According to John Herington, the histories of Herodotus were the first extended prose narratives and the first political tracts in Western civilization. He emphasizes the importance of myth in ancient Greece, using Herodotus’s accounts of the Greek-Persian war as a historical and allegorical view of East versus West. Greek myths pitted despotism against freedom, and divine action often thwarted the aspirations of powerful men. Herington relates that Herodotus saw a pattern in life that started at the fundamental levels of geography and society, and he describes a landscape of historical details that framed the dreams and beliefs of the people who moved across it. Herington observes that the lessons of Herodotus could have been applied to circumstances throughout history and that they remain relevant.
At the time of the interview, Herington, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1986-87), was professor of history at Duke University.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
