Herodotus and the invention of history

With the information explosion online, how can you tell fake news from the real thing, or be more sensitive to how information can be weaponised? In the fifth century BCE, a Greek by the name of Herodotus faced a similar challenge when he set out to examine why his people, the Greeks, and the Persians went to war with each other. Chief among his tasks was deciding what and whom to believe, as he pieced together the events of the past. His response was to produce an enquiry (in Greek: historiē, which is where the English word ‘history’ comes from). In this free course, Herodotus and the invention of history, explore how Herodotus puts together his enquiry and learn how in doing so he makes the problem of finding out what happened to our own history too. Interested in taking your learning further? You might find it helpful to explore the Open University’s Classical Studies courses and qualifications.

• 1 Introducing Herodotus: thinking historically
• 1.1 How do we know what we know?
• 1.2 Herodotus’ opening pitch (1.1.1)
• 1.3 The first account (1.1.1–1.5.4)
• 1.4 Re-reading the first account (1.1.1–1.5.4)
• 1.5 Thinking historically
• 2 Constructing the Histories: writing historically
• 2.1 Beginning with Croesus
• 2.2 Candaules’s wife
• 2.3 Reading historically
• 3 Looking to the end: reading historically
• 3.1 The oracle at Delphi
• 3.2 Croesus tests the oracles
• 3.3 Putting two and two together
• 3.4 Croesus on the pyre