conflict. ![]() The Histories are divided into nine Books. The Histories incorporate folklore, legend, mythic motifs, and literary patterns in a grand narrative that reveals the influence of fate and the divine, as well as individual agency, in human affairs and emphasizes the instability of human happiness and fortune. At the same time, Herodotus is also a master storyteller. The ambitious breadth of his subject, concern with rationally explaining the causes of human action, and critical and empirical attitude he displays toward his sources of information have led to the distinction Herodotus enjoys of being considered the pioneer of the historical method. The heroic drama of Greek freedom triumphing over oriental despotism forms the main theme of Herodotus’ narrative, but he supplements this story with dozens of digressions treating the geography, zoology, botany, religion, and ethnography of the many lands and cultures encompassed in the broad sweep of his history. ![]()
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