References to certain events in his narratives suggest that he did not die until at least 431 BC, which was the beginning of the Peloponesian War. In his later years, Herodotus traveled extensively throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. There, he visited the Black Sea, Babylon, Phoenicia, and Egypt. He is best known for his work entitled Histories . Because of this, Cicero claimed him to be the Father of History.
Histories is the story of the rise of Persian power and the friction between Persia and Greece.
The battles that are described are the ones fought at Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis. His story is the historical record of events that happened in his own lifetime. The first Persian War took place just before he was born, while the second happened when he was a child. This gave him the opportunity to question his elders about the events in both wars to get the details he wanted for his story. Histories also contained information having to do with the country of Egypt.