The history of Egypt up to the campaign of the Persian king Cambyses. Herodotus, born into a wealthy family in Halicarnassus, was likely born around 484 BC. Verified details about his life include that he lived for some time in 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's writing, for which he was dubbed the 'father of history', was divided by Alexandrian scholars into nine books (each titled after a Muse) based on their content. The historian begins his narrative with the height of the Persian Empire, continues with the history and anthropology of Egypt, the conquest of this country by the Persians, their relations with the Western world, and culminates his work with the Persian Wars.

Drawing information from oral tradition, written sources, and archaeology, and also utilizing mythological data, Herodotus composes his History in the Ionic dialect, characterized by sincerity, objectivity, and an unbiased approach to people, nations, and events.