Herodotus and Egypt: - An Ancient Traveller in an Antique Land

Kevin Harrison praises the often maligned ‘Father of History’, whose writings have influenced our perceptions of ancient Egypt to this day.

- Kevin Harrison

In the 440s BC, Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c. 484-425 BC) probably visited Egypt. We say ‘probably’. Some writers, ancient and modern, have claimed that ‘The Father of History’ was also ‘The Father of Lies’ – his entire account of his travels in Egypt a complete fabrication. Few today would go that far. The Histories, especially Book II, records his journey through Egypt to Elephantine on the southern frontier of what was then a Persian imperial province, collecting evidence and information about the peoples along the Nile and remote ‘barbarian lands’, such as Nubia and Ethiopia. His Histories is central to our understanding of Egypt, its history and geography, the land and its customs. It is often the sole ancient account, and by far the most entertaining. The Histories was superseded as a reference point for ancient Egyptian life and culture only when Egyptology emerged in the nineteenth century.

Herodotus is certainly influential. Alexander the Great, Aristotle and the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt knew the Histories. His writings moulded Roman speculations about the Nile and its peoples. Lucan, Pliny, Diodorus Siculus, Mela, and others challenged his ‘credulous story-telling’ and ‘erroneous’ geographical conclusions, but they also parroted his discussions, observations and stories from Egyptian history. Herodotus scoffed at his sixth- and fifth-century predecessors such as Thales and Hecataeus. His work displays a keen mind and a sophisticated analysis of the evidence available to him, from personal observation and reports from others, values not always recognised by his critics.

Who Was Herodotus?