| Book Title | Pages | Start Date | End Date | Total Pages | Average Pages Per Day (7 days/week) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The First Book, Entitled Clio | 1 - 48 | May 19, 2025 | May 25, 2025 | 48 | 7 |
| The Second Book, Entitled Euterpe | 49 - 88 | May 26, 2025 | June 1, 2025 | 40 | 6 |
| The Third Book, Entitled Thalia | 89 - 123 | June 2, 2025 | June 8, 2025 | 35 | 5 |
| The Fourth Book, Entitled Melpomene | 124 - 159 | June 9, 2025 | June 15, 2025 | 36 | 5 |
| The Fifth Book, Entitled Terpsichore | 160 - 185 | June 16, 2025 | June 22, 2025 | 26 | 4 |
| The Sixth Book, Entitled Erato | 186 - 213 | June 23, 2025 | June 29, 2025 | 28 | 4 |
| The Seventh Book, Entitled Polymnia | 214 - 259 | June 30, 2025 | July 6, 2025 | 46 | 7 |
| The Eighth Book, Entitled Urania | 260 - 287 | July 7, 2025 | July 13, 2025 | 28 | 4 |
| The Ninth Book, Entitled Calliope | 288 - 316 | July 14, 2025 | July 20, 2025 | 29 | 4 |
Herodotus was born about four years after the battle of Salamis in Halicarnassus in Asia Minor. Although a Greek colony, the city had been subject to Persia for some time, and it remained so for half of Herodotus’ life. He came from a Greek family which enjoyed a position of respect in Halicarnassus, and his uncle, or cousin, Panyasis, was famous in antiquity as an epic poet.
The Persian tyranny made any free political life impossible, and Herodotus, after his elementary education, appears to have devoted himself to reading and travelling. In addition to his unusually thorough knowledge of Homer, he had an intimate acquaintance with the whole range of Greek literature. In his History he quotes or shows familiarity with, among others, Hesiod, Hecataeus, Sappho, Solon, Aesop, Simonides of Ceos, Aeschylus, and Pindar. Whether or not the plan of his History governed or grew out of his travels is not known. All the dates of his travels are uncertain; it is thought that most of them were made between his twentieth and thirty-seventh year. The History reveals the elaborateness of his observation and inquiry. He traversed Asia Minor and European Greece probably more than once, visited all the most important islands of the Archipelago—Rhodes, Cyprus, Delos, Paros, Thasos, Samothrace, Crete, Samos, Cythera, and Aegina—made the long journey from Sardis to the Persian capital of Susa, saw Babylon, Colchis, and the western shores of the Euxine as far as the Dnieper, travelled in Scythia, Thrace, and Greater Greece, explored the antiquities of Tyre, coasted along the shores of Palestine, saw Gaza, and made a long stay in Egypt.
Apart from the travels undertaken in his professional capacity, political developments involved Herodotus in many shifts of residence. About 454 B.C. his relative, Panyasis, was executed by Lygdamis, the tyrant of Halicarnassus. Herodotus left his native city for Samos, which was then an important member of the Athenian Confederacy. He was there for seven or eight years and perhaps took part in the preparations for the overthrow of Lygdamis. After the expulsion of the tyrant, in which the Athenian fleet may have been a decisive factor, he returned to Halicarnassus, which then became a member of the Confederacy. He remained there less than a year. It is surmised that an unfavorable reception to parts of his History and the ascendency of the anti-Athenian party caused Herodotus to leave Halicarnassus for Athens.
At Athens, Herodotus seems to have been admitted into the brilliant Periclean society. He was particularly intimate with Sophocles, who is said to have written a poem in his honour. Plutarch records that the public readings he gave from his History won such approval that in 445 B.C., on the proposal of Anytus, the Athenian people voted to award him a large sum of money. At one of his recitations, the story is told that the young Thucydides was present with his father and was so moved that he burst into tears, whereupon Herodotus remarked: “Olorus, your son has a natural enthusiasm for letters.”
Despite his fame in Athens, Herodotus may not have been reconciled to his status as a foreigner without citizenship. He was either unwilling or unable to return to his native land. When in 443 B.C. Pericles sent out a colony to settle Thurii in southern Italy, Herodotus was one of its members. He was then forty years old.
From this point in his career Herodotus disappears completely. He may have undertaken some of his travels after this time, and there is evidence of his returning to Athens, but it is inconclusive. He was undoubtedly occupied with completing and perfecting his History. He may also have composed at Thurii the special work on the history of Assyria to which he refers and which Aristotle quotes.
From the indications afforded by his work it is inferred that he did not live later than 425 B.C. Presumably he died at Thurii; it was there that his tomb was shown in later ages.