Herodotus in Context

Herodotus called his work an enquiry and wrote before 'history' was a separate discipline. Coming from Halicarnassus, at the crossroads between the Persian and Athenian spheres of influence, he combined the culture of Athens with that of the more pluralistic and less ethnocentric cities of east Greece. Alive to the implications of this cultural background for Herodotus' thought, this study explores the much neglected contemporary connotations and context of the Histories, looking at them as part of the intellectual climate of his time. Concentrating on Herodotus' ethnography, geography and accounts of natural wonders, and examining his methods of argument and persuasion, it sees the Histories, which appear virtually without antecedents, as a product of the late fifth-century world of the natural scientists, medical writers and sophists - a world of controversy and debate.

• Concentrates on the ethnography and geography rather than the historical narrative alone
• Undertakes an extensive comparison with the contemporary and near-contemporary thinkers who wrote about natural philosophy and the nature of man
• Sees Herodotus as a writer who does 'fit' into the exciting developments of the world of the late fifth century BC in his own way