The father of history is Herodotus , an ancient Greek historian from Halicarnassus (modern-day Bodrum, Turkey) who lived around 484–425 BCE. He earned this title because he wrote The Histories , the first systematic narrative account of historical events in Western literature. His work covers the Greco-Persian Wars and provides detailed cultural, ethnographical, and geographical background, forming the foundation for the discipline of history.
Herodotus was innovative for using a method that combined investigations and accounts from various sources to explain the causes and effects of events, going beyond mere chronology. Although some contemporaries and later scholars questioned the accuracy of some anecdotes in his writings, modern historians recognize his pioneering role in historical inquiry.
Thus, Herodotus is celebrated not only as the first historian but also as a key figure in shaping how history is studied and written.
