“This is the display of the inquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassus.”
Histories, opening
Herodotus opens his Histories by declaring his aim: to preserve the great deeds of Greeks and barbarians and to explain why they fought. He travels Egypt, Persia, Scythia and the Greek cities, reporting customs, oracles, genealogies and rival versions of the past.
He is often sceptical, sometimes credulous, and always aware that different peoples tell different stories. He records what Greeks say about their gods while treating divine intervention as one explanation among others.
Legacy
Cicero called him the 'father of history'; his method — inquiry, comparison, attributed sources — still defines the field.