According to Herodotus - and all ancient people - the edges of the earth were the parts of the world where fabulous creatures and savage barbarians lived. Herdotus' ideas are offered here in the translation by Aubrey de Sélincourt.
The Greek researcher and storyteller Herodotus of Halicarnassus (fifth century BCE) was the world's first historian. In The Histories, he describes the expansion of the Achaemenid empire under its kings Cyrus the Great, Cambyses and Darius I the Great, culminating…
One of the most fantastic stories by Herodotus is his account of the gold-digging ants in India, which has unexpectedly found confirmation.
The gold digging "ants"
[3.102] Besides these, there are Indians of another tribe, who border on the city of Caspatyrus,…
The Greek researcher and storyteller Herodotus of Halicarnassus (fifth century BCE) was the world's first historian. In The Histories, he describes the expansion of the Achaemenid empire under its kings Cyrus the Great, Cambyses and Darius I the Great, culminating…
The story of the skulls of Pelusium illustrates Herodotus' use of evidence: he has checked the facts for himself. His explanation is obviously wrong, but at least he knows what he is talking about and is not repeating a story…
Tyre (Phoenician רצ, ṣūr, "rock"; Greek Τύρος; Latin Tyrus): port in Phoenicia and one of the main cities in the eastern Mediterranean.The Greek researcher Herodotus of Halicarnassus visited Tyre in the mid-fifth century BCE. In Herodotus' Histories 2.44, he offers…
Thermopylae (Greek Θερμοπύλαι; "Hot Gates"): small pass in Greece, site of several battles, of which the Spartan defeat against the Persian invaders in 480 is the most famous.The main source for the battle of 480 is Herodotus, Herodotus' Histories, 7.201-233, which…