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Herodotus

Herodotus (l. c. 484 – 425/413 BCE) was a Greek historian famous for his work Histories. He was called The Father of History by the Roman writer Cicero, who admired him, but has also been rejected as The Father of Lies by critics, ancient and modern, who claim his work is little more than tall tales.

While it is true that Herodotus sometimes relays inaccurate information or exaggerates for effect, his accounts have consistently been found to be more or less reliable. Some early criticism of his work has been refuted by later archaeological evidence which proves that his most-often criticized claims were, in fact, accurate, were based on accepted information of the time, or are the result of mistranslation or misinterpretation on his part.

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