Thursday, October 31, 2019

Gregory of Nyssa Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gregory of Nyssa - Research Paper Example Gregory was born in a saintly family, during A.D. 335, being the third son, with two brothers and three sisters. He was the younger brother of the great St. Basil. As he got his education at home, he did not have much interaction with the outside world, during his early years. While he visited the Chapel for the Mother’s Convent, to attend to the services conducted in honor of ‘Forty Martyrs of Sebaste’, he got a dream where the martyrs ridiculed him for not getting baptized. Accordingly, he agreed for the baptization, at his adult age, and determined to become a reader also. Gregory followed the profession of teaching, before finally joining the monastery in Pontus, as his brother and friend Gregory of Nazianzus pursued him to do so. While reading the Holy Scriptures, he also wrote many descriptions about the natural beauty. Bishop of Nyssa Gregory was appointed Bishop of Nyssa in A.D. 370. However, he faced difficulties, as he believed in Orthodox faith. In addi tion, due to his defense of ‘The Holy Trinity and the Incarnation’, Arian and Sabellian authorities targeted him. The prosecution sent him summons to appear before the Synod of Ancyra, for misuse of church funds and being improperly ordained. He got very upset with such allegations and fell ill. His brother Basil made efforts to clean his tarnished image and was successful in getting the Synod of Bishops declare him innocent, as he was not fit to travel to Ancyra for attending the trial. However, his opponent arranged for trial at Nyssa, while Gregory refused to attend it. Finally, he was banished and deposed in the year 376. He had to change his residency many times, as he was subjected to harassment and cruelty at many places, which resulted in his despondency. However, the death of Emperor Valens in 378 changed his fortunes as the succeeding Emperor declared that all orthodox bishops must be allowed to return to their positions. Gregory went back to Nyssa and was wel comed there. Gregory succeeds Basil After the death of his brother Basil, whose funeral was preached by Gregory, he succeeding Basil and followed the Nicene Faith vigorously. Later he went on pilgrimage to Arabia, Babylon and Jerusalem, as the Emperor provided him the required carriages. Gregory’s death He died in the year A.D. 395. However, his legacy as the aggressive defender of Orthodox Faith and great teacher earned him acclaim as ‘Father of Fathers’ and ‘Star of Nyssa’. His faith in all religions and unknown destiny is expressed in his words,†all religious truth consists in mystery†.(Heroes of Fourth Century) Life of Moses The book is a treasure for Christians, as it deals with the virtue and perfection detailed in Christianity. This fourth century scripture by Gregory of Nyssa was originally written in Greek. English and French translations of this book are available today. As the book has two parts, first part details the ‘h istory of Moses’ in 77 paragraphs and the second part deals with the ‘contemplation on life of Moses’, in 321 paragraphs. Explaining a few excerpts The book has referred to verbal roots, as showing affection or having a friend. This has been mentioned in the book as a meditating tool to overcome physical and mental struggle. Another excerpt is regarding ‘Horses are eager to run’. This refers to the human nature of being over-zealous and always busy like winning in a racecourse. (The life of Moses) Referring to a child being given an ark, it details that the ‘ark’ is for crossing the stream safely. The ‘ark’ is the education that the child must have to fight the challenges of life, as it holds the child above the waves of the stream. Virtue is the ‘ark’ shaped carriage for human beings to fight the struggles and it can be acquired through education and patience. (The life of Moses) Contributions in spirituality G regory of Nyssa has contributed to the Christianity in giving us the holy script called, ‘

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Iron Lab Report Essay Example for Free

