Herodotus was not the first to write prose. When his History appeared, probably in the 430s BCE, the scientists of Ionia (like the author of Airs, Waters, Places) had been working for more than a generation. Anaximander and Anaximenes had produced works on the nature of the world as early as the middle of the sixth century, and Hecataeus had already produced his Periodos Gês, ‘Trip around the World’, which surveyed the nations of the Mediterranean. Heraclitus had deposited his paradoxical provocations in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Yet, both for the Greeks and for us, what Herodotus achieved demands to be seen as a radical departure. For the first time, the stirring and dramatic events of a nation at war are not merely recorded but explored and discussed at epic length in prose. It is extremely difficult after the long history of History to appreciate just how remarkable this innovative and foundational act is.