The Roman orator Cicero called him “The Father of History”.
Herodotus, “The Father of History”, was born in Halicarnassus
(modern day Bodrum in Turkey) and flourished in the 5th century BCE.
The ancient Greek author wrote a detailed account
on the origins of the Greco-Persian wars.
Yet Herodotus’ book, “The Histories”,
also deals with many other subjects, including manners
and customs in different countries. He describes, for example,
the City of Babylon, a huge walled city on the banks
of the Euphrates River, where people sacrificed humans.
Elsewhere, Herodotus points out that the Egyptians
write from right to left, and that they make their bread
from a coarse grain called zeia or spelt.
He also mentions that the Egyptians practise circumcision.
Writing about the Scythians, nomadic warriors
who lived in the Caspian Steppe region in Central Asia,
Herodotus says that these people had the habit
of smoking cannabis. On ceremonial occasions the Scythians
used to sit in their tents burning cannabis plants
in a bowl with hot stones and inhaling the narcotic,
intoxicating smoke.
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