Iron Lab Report Essay From my background knowledge, the iron present which is elemental iron in the cornflakes is harder to absorb than either two . This is also supported by the Absorption rate gotten from the results section (table 2,: percentage mass of Fe2+ ) it is seen that the absorption rate of the Fortified cereal is 7. 33% while that of the iron tablet and the beef liver are 15. 23% and 21. 80% respectively. According to Ironrichfood. org, absorption of haeme iron from meat proteins is efficient, and it ranges from 15% to 35%, and is not significantly affected by diet. In contrast, 2% to 20% of nonhaeme iron in plant foods such as rice, maize, black beans, soybeans and wheat is absorbed. Nonhaeme iron absorption is significantly influenced by various food components. The Absorption rate of the Iron in the Iron tablet is lesser than that of the beef liver (as seen in Table. 2) because the iron content in the tablet is less absorbable by the body. This is to say that Natural source of iron are quickly absorbed than artificial source of iron by the body However taking iron supplements sometimes cause side-effects such as constipation, diarrhea or heartburn. Sometimes these supplements are over taken thereby leading to Iron toxicity which occurs on the absorption of excessive quantities of ingested iron. This severe overdose causes impaired oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial dysfunction, which can result in cellular death. The liver is one of the organs most affected by iron toxicity, but other organs such as the heart, kidneys, lungs, and the hematologic systems also may be impaired. Iron supplements should not be taken along side calcium supplements however taking foliate with iron supplement will provide maximum benefits. Taking supplements although they seem to have side effects are used widely in medicine to iron–deficiency anemia, and it’s also given to pregnant women in their second or third trimester (because the body uses up more than normal to sustain both mother and baby), its usually given with folic acid so to avoid Iron corrosion that occurs due to the damage cells of the duodenum not being able to absorb the iron thereby causing iron overload leading to gastro intestinal corrosion. No justifiable conclusion could be made from these experiment because the results gotten from this experiment were not totally credible as the experiment was prone to a few errors, these errors that could have occurred to bias the results include errors from reading the volume of MnO4 in the burette as the meniscus could not be seen clearly thus we had to look at the top of the liquid which introduced errors, also the air oxygen error, Misjudging the equivalence point, and failure to transfer all the prepared solution for titration. Owing to these errors, are the reasons for any deviation in the result of this experiment, however in the future modifications will be made to reduce or annul these errors, modifications such as: accurately measuring the weights, rightly judging the equivalence point, in general, care should be taken throughout the experiment to reduce possibility of errors.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Virtual University System Limitations

