Dr. Roel Konijnendijk

Yeah, it was a while ago, actually.

Yeah, when we're talking about the Persian Wars, I mean, it feels like exploring rooms where this is the building, right?

This is basically what we're talking about.

There's a lot of other sources that we can draw on when we're trying to talk about the Persians and the Persian Wars.

But Herodotus is the one who decided this should be a story that was worth commemorating, worth writing down in full detail.

And we rely on him so much.

I mean, there are parts of this whole story for which we have basically nothing but Herodotus.

And so he is the one who gives us not just all the details, but the whole idea that this is a narrative, right?

This is something that has a beginning and an end and it has a message and it has all these participants and all these actors that he describes.

I mean, this is basically his idea of how to tell this story.

So it's something he's already called in ancient times, right?

So this is something that's been around for a long time because he is the earliest narrative history that survives.

Now, I really want to qualify this.

You can hear me sort of thinking about how I should put this.

He's not the first person to conceive the idea of history, right?

Obviously, there are various people in this world who are already trying to write down ways of talking about the past.

And this goes right back to, you know, Mesopotamian empires.

Exactly.

Campaign narratives and talking about what they did in each separate year.

They're writing chronicles, which basically just goes year by year.