Herodotus’ Book 2 and the Unity of the Work

Charles Fornara was a pioneer in Herodotean studies by showing how deeply the Histories reflected on the political and intellectual conditions of the author’s own time, but he considered Book 2 as an exception, representing an early stage within Herodotus’ development. The aim of this paper is to show that Book 2 can be seen as a coherent part of the Histories as a whole, looking in particular at Herodotus’ geographic conception, the chronological order within his work, the basic elements of his ethnographic principles, and his approaches to a religious history. Eventually, the arrangement of his colourful stories about the Egyptian kings follows a deliberate concept. His analysis lets us see, once again, that Herodotus was fully conscious of the actual political situation of his own time.

Archaeology · Art · Ethnography · Genealogy · Literature · Order (exchange) · Political science · Politics · Work (physics) · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Engineering · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical and Literary Studies · History · Law