page_title: Histories (Herodotus)
section_title: Book I (Clio)
hierarchical_section_title: Histories (Herodotus) / Summary / Book I (Clio)
context_page_description: The Histories of Herodotus is considered the founding work of history in Western literature. Written in 430 BC in the Ionic dialect of classical Greek, The Histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that were known in Greece, Western Asia and Northern Africa at that time. Although not a fully impartial record, it remains one of the West's most important sources regarding these affairs. Moreover, it established the genre and study of history in the Western world.
  The Histories also stands as one of the earliest accounts of the rise of the Persian Empire, as well as the events and causes of the Greco-Persian Wars between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus portrays the conflict as one between the forces of slavery on the one hand, and freedom on the other. The Histories was at some point divided into the nine books that appear in modern editions, conventionally named after the nine Muses.
  On the legacy of The Histories by Herodotus, historian Barry S. Strauss writes:
  He is simply one of the greatest storytellers who ever wrote.
context_section_description: The rapes of Io, Europa, and Medea, which motivated Paris to abduct Helen.  The subsequent Trojan War is marked as a precursor to later conflicts between peoples of Asia and Europe.  (1.1–5)
  Colchis, Colchians and Medea. (1.2.2–1.2.3)
  The rulers of Lydia (on the west coast of Asia Minor, today modern Turkey): Candaules, Gyges, Ardys, Sadyattes, Alyattes, Croesus (1.6–7)
  How Candaules made his bodyguard, Gyges, view the naked body of his wife. Upon discovery, she ordered Gyges to murder Candaules or face death himself
  How Gyges took the kingdom from Candaules (1.8–13)
  The singer Arion's ride on the dolphin (1.23–24)
  Solon's answer to Croesus's question that Tellus was the happiest person in the world (1.29–33)
  Croesus's efforts to protect his son Atys, his son's accidental death by Adrastus (1.34–44)
  Croesus's test of the oracles (1.46–54)
  The answer from the Oracle of Delphi concerning whether Croesus should attack the Persians (famous for its ambiguity): If you attack, a great empire will fall.
  Peisistratos' rises and falls from power as tyrant of Athens (1.59–64)
  The rise of Sparta (1.65–68)
  A description the geographic location of several Anatolian tribes, including the Cappadocians, Matieni, Phrygians, and Paphlagonians. (1.72)
  The Battle of Halys; Thales predicts the solar eclipse of May 28, 585 BC (1.74)
  Croesus's defeat by Cyrus II of Persia, and how he later became Cyrus's advisor (1.70–92)
  The rulers of the Medes: Deioces, Phraortes, Cyaxares, Astyages, Cyrus II of Persia (1.95–144)
  The rise of Deioces over the Medes
  Astyages's attempt to destroy Cyrus, and Cyrus's rise to power
  Harpagus tricked into eating his son, his revenge against Astyages by assisting Cyrus
  The culture of the Persians
  The history and geography of the Ionians, and the attacks on it by Harpagus
  Pactyes' convinces the Lydians to revolt. Rebellion fails and he seeks refuge from Mazares in Cyme (Aeolis)
  The culture of Assyria, especially the design and improvement of the city of Babylon and the ways of its people
  Cyrus's attack on Babylon, including his revenge on the river Gyndes and his famous method for entering the city
  Cyrus's ill-fated attack on the Massagetæ, leading to his death
caption: Edwin Long's 1875 interpretation of The Babylonian Marriage Market as described by Herodotus in Book 1 of the Histories
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