Who was the Father of History?
Historians have pondered this question for centuries. I’ve always favoured Herodotus who seems to have been the first to ask an important question about the past, undertake research to establish the truth, and to publish a book of his findings. There were many before him who wrote of past events, usually the deeds of kings or religious figures, but they lacked the inquisitorial method and first-hand observations of the man from Halicarnassus.
Thucydides has his partisans. He was certainly less credulous than Herodotus and omitted any reference to the supernatural in his writings. On the other hand, his reconstruction of what Greek leaders might have said is nothing I would applaud in historians working today.
Nevertheless, both of these guys are of enormous value to our understanding of the past and both are, in their own ways, charming writers. (And I have busts of both of them.) For the next couple of days I’ll feature chunks of their works for those of you who have not had the pleasure of their acquaintance.