Written by Julia Schulz
Biography
Herodotus visited Egypt presumably in 440 BCE during the months of inundation.1 He traveled as far as the First Cataract and wrote about this journey in his “Histories” which were published around 430 BCE. His account poses the earliest description of the land of the Nile and acts as a particularly important means to access images of antique Egypt that did not prevail until today. But his portrayal should be evaluated carefully because the truthfulness of some of his tellings have been the subject of many discussions by scholars over the years, as demonstrated through this quote by Allan B. Lloyd:
“Put simply, he clearly felt justified in editing, supplementing, or highlighting received historical tradition as he thought fit, and, if this involved departing from what we call history or even adding non-historical elements, he felt at complete liberty to do so.”2
There is not much personal information about Herodotus. He was born, by his own account, in the Lycian port city Halicarnassus. Each additional information about his life is either deduced from his works or originates from later sources about him.3 His birth is probably to be dated into the year 484 BCE as it was handed down by the Latin author Aulus Gellius in his publication Noctes Atticae which is almost certainly based on the “Chroniká” by Apollodorus of Athens.4
Herodotus started his travels around 440 BCE when he left his hometown. He visited many places like Tyros in Phoenicia, Palestinian Syria, Athens, and Egyptian Elephantine.5 After his travels he settled down in the newly founded Panhellenic colony, called Thurii, located near the Tarentine gulf. Thurii is supposed to be the place where he wrote his “Histories” and is also where his tomb is to be found. The date of his death is not clearly attested, but from his writings it can be deduced that he lived to see the beginnings of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE).6
Travel Report
Herodotus’ comments on the First Cataract (Greek: κατάδουποι = rapids) are not very exhaustive and appear to be scattered in between the main plot narrative of his description of Egypt. His focus of attention is on the island of Elephantine that, moreover, delimits the geographic dimensions of this logos. To facilitate access to his account, I divided his narrative of the Aswan region in a) geography, b) military, c) economy, and d) culture.