Herodotus (480-425 BC), the investigator of Halicarnassus
Qualified as "father of history", Herodotus, born in Halicarnassus in the 5th century BC, testified to his time and its events by investigating, traveling, writing and telling, during public reading sessions, what He saw.
He is also considered, because of his mobility, as the "father of geography". At the center of his work, entitled The Inquiry , are essentially the Persian Wars.
Twenty-five centuries ago, the Greek Herodotus published nine volumes of Histories which bear the other title The Inquiry . The book has become one of the major texts of Western culture, because it establishes a method of analysis that is still current. The Histories focus on the origins of the Persian Wars (Herodotus was born during the Second Persian War) and the mores of peoples around the world - the Scythians, in particular.
Nicknamed by Cicero the Father of History, Herodotus is for some also the inventor of geography. This is the reason why in the 1970s, the geographer Yves Lacoste called his famous magazine Hérodote . Today, a website dedicated to the story is called Herodotus . He is also credited with having invented anthropology or journalistic testimony: the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski wrote My Travels with Herodotus for this reason; an extract is read in the documentary. Herodotus also contributed to enriching the list of the seven wonders of the world by adding the gardens of Babylon.
Papyrus of Oxyrhynchus, fragment from 'Histories' of Herodotus, book VIII. - Public domain – Wikipedia
If the Egyptians had written histories before Herodotus, he is the first to sign his text with his name and to occupy the position of a writing subject. This is, moreover, the meaning of the book that François Hartog, one of the contributors to this documentary, devoted to Herodotus, The Mirror of Herodotus . The century to which he belongs also encourages him to take this position, since the 5th century is associated by historians with the birth of egotism among artists, philosophers and doctors.
Herodotus is among historians at the heart of historiographical debates: is he a liar? Is the mirror he holds up to reality distorted? Does it have to be distorted for the text to gain in interest? Lying is not incompatible with the condition of the historian, and this point (should the historian-observer favor objectivity or subjectivity?) is discussed in this documentary. The countless books published on Herodotus settle this question one way or another. Some take the side of Thucydides, an Athenian born in 465, author of The Peloponnesian War , drier than Herodotus in his style.
Herodotus and Thucydides, Greek historians. Double statue, National Museum, Naples (Italy)
Getty - Bettmann Collection – Getty imagesWhat is very interesting in Herodotus, and for us today in particular, is that, precisely in relation to Thucydides who will demonstrate a truth (...), Herodotus is not in this process. He said, "Truth is what people think is true so I'm going to ask people what they think is true about Helen for example, about Croesus, about everything, and I'm going to tell you present the different speeches. Sometimes I won't give you my opinion because I don't know what to say, I don't know how to decide. Sometimes I say it, it's my opinion". Violaine Sebillotte , professor of ancient history at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Bust of the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 485 - c. 425 BCE)
Getty - Photo Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty ImagesSpeakers
François Hartog , historian responsible for the chair of ancient and modern historiography at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences ( EHESS )
Violaine Sebillotte, professor of ancient history at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Christian Grataloup , former professor of historical geography at the University of Paris VII-Denis-Diderot, specialist in the history of globalization
Stavroula Kefallonitis , lecturer in Greek language and literature at Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne University , and member of UMR 5189 HiSoMA (History and Sources of Ancient Worlds)
The students of the hypokhâgne of Lycée Henri-IV and their history teacher, Olivier Coquard
A documentary by Virginie Bloch-Lainé, directed by Clotilde Pivin . Sound engineer, Arthur Dumont; mixing, Claude Niort. INA archives, Marine Decaëns. With the collaboration of Annelise Signoret from the Radio France Library and Elna Fraysse, intern.
Circa 434 BC, an illustration by the Greek historian Herodotus.
Getty - Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty ImagesBibliography
Herodotus , The Inquiry , (Library of the Pléiade, Gallimard, 16.12.1964)
François Hartog, The Mirror of Herodotus. Essay on the representation of the other (Gallimard, collection Bibliothèque des Histoires, 14.10.1980)
Ryszard Kapucinski, My Travels with Herodotus (translation Véronique Patte, Pocket, 04.09.2008 - Plon, 2006)
All men are convinced of the excellence of their custom, here is one proof among many others: At the time when Darius reigned, he one day called the Greeks who were in his palace and asked them at what price they would agree to eat, at his death, the body of their father. They all replied that they would never, at any cost. Darius then brought in the Indians, called Callaties, who eat their parents. In front of the Greeks, who were following the interview through an interpreter, he asked them at what price they would resolve to burn their father's body on a stake. The Indians cried loudly and urged him not to speak sacrilegiously. This is indeed the force of custom and Pindar is right, in my opinion, to name it in his verses "Herodotus , book 3 chapter 38
Music
Melomai, Perikleit, Makraotta, excerpts from the album Music of Ancient Greece (Diapason d'Or) by the Melpomen Ensemble (Harmonia mundi, 2005. Ref. AA2604).
Circa 1800: Trade route through Asia in the time of Herodotus. Extract from the book "The Quest for Cathay" by Sir Percy Sykes published in 1936.
Getty - Photo by Universal History Archive / Getty ImagesFor further
Biography of Herodotus to read on Michèle Tillard's Philo-Lettres site.
Life of Herodotus , by Larcher, one of his translators. To read on the website Méditerranées.net.
Herodotus, historian of the Persian Wars , by Amédée Hauvette, lecturer at the Faculty of Letters in Paris (Hachette, 1894). Online via the Ancient Mediterranean site.
Bilingual Greek-French text of the Stories on Hodoi Elektronikai (Larcher translation, 1882).
Herodotus: Forms of Thought, Figures of Narrative . Book directed by Jean Alaux (University Press of Rennes, 2013).
Herodotus, historian of religions and polytheism : course in 2 parts by Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge. To listen to in the Cours du Collège de France , on France Culture . Part 1 - Part 2 .
Simon Byl: Herodotus and Old Age . Excerpt from Bulletin of the Guillaume Budé Association , n°2 (2013).
The representation of space in Herodotus . Article by Airton Pollini, lecturer in Greek history, University of Haute-Alsace in Mulhouse, published in: Experiences and representations of space , book edited by P.Guisard and C. Laizé (Ellipses, 2012).
Listen again: Asphalt, honey and a few round boats: Herodotus investigates Babylon
Source: websites