Herodotus: The History
Herodotus of Halicarnassus was born about 484 B.C. and died some 60 years later. He traveled  over much of the known ancient world, making trips to places such as southern Italy, lower Egypt, and the  Caucasus. His greatHistory, the first major prose work in world literature, is an account of his  world at the time of the Persian Wars. The book, here ably translated by University of Chicago scholar  David Grene, earned Herodotus the epithet "The Father of History" in ancient times. He  distinguishes between the things seen with his own eyes and those of which he had only heard. But he was  often too credulous of things told to him by his peers along the way, for which reason his younger  contemporary Thucydides called him "The Father of Lies." Renowned in his own time for his  humanity and wide-ranging curiosity, Herodotus shows an insatiable appetite for both useful information  and a good yarn, andThe Historyis a starting point for any student of the past.