Virtual University System Limitations Virtual University:  Literature Review Technology today allows us to record, analyze, and evaluate the physical world to an unprecedented degree. Enterprises in the new millennium are increasingly relying on technology to ensure that they meet their mission requirements. It is important to note here that, â€Å"Educational organizations have been referred to as complex and arcane enterprises† (Massy, 1999). For educational institutions, this reliance on technology will require new mission statements, revised catalogs and other materials, different learning environments and methods of instruction, and, perhaps most significantly, new standards for measuring success. To achieve these objectives, several initiatives in the form of web based systems, simulations, games etcetera are being developed and tested. Among these approaches, simulations and games are found to be the most effective ones (Massy, 1999). The author will review one such initiative, namely ‘Virtual U’ also known as Virtual University (Vi rtual U Project, 2003). The author will begin with a brief review of the use of simulation and gaming approaches in educational institutions. In the last decade, behaviorist approach has given way to constructivist approach in the field of instructional design. Behaviorist approach is an instructor led approach in which formal concepts and systems can be transmitted to students by giving them formal descriptions in combination with the presentation of examples (Leemkuil et al., 2000). On the other hand, Constructivist approach is a student led approach in which the students learn through activity or social interaction such as games, simulations, and case studies (Jacques, 1995). Gaming is considered to produce a wide range of learning benefits like, improvement of practical reasoning skills, higher levels of continuing motivation, and reduction of training time and instructor load (Jacobs Dempsey, 1993). Games are effective communication tools because they are fun and engaging (Conte, 2003). Simulations are also very close to games. Simulations resemble games in that both contain a model of some kind of system and learners can provide both with input and observe the consequences of their actions (Leemkuil et al., 2000). Virtual U was conceived and designed by William F. Massy, a professor and university administrator and the president of the Jackson Hole Higher Education Group (PR Newswire, 2000). The project was funded by $1 million from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York. Data were provided by the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania (Waters and Toft, 2001). In designing the game, Massy and Ausubel (Program Director, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation) included detailed data from 1,200 U.S. academic institutions, as well as information culled from government sources (Schevitz, 2000). The first version of Virtual U which was released in the year 2000 was produced by Enlight Software of Hong Kong and was sold commercially for about $129 (Goldie, 2000). The Virtual University system was developed along the lines of the popular game known as, ‘SimCity’. The primary objective of the Virtual U game was to develop the skills of the players for managing an educational institution. According to Moore and Williams (2002) ‘Virtual U will let you test your skill, judgment, and decisions’, while managing an educational institution. This game based environment has been designed specifically to enable any person to tackle various scenarios and problems that are usually encountered in an educational institution. â€Å"The game is driven by a powerful simulation engine that uses a combination of micro-analytic and system dynamics methods and draws on an extensive compilation of data on the U.S. higher education system† (Massey, 1999). Technically the system was developed using C++ in a windows based environment. Virtual U in its current state does not run on the ‘Macintosh’ based systems due to the us age of proprietary windows based graphics. However, it is envisaged by the authors that a version for Macintosh users will be developed in the near future. The Virtual U game employs several strategies and allows the user or the player as per his/her requirements (Rainwater et al., 2003). In general the player is appointed as the University president and allowed to manage the University as a whole. In this role the player is concerned about institution level policies, budget etcetera. Then there are scenario based strategies like improving teaching or research performance in a particular faculty, where the player assumes the role of a faculty head (Rainwater et al., 2003). Lastly there are a possible 18 chance cards. Chance cards are emergency situations that arise during the game play and require immediate attention. Overall, Virtual University not only allows players to explore secondary and tertiary effects of a couple of years worth of actions they might take as academic administrators but they can also customize it by adjusting everything from the size of the faculty and student body to the cost of maintaining campus roads and buil dings (Conte, 2003). Moore and Williams (2002) identify a few limitations in the Virtual university system. 1. One needs to have extensive administrative knowledge or experience to play Virtual U effectively. The amount of prior knowledge required may prohibit some of the audiences to use the system. 2. Second limitation is pertaining to performance indicators. There is lack of assessment-informed decision making in the game. The â€Å"teach better† goal is one of the game scenarios, yet there is nowhere a link between the teacher quality and the student learning. 3. Educational quality and prestige indicators are the two performance indicators the developer advises the player to pay close attention to. Within the educational quality framework, one has access to quantitative inputs and outputs (for example, number of degrees granted) rather than measures of quality. Also there are a limited number of variables which a player can chose or adjust (course mix, number of students shut out of courses, level of faculty teaching talent, class size, faculty morale, and faculty time devoted to teaching activities). The prestige indicator is even more limited. 4. A final Virtual U limitation identified by Moore and Williams (2002) is its lack of flexibility in the area of faculty management. While a player may reallocate departmental resources, teaching loads, and priorities in hiring new faculty, he cannot actually fire or remove faculty. The developers acknowledge on several occasions that the game is fairly complex and is not easy for beginners to start with (Massey, 1999). The author of this review believes that learning a complex game will be fairly difficult and time consuming for the users (administrative) who are already on a tight time schedule. Even postgraduate research students seldom get time or would like to play games if not related to their own research. Younger students would be easily attracted to such complex games and learn them quickly even though it might not be of much use for them in the short term. In addition to these factors the availability of a windows only version of the system will restrict an ever growing community of ‘Macintosh’ users in the United States educational institutions. Despite the above mentioned limitations, Virtual U is a useful and laudable effort (Moore and Williams, 2002). On the whole the Virtual U is a good introduction to those that wish to get a feel fo r the day to day operation of a university (Waters and Toft, 2001). References Conte, C. (2003). Honey, I shrunk the deficit! Retrieved February 17, 2006, from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=77042147Fmt=7clientId=8189RQT=309VName=PQD Ellington, H.I. Earl, S. (1998). Using games, simulations and interactive case studies: a practical guide for tertiary-level teachers. Birmingham: SEDA Publications. Leemkuil, H., Jong, T. d., Ootes, S. (2000). Review Of Educational Use Of Games And Simulations. Retrieved February 17, 2006, from http://kits.edte.utwente.nl/documents/D1.pdf Goldie, B. (2000). A computer game lets you manage the university. The Chronicle of Higher Education Retrieved February 17, 2006, fromhttp://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=47712857Fmt=7clientId=8189RQT=309VName=PQD Jacobs, J.W. Dempsey, J.V. (1993). Simulation and gaming: Fidelity, feedback and motivation. In: Leemkuil, H., Jong, T. d., Ootes, S. (2000). Review Of Educational Use Of Games And Simulations. Retrieved February 17, 2006, from http://kits.edte.utwente.nl/documents/D1.pdf Jacques, D. (1995). Games, simulations and case studies a review. In: Leemkuil, H., Jong, T. d., Ootes, S. (2000). Review of Educational Use Of Games And Simulations. Retrieved February 17, 2006, from http://kits.edte.utwente.nl/documents/D1.pdf Leemkuil, H., Jong, T. d., Ootes, S. (2000). Review Of Educational Use Of Games And Simulations. Retrieved February 17, 2006, from http://kits.edte.utwente.nl/documents/D1.pdf Massy, W. F. (1999). Virtual U: The University Simulation Game. Retrieved February 17, 2006, from http://www.virtual-u.org/documentation/educause.asp Moore, D. L., Williams, K. (2002). Virtual U. Assessment Update Retrieved February 17, 2006, from http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=aphan=10350107loginpage=Login.aspsite=ehost PR Newswire, (2000). Virtual U Released; University Management Goes High Tech Computer Simulation Tackles the Management Challenges of Higher Education. February 17, 2006, from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=55540413Fmt=7clientId=8189RQT=309VName=PQD Rainwater, T., Salkind, N., Sawyer, B., Massy, W. (2003). Virtual U 1.0 Strategy Guide. Retrieved February 17, 2006, from http://www.virtual-u.org/downloads/vu-strategy-guide.pdf Schevitz, T. (2000). University Game Plan / Professor emeritus computer simulation lets players test skills as college administrators. San Francisco Chronicle, February 17, 2006, from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=47957859Fmt=7clientId=8189RQT=309VName=PQD Virtual U Project. (2003). Virtual U. Retrieved February 17, 2006, from http://www.virtual-u.org Waters, B., Toft, I. (2001, October) Virtual U: A University Systems Simulation. Conflict Management in Higher Education Report Retrieved February 17, 2006, from http://www.campus-adr.org/CMHER/ReportResources/Edition2_1/VirtualU2_1.html

