Herodotus The Father of History
Life and Travels
Herodotus, hailed as the “father of history” by Cicero, was born in Dorian Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum). His participation in an uprising against the tyrant Lygdamis forced him to leave. Traveling extensively through Egypt, Africa, Asia Minor, and eastern Europe, he settled in Athens before moving to the Athenian colony of Thourioi in 444 BC. His historical work on the wars between Greece and Persia, divided into nine books, became a valuable source for Greek settlements and insights into Africa and the Near East Heraclitus.
Homer Legendary Poet of Smyrna
Birthplace Debate and Epic Works
Homer, the legendary author of the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey,” is associated with Smyrna (Izmir) in Asia Minor. Traditionally viewed as a blind “rhapsode,” Homer is said to have traveled among Ionian cities, with the Ionian “sons of Homer” forming a guild on Chios island around 700 BC. Debates on whether Homer was a single historical figure persist, but it’s generally accepted that he lived on the west coast of Asia Minor Istanbul Tour Guide, particularly linked to Chios. His epics, the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey,” are believed to incorporate older legendary verses and were likely written in sequence, later expanded and amended. Homer is also credited with works like the “Homeric Hymns and Epigrams” and the comic epics of the Fool Margites and the War of Frogs and Mice (“Batrachomyomachia”).
