Herodotus politicus

Herodotus' Histories are among the founding texts of European historiography. This raises the question of what expectations a contemporary audience had of such a text. It proves to be extremely innovative both in form (for example, through its pronounced, almost “dramatic” dialogical nature) and in substance (with regard to the central question of how individuals and groups arrive at good political decisions). This study examines the character of the Histories as a “polis text” that addresses central questions of social life such as politics, religion and literary identity – and which has lost none of its relevance since the 5th century BC.