Herodotus has so often been called, since ancient times, the father of
history that this title has blinded us to the question: Was the father
of history an historian? Everyone knows that the Greek word from which
'history' is derived always means inquiry in Herodotus. His so-called
Histories are in- quiries, and by that name I have preferred to call
them. His inquiries partly result in the presentation of events that are
now called 'historical'; but other parts of his inquiry would now belong
to the province of the anthro- pologist or geographer. Herodotus does
not recognize these fields as distinct; they all belong equally to the
subject of his inquiry, but it is not self-evident what he understands
to be his subject: the notorious difficulties in the proemium are enough
to indicate this. If his work presents us with so strange a mixture of
different fields, we are entitled to ask: Did Herodotus under- stand
even its historical element as we understand it? Without any proof
everyone, as far as I am aware, who has studied him has assumed this to
be so.