Episode 30: Herodotus, The Histories, Part 2 - Children of History

If Herodotus is the father of history, who are some of his children? This episode looks into it. Starting with a brief look at Herodotus's reputation down the ages, we examine the works of three ancient historians whose works can be said to derive from our pal Herodotus. They include:Thucydides of Athens (c. 460-404 BCE), who purged his History of the Peloponnesian War of all that messy stuff about myths and gossipProcopius of Caesarea (c. 500-565 CE), who worked as an official historian for the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I - all while writing The Secret History about the nasty business Justinian got up to with his wifeGeoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095-1195 CE), a patriotic Welshman whose pseudo-historical History of the Kings of Britain inspired generations of poets and writers with its detailed legends of King Arthur (and its "prophecies" by "Merlin" which include a lot of talk about a hedgehog in Winchester)We also check in with the 26th American president, Teddy Roosevelt, who had some thoughts about history as literature. Bully!Note: Thanks to Procopius, this episode discusses quite a bit of sexual content. Please use discretion when listening.Want to read the transcript? Click here. You can also follow us on Bluesky or leave us a rating or review to help others find the show. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.