Friday, October 25, 2019

How ATVs Work Essay -- essays research papers

Thesis statement: All terrain vehicles are helpful and useful and I will explain how they work and how to fix them in this paper. Outline: Inn this paper I will discuss ATV’s and general knowledge and getting them wet. I also will discuss their origin and how they need care and how to keep them doing good for a long time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is an ATV? It is an All Terrain Vehicle, also called three or four wheelers. It is also called a quad or ATV. An ATV is built to go where other vehicles cannot go. ATV’s are also built to handle a lot of stress and abuse. ATV’s are virtually indestructible; however, they have a few weaknesses and it is important to know and understand those few weaknesses. You should always do a complete check of your ATV before riding . Second, ATV’s also provide power and speed. There are also amphibian ATV’s that float and go like a boat. ATV’s were first â€Å"work† vehicles for telephone and electrical linemen and other types of people. They used the ATV’s to get from one pole to another that went over difficult terrain where 4x4 trucks could not go. (Estrem ATV’s 10)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Second, you do not need a special permit or driver’s license to drive a ATV although special training is recommend by several manufacturers and some even give seminars and free classes. I believe that some company’s give cash back to people who take classes. I ,myself, have not taken any of these classes. There are no age limits or restrictions because these are not operated on public streets, roads or highways. ATV’s are â€Å"Off-road† machines. There is also safety gear to protect you from harm. These accessories include helmets, gloves, boots, chest protectors and so on. (Estrem ATV’s 10-11) Third, ATV’s need some type of power plant to propel them. The types of power plants that are most common are the two stroke engine and the four stroke engine (A stroke is one movement of the piston Microsoft Encarta 96 Internal Combustion Engine). The general principle of the two-stroke engine is to shorten the periods in which fuel is put into the combustion chamber and in which the spent gases are exhausted to a small fraction of the duration of a stroke instead of allowing each of these operations to occupy a full stroke. In the simplest type of two-stroke engine, the poppet valves are replaced by sleeve valves or ports (openings in t... ...fied Buggy class. At home on sand, dirt, or the surface of Mars, these competition-designed vehicles spend as much time on their roll bars as they do on their tires. The series will feature another buggy class called the Stadium Lites. The Lites are an ultra-quick, lightweight version of the Supers and are based on Honda's Odessey/Pilot line of full roll cage ATVs. Finally, the Stadium Thunder Bikes will wow the crowd with high-flying action. These big, bad, four-stroke bikes are the same machines used from Baja to Supercross. (Internet VIA America Online Internet Provider)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Conclusion ATV’s are fun yet dangerous. ATV’s require a lot of care and maintenance but they will give you a good feeling in life that cannot be matched. I have discussed Water damage and how to prevent it, good riding spots and how to care for the major parts of your ATV. I have also told about the the renewed interest of ATV stadium riding and racing. I have not tried this but it may be fun. Please though observe all rules and safety protocols to prevent injury or death. If you respect the laws and use common sense and care ATV riding and racing can be an enjoyable experience.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Ball and Brown Essay

