Campaign of Darius against the Scythians. First Persian expansion into Europe. Persian campaign in Libya.
Herodotus, a scion of a wealthy family from Halicarnassus, was likely born around 484 BC. It is confirmed from various information about his life that he spent some time during his youth in Samos, that he traveled to Greece, Scythia, Pontus, and the East, and that he participated in the colonization of Thurii, the city where he died around 430 BC.
Herodotus' writing, a work for which he was called the 'father of History', was divided by the Alexandrian scholars into nine books (each titled with the name of a Muse) based on their content. The historian begins his narrative with the rise of the Persian empire, continues with the history and anthropology of Egypt, the conquest of that country by the Persians, their relations with the Western world, and culminates his work with the Persian wars.
By drawing information from oral tradition, written sources, and archaeology, while also utilizing mythological data, Herodotus composes his History in the Ionic dialect, which is characterized by sincerity, objectivity, and an unbiased approach to people, nations, and events.
