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Herodotus Compare Contrast Essay

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In ancient times of the Greeks and Chinese were two influential historians. Their names are known around the world today. Their names are Herodotus and Sima Qian. Sima Qian was a historian from ancient China while Herodotus was from Greece. We all play a part in life and these two were no exception. If it wasn’t for them the history we can look back at now might not be there and we would never have known it happened. Herodotus knew that to be a historian you must want to have the ability to inquire about stories. Sima Qian had the role of telling of the great Chinese dynasties. We only have one life to live, but our lives will make up the past, and the past is history. These two influential writers didn’t just write, they wrote down stories …show more content…

History is all around, it is happening. Sima Qian and Herodotus realized that and recorded the life around them. They knew that what happens today will shape both the future and the past, and that the history of before shapes the future. Sima Qian and Herodotus were the founding fathers of history, making sure that we could look back and see what had happened and to not repeat any mistakes that were led.
Herodotus grew up in the city of Halicarnassus, in an area in which is present day Turkey. People now-a-days don’t know that much about him except for what is written down in his own works. One thing we do know from that is that when he was a child, the Persian Empire was a huge superpower and his parents did not like the rules it put forth. Because they went against the power, Herodotus’ family was exiled from the place, lowering their status, making life harder, and having no clue on what to do for meals. He then came to become a historian, writing “two long and brutal wars that marked the opening and the closing years of Herodotus’s” life (Martin 3). Writing the wars led to gaining questions about life and the world around him. He wanted to record the successes and failings of individuals and

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