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How did Herodotus die?


The year of his death is unknown, but  have two clues. In section 137 of Book Seven of The Histories the execution of two Spartans in Athens is mentioned. From another source, The history of the Peloponnesian war by the Athenian historian Thucydides (2.67), it is known that the two were killed in the winter of 430/429 BC. Therefore, Herodotus was still alive and writing in 429. Since it is also known that in the summer of 429 many Athenians were killed by the plague, it may be conjectured that Herodotus was one of the victims of this disease. However this may be, he must have died before 413, because he tells (Book Nine, section 73) that a certain village, Decelea, was never plundered by the Spartans, something that did in fact happen in 413, as Thucydides tells us (6.93)

Assuming that Herodotus died between 429 and 413, it is reasonable to infer that he was born between 500 and 470. Perhaps we can be a little bit more precise: nowhere in The Histories does he claim to have witnessed the great Persian War (480-479 BC) that he describes. Therefore, his date of birth can be estimated in the eighties of the fifth century BC.





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