Herodotus, often called the "Father of History," is the earliest and one of the greatest in the pantheon of ancient Greek prose writers. He was born in the early fifth century B.C., about the time of the Persian invasion of Greece that was a major focus of his book, traditionally known as the History of the Persian Wars. He was born in Halicarnassus, a Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor, but he spent much of his life traveling around the Mediterranean. His father was Lyxes, but little is known about his parents, and nothing is known about any spouse or children. He probably died toward the end of the fifth century, perhaps in Thurii, a Greek colony in southern Italy.

Besides his History of the Persian Wars, no other work by Herodotus is known; but the surviving text of the history is a long one...