concerned with setting before the reader the facts as he sees them (mixed together with myths and fables) and allowing us to make up our own minds as to their veracity. All of the various elements of Herodotus's narrative are therefore accorded the same degree of importance. Analysis is left largely to the reader. Sometimes this can be an intellectually invigorating prospect; at other times it is more of a challenge.

Herodotus is known as the father of history because he was the first historian to collect and systematically document events and create an account. He compiled these accounts into his single major work known as The Histories. This document contains records of politics, cultural traditions, and the geographical landscape of areas including Northern Africa, Greece, and Western Asia.

He relied on his personal observations and inquiries from natives to develop the records. This had an impact on the validity of the accounts but the work set a precedent for subsequent historical works, since it was the first in Western literature. He was motivated to capture the history of ancient times and to ensure that events were not forgotten. His motivations are well-captured in the beginning of The Histories where he states, “This is the showing-forth of the inquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, so that neither what has come to be from man in time might become faded.”

Herodotus is considered the father of history in that he effectively invented the subject as an academic discipline. He laid the foundations of history as a systematic study, with rigorous standards of research and scholarship. Before Herodotus arrived on the scene, history as we know it today didn't really exist. When writers wrote about historical events, truth tended to be mixed in with fable, myth, and legend, making it impossible for anyone to get the full picture about any particular historical epoch.

That's not to say that Herodotus's work was entirely free of mythical elements. The main criticism leveled at Herodotus down the centuries has been that he was too ready to believe the many tales and legends told to him on his extensive travels without checking their veracity. It was such lapses in fact-checking that led some critics to call Herodotus "The Father of Lies."

Nonetheless, Herodotus's work, despite its many shortcomings, is generally reliable and shows a remarkably close affinity with what today would be regarded as sound historical scholarship. Herodotus's considerable talents as a storyteller are put to good use in drawing the reader in to the historical events he describes in such colorful detail.

In this regard, Herodotus was the forerunner of an approach to historiography that seeks to heighten our awareness of history by enabling us to put ourselves in the shoes of certain characters from history. This empathetic approach is still followed to this day by numerous historians, all of whom owe a considerable debt—whether they acknowledge it or not—to the father of history.