who was born in Halicarnassus
, Caria
(modern day Bodrum
, Turkey
) and lived in the 5th century BC ( – ). He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative. The Histories
—his masterpiece and the only work he is known to have produced—is a record of his "inquiry" (or historía, a word that passed into Latin and took on its modern meaning of history), being an investigation of the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars
and including a wealth of geographical and ethnographical
information.
I know that human happiness never remains long in the same place
Men trust their ears less than their eyes.
In peace sons bury fathers, but in war fathers bury sons.
It was a kind of Cadmean victory.
I am going to talk at some length about Egypt, because it has very many remarkable features and has produced more monuments which beggar description than anywhere else in the world.
From great wrongdoing there are great punishments from the gods.
If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.
It is better to be envied than pitied.
Force has no place where there is need of skill.