Final answer:
Herodotus was a good historian who sought to explain human actions in historical events. He used primary sources and traveled to gather information about foreign lands and cultures. Thucydides, another Greek historian, also made significant contributions to the development of history as a discipline.
Step-by-step explanation:
Herodotus, the founding figure of Greek history-writing, was a good historian. He wrote a history of the Persian War that was acclaimed by his fellow Greeks. Herodotus sought to explain human actions in terms of how people tended to react to the political and social pressures they experienced. He traveled and read sources to gather information about foreign lands and cultures, and he examined contemporary accounts of events. His use of primary sources is still a defining characteristic of history as an academic discipline.
Herodotus' approach to history writing was unique and influential. He explored wide geographic scope in his work called Histories, which examined the deep origins of the tension between the Persian and Greek worlds. He raised issues of ongoing relevance about the encounter of different cultures and recognized that other societies could be as complex and powerful as Greece. However, it is important to note that Herodotus referred to the Persians as 'barbarians', which reflects the age-old Greek practice of labeling foreign cultures.
In comparison to Herodotus, Thucydides, another Greek historian, is considered the real 'father' of history-writing. Thucydides wrote a history of the Peloponnesian War that remains a significant account of the conflict. He meticulously followed the events of the war while investigating the human motivations and decisions that caused them. Both Herodotus and Thucydides played crucial roles in the development of history as an important discipline in ancient Greece.