Analysis Of Herodotus: The Father Of History

Herodotus is a Greek historian who travelled to Egypt and wrote down his observations about the Egyptians in his second volume of his histories. He is also well known as the “father of history”, although his observations were not always accurate. Through his experience in Egypt, he developed many different views of what he thought the Egyptians were, and why they were worth describing. Herodotus made observations on the Egyptian’s because their habits and customs were reversed from other countries. Herodotus believed the Egyptians were worth describing because they were unique, and their customs, habits and climate were different from others. During the winter, their climates were different than other countries such as the Nile river where it was the only river to have the sun shine on it. Egyptians were the first to establish a variety of ideas like the invention of the year and the making of twelve divisions of the seasons of the year that influenced the Greeks. “These authorities also say that the

The Egyptian men would carry their burdens on their heads while the women would carry their burdens on their shoulders. Egyptian women would pee standing up and men would pee by squatting. Egyptians customs were flipped as seen by their gender roles, women had more power than men. They ate their food outdoors in the street while in other countries eat inside. In other countries, priests had long hair, but in Egypt their heads were shaved. It was also a tradition in other countries in the time of sadness to shave their heads, but when Egyptians lost a relative they would let their beards and hair grow long. Most Greeks wrote and calculate by moving their hands from left to right, but Egyptians wrote and calculate from right to left. These examples illustrate the differences of Egyptian’s customs from other