[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.22,0:00:09.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Giant gold-digging ants,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.45,0:00:14.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a furious king who orders\Nthe sea to be whipped 300 times,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.18,0:00:18.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a dolphin that saves\Na famous poet from drowning.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.80,0:00:22.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These are just some of the stories\Nfrom The Histories by Herodotus,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:22.76,0:00:26.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an Ancient Greek writer from\Nthe 5th century BCE.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.76,0:00:29.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not all the events in the text \Nmay have happened
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.04,0:00:31.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,exactly as Herodotus reported them,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.25,0:00:35.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but this work revolutionized\Nthe way the past was recorded.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.88,0:00:40.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Before Herodotus, the past was documented\Nas a list of events
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.22,0:00:42.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with little or no attempt to explain\Ntheir causes
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.93,0:00:47.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,beyond accepting things\Nas the will of the gods.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.15,0:00:50.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Herodotus wanted a deeper,\Nmore rational understanding,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.38,0:00:52.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so he took a new approach:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.19,0:00:57.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,looking at events from both sides\Nto understand the reasons for them.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.70,0:01:01.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Though he was Greek, Herodotus's\Nhometown of Halicarnassus
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.20,0:01:03.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was part of the Persian Empire.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.87,0:01:07.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He grew up during a series of wars\Nbetween the powerful Persians
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.66,0:01:09.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the smaller Greeks,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.66,0:01:13.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and decided to find out all he could\Nabout the subject.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.88,0:01:18.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In Herodotus's telling, the Persian Wars\Nbegan in 499 BCE,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.77,0:01:23.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when the Athenians assisted a rebellion\Nby Greeks living under Persian rule.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.99,0:01:30.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 490, the Persian King, Darius,\Nsent his army to take revenge on Athens.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.60,0:01:35.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But at the Battle of Marathon,\Nthe Athenians won an unexpected victory.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.78,0:01:40.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ten years later, the Persians returned,\Nplanning to conquer the whole of Greece
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.54,0:01:44.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,under the leadership \Nof Darius's son, Xerxes.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.40,0:01:47.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,According to Herodotus,\Nwhen Xerxes arrived,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.22,0:01:51.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his million man army was initially\Nopposed by a Greek force
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.34,0:01:56.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,led by 300 Spartans at the mountain pass\Nof Thermopylae.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.54,0:01:58.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At great cost to the Persians,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.29,0:02:02.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Spartans and their king, Leonidas,\Nwere killed.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.50,0:02:07.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This heroic defeat has been an inspiration\Nto underdogs ever since.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.69,0:02:11.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A few weeks later, the Greek navy\Ntricked the Persian fleet
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.28,0:02:14.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into fighting in a narrow sea channel\Nnear Athens.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.94,0:02:20.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Persians were defeated and Xerxes\Nfled, never to return.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.31,0:02:23.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To explain how these wars broke out\Nand why the Greeks triumphed,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.90,0:02:28.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Herodotus collected stories\Nfrom all around the Mediterranean.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.19,0:02:31.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He recorded the achievements of both\NGreeks and non-Greeks
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.45,0:02:34.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before they were lost\Nto the passage of time.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.57,0:02:38.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Histories opens \Nwith the famous sentence:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.15,0:02:42.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Herodotus, of Halicarnassus, \Nhere displays his inquiries."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.09,0:02:44.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By framing the book as an “inquiry,”
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.17,0:02:47.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Herodotus allowed it to contain \Nmany different stories,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.31,0:02:50.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some serious, others less so.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.41,0:02:52.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He recorded the internal debates\Nof the Persian court
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.94,0:02:56.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but also tales of Egyptian flying snakes
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.22,0:03:00.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and practical advice \Non how to catch a crocodile.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.58,0:03:03.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Greek word for this method\Nof research is "autopsy,"
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.46,0:03:06.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,meaning "seeing for oneself."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.38,0:03:08.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Herodotus was the first writer\Nto examine the past
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.97,0:03:12.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by combining the different kinds\Nof evidence he collected:
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.82,0:03:15.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,opsis, or eyewitness accounts,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.01,0:03:17.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,akoe, or hearsay,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.12,0:03:19.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and ta legomena, or tradition.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.82,0:03:22.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He then used gnome, or reason,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.35,0:03:26.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to reach conclusions \Nabout what actually happened.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.35,0:03:29.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Many of the book's early readers\Nwere actually listeners.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.78,0:03:33.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Histories was originally written\Nin 28 sections,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.26,0:03:37.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,each of which took about \Nfour hours to read aloud.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.26,0:03:40.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As the Greeks increased in influence\Nand power,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.33,0:03:46.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Herodotus's writing and the idea of history\Nspread across the Mediterranean.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.47,0:03:49.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As the first proper historian,\NHerodotus wasn't perfect.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.93,0:03:53.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On occasions, he favored\Nthe Greeks over the Persians
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.04,0:03:56.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and was too quick to believe\Nsome of the stories that he heard,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.42,0:03:59.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which made for inaccuracies.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.12,0:04:01.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,However, modern evidence \Nhas actually explained
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.86,0:04:04.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some of his apparently extreme claims.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:04.95,0:04:08.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For instance, there's a species \Nof marmot in the Himalayas
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.74,0:04:11.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that spreads gold dust while digging.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.64,0:04:16.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The ancient Persian word for marmot\Nis quite close to the word for ant,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.83,0:04:21.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so Herodotus may have just fallen prey\Nto a translation error.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.73,0:04:25.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All in all, for someone who was writing\Nin an entirely new style,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.69,0:04:28.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Herodotus did remarkably well.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.16,0:04:32.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,History, right down to the present day, \Nhas always suffered from the partiality
Dialogue: 0,0:04:32.84,0:04:35.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and mistakes of historians.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.24,0:04:38.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Herodotus’s method \Nand creativity earned him the title
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.30,0:04:42.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Roman author Cicero \Ngave him several hundred years later:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.60,0:04:45.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The Father of History."