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Herodotus Analytical Essay

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As a historian, we are often forced to express evidence from one point of view because there are no accounts for the other side. One of the famous historians is Herodotus, a Greek historian who is known for being the ‘father of history’. He is famed for his records of the clash between the Greek city-states and the Persian empire in the Greco-Persian war. Although he is a historian who wants to tell the tales of the Greco-Persian war, his accounts of history are biased. On the other hand, some literature like The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan attempts to present history in a neutral light. Discrepancies between truth and half truth often leave misinterpretations of empires, rulers, people, and the quality of the life of that time period. This leaves behind an “us vs. them” mentality that would last for centuries. When the words, “Persian Empire” comes to mind, we often think of the greatest empire known to mankind, an empire that was strong, successful, and tolerable to religion, traditions, and cultural values. However, from Herodotus’ book, The Histories, he portrays the Persians as monsters, and rulers like King Xerxes I were unfair, cruel, and a monster to the outside people like the Greeks and even to his own people. An example of this is when Pythius the Lydian asked Xerxes to spare his …show more content…

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World. London: Bloomsbury, 2015.
Herodotus. "Herodotus: Xerxes Invades Greece, from The Histories." Ancient History
Sourcebook. August 2000. Accessed September 21, 2017. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herodotus-xerxes.asp.
Introduction: Darius' Titles and the Extent of his Empire." Behistun (3) - Livius. 1997. Accessed
September 21, 2017. http://www.livius.org/articles/place/behistun/behistun-3/.
Marcellinus, Ammianus. Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book
31. pp. 575-623. Accessed September 21, 2017.

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