Herodotus, Greek historian and geographer who lived between 484 and 425 BC., traditionally considered as the father of History in the Western world and was the first to compose a reasoned and structured account of human actions. He spent part of his life traveling to obtain the information and materials that enabled him to write a work of great historical and literary value. However, he received severe criticism, even from his contemporaries, for including anecdotes and digressions in his work that, although they provided valuable information, had little to do with the object of study that he had proposed: the struggles of the Persians against the Greeks.