Ἱστορίαι (work by Herodotus, Ancient Greek) Add a review

The Histories (Greek: Ἱστορίαι, Historíai; also known as The History) of Herodotus is considered the founding work of history in Western literature. Although not a fully impartial record, it remains one of the West's most important sources regarding these affairs. Moreover, it established the genre and study of history in the Western world (though historical records and chronicles did exist beforehand).

The Histories also stands as one of the earliest accounts of the rise of the Persian Empire, as well as the events and causes of the Greco-Persian Wars between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus portrays the conflict as one between the forces of slavery (the Persians) on the one hand, and freedom (the Athenians and the confederacy of Greek city-states which united against the invaders) on the other. The Histories was at some point divided into the nine books that appear in modern editions, conventionally named after the nine Muses.

The oldest extant copy of Histories by Herodotus are manuscripts from the Byzantine period dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries CE (the Codex Laurentianus Codex A).