Herodotus from Halicarnassus lived from approximately 485 to 425 B.C. He was the child of an aristocratic family which seems to have had its roots in Caria. We learn from the ancient tradition that he fought against the local tyrannos, was banished, and lived for a considerable time on Samos. The next information we have about him is that he turns up in Thurii (an Athenian colony in south Italy), where he may have become a full citizen, and where he died.

Herodotus made many journeys. One was northwards as far as southern Russia. Others, over shorter distances, were to Babylon, Syria, and Palestine. This may have been the occasion on which he made his four-month tour of Egypt. While at Thurii he made voyages to Cyrene and its region (probably), and to the Aegean and mainland Hellas (certainly). What his aim was in travelling we shall never know for sure. On one view, he had commercial business to do. On another view - that of ancient writers - he can be pigeonholed as a "scholar-traveller", coupling his knowledge of other peoples with activities as speaker at public assemblies.