Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian (about 484 - 420 BC) who wrote the first systematic account of the wars between Greece and Persia. He displayed a lively interest in human nature, and incorporated into the text descriptions of things he had seen on his travels. His contemporaries called him 'the father of lies' because of the additional colour he gave to his account of the wars, but he should more properly be called 'the father of history'.
His books have frequently provided subjects for paintings, such as Hendrick van Steenwyck's 'Croesus and Solon'.