Herodotus’ Histories [Inquiries] were composed in the Ionic dialect of Greek during the latter half of the 5th C BCE, likely being completed sometime in the early 420s. The work is comprised of nine books, each named after one of the nine Muses; however, it appears that this division, first attested in the first century BCE, was the work of scholars at Alexandria. The unevenness of the book lengths, negating the usual practice of dividing books simply by scroll length, along with the occasional book-break occurring mid-narrative, has left modern scholars uncertain as to the reasons for the division. It appears rather that Herodotus divided his work up into logoi (“accounts”) based on (often regional) topics. Up to twenty-eight logoi have been recognized within his work.
Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum, Turkey), ca. 485...
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Citation: Nichols, Andrew. "Histories". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 May 2026 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13372, accessed 09 June 2026.]
