"The Histories" by Herodotus

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the last part of Herodotus's "Histories" contains the history of the Greek-Persian war, which was an important event for both Greeks and Persians and had a strong influence on future Greek history. The author describes the story of Themistocles, a new generation of patriot-fighters for Greek freedom and the only man who united the Greeks and directed their strength against their Persian conquerors. The paper concludes that, by describing deeds of great leaders and their character, whether true or not, Herodotus succeeded in explaining the war between two different nations, which had different cultures, levels of development and interests in international politics: the Greeks were described as being peaceful and kind nation; whereas, the Persians were aggressive and cruel soldiers who wanted to turn Greeks into slaves and capture their homeland.

From the Paper:

"Themistocles was born in one of the Athens district and his father belonged to a famous dynasty of Licomides. His mother was a foreigner and that's why many Greeks blamed Themistocles for being a half-Greek, treated him with great disrespect and simply didn't consider this young man as a real Athens citizen. This idea could not be real but formed by public opinion and Herodotus could create some facts as well. The only aim of these discriminating facts was to show readers of "Histories" that Themistocles was a real Greek patriot, even more than many original Greeks and it didn't matter who his mother was. Herodotus announced that discrimination formed such feature of Themistocles's character as self-respect which displayed in his constant wish to be first everywhere: while studying, playing sport games etc. Themistocles turned into a self-reliant and harmonious personality and sure, had some leader's features. Talented boy wanted to become famous to make everybody respect him and forget his origin."

More papers on "The Histories" by Herodotus:

• Book Review # 97379 : "Herodotus: "The Father of History"
• Research Paper # 144757 : "Herodotus in Babylon"
• Essay # 56447 : "Herodotus in Egypt"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: