Herodotus was the Father of History, they say, and he did an honest job sorting out the clashes of cultures and powers. Naturally, he had spotty sources for fact-finding since anyone he interviewed already favored one warring party over another.

What may clarify the problems Herodotus faced can be understood by looking at the map on the wall. That is an up-to-the-minute map of the known world- a lot of by-guess and by-golly, 450 years bce. Herodotus did what he could to set the record straight, but he was a Greek, living with Greeks. Inaccuracy was inevitable.

Just like today’s news bulletins, only We have better maps. Lots of details, which are always convincing. Every event on Earth is open to interpretation and re-interpretation. Period.