Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 edition. Excerpt:...all Hellas to do likewise. It is doubtful whether any state outside of the Athenian Empire responded favorably to this invitation, although individuals may have done so. The various attempts of Pericles to unite all Greece under Athens failed because the Greek cities preferred absolute independence and had no Literature sympathy with Athenian imperialism. It was not till P. 172. Athens lost her political ambition that she became the in-P. 284tellectual and moral head of Greece; and this did not happen till the next century.) The life of the Periclean age expressed itself in literature Literature, as well as in sculpture and architecture. It was at this time that Herodotus, the "father of history," lived. An exile Herodotusfrom his native city of Halicarnassus in Asia Minor, he spent his life in travel, in residence at Athens, in the social circle of Pericles, or at Thurii, in Italy. He visited nearly all of the known world and everywhere collected from the natives interesting stories of persons and events. These he Murray, wove into a history of the war between Greece and Persia. In tracing the causes of the conflict by way of introduction, Jebb. he gives the history of the world from mythical times down p"104 ff' to the war itself. He wrote his work to be read aloud, as the poems of Homer had been, at public gatherings. This helps us to understand why his style is so simple and so interesting. He repeats the stories as they were told him, because his hearers could not appreciate historical criticism. Many of his tales are myths or fictitious anecdotes; but they are all valuable, as they illustrate the character of nations and of individuals. Herodotus was one of the fairest and most large-minded of historians. Though uncritical,...