In 1968 Raymond Ball and Phillip Brown published ‘An empirical evaluation of accounting income numbers’ in the Journal of Accounting research. After an initial lukewarm response from the academic community it rapidly became what the American Accounting Association now calls ‘the seed that made a difference’. The purpose of this essay is to introduce the study of Ball and Brown(motivations, research questions and findings) and identify its significant contributions in capital markets research. Introduction According to the resources provided, Ball and Brown described the motivation for their study as a test of existing scholarly research that painted a dim picture of reported earnings. The early articles concluded that earnings could not be informative, and therefore major changes to accounting practice where necessary to correct the problem. In their research, Ball and Brown sought to answer the simple fundamental research question: are accounting income numbers useful? Their position was summarised: â€Å"An empirical evaluation of accounting income numbers requires agreement as to what real-world outcome constitutes an appropriate test of usefulness. Because net income is a number of particular interest to investors, the outcome we use as a predictive criterion is the investment decision as it is reflected in security prices†(Ball and Brown 1968). Ball and Brown found that when stocks had a positive income surprise, the abnormal stock price returns for the event window were also likely to be positive, and vice versa. They also found that a majority of the increase in the abnormal returns was before the announcement date, which implied that analysts have fairly accurate forecasts of whether firms will outperform or underperform. Significance of their contributions Although there does have some limitations in Ball and Brown’s study, it had a significant impact on later research. Ball and Brown (1968) provide compelling evidence that there is information content in accounting earnings announcements. In the meantime, they correlate the sign of the abnormal  stock return in the month of an earnings announcement with the sign of the earnings change of a certain firm’s earnings in a previous year earnings. Starting with Ball and Brown (1968), many studies used such association with stock returns to compare alternative accounting performance measures, such as historical cost earnings, current cost earnings, residual earnings, operating cash flows, and so on. As Watts and Zimmerman point out, most accounting research since Ball and Brown (1968) has been positive, and the role of accounting theory is no longer normative. Ball and Brown (1968) heralded the positive-economics-based empirical capital markets research in the late 1960s.Concurrent developments in economics and finance constituted the theoretical and methodological impetus to the early capital markets research in accounting. In addition, their study initially provides reliable evidence that stock markets can influence annual reports. Then researchers began to do a lot in reflect of stock market. Furthermore, the method used is also applicable to a large number of accounting and financial issues, including dividend announcements, earnings announcements, mergers and acquisitions, and investment spending. 3. Conclusion Ball and Brown (1969) expressed a view of information in markets that was revolutionary and contributed to a significant change in attitudes towards investing and financial markets. By testing the connection between earnings expectations and share price changes they were the genesis of a body of research that now underpins modern day investment processes. References Jackson, S. (1999), â€Å"Australia: Towns get by without their banks†, The Australian. pp. 3. Phillips, N. and Malhotra, N. (2008). ‘Taking social construction seriously: extending the discursiveapproach in institutional theory’. In Greenwood, R., Oliver, C., Sahlin, K. and Suddaby, R. (Eds),Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism. London: Sage, 602–720. How can responsible international mining and oil companies use their social investment funds? Nikolai, Bazley, and Jefferson Jones. Intermediate Accounting. South-Western College Pub, 209 Massoud, M. and C. Raiborn(2003), â€Å"Accounting for Goodwill: Are We Better Off?,† Review of Business, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 26-32. Ball and Brown (1968): The seed that made a difference, Ball, R., and Brown, P. (1968), â€Å"An empirical evaluation of accounting income numbers†, Journal of Accounting Research 6 (2), pp.159-178 Watts and Zimmerman (1979), â€Å"The Demand for and Supply of Accounting Theories: The Market for Excuses†, The Accounting Review, Vol. 54, No. 2, American Accounting Association. ———————–

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Written Performance Concept

Written Performance Concept Play: Translations As a director, I want to emphasise the concept of a forbidden romance which is the essential theme of the play. So in my duologue, it was important to remember my directorial intentions throughout in order for the audience to understand the complexity of the situation. ‘Translations’ was written by the Irish playwright Brian Friel in 1980, however, it is set in the 19th century in it fictional town on Baile Beag.Brian Friel stated that ‘Translations’ is â€Å"a play about language and only about language† but it deals with a wide range of issues, stretching from language and communication to cultural imperialism. He based it in Ireland due to the fluidity of the Irish language and to make it harder for literal translation, as David Grant explains â€Å"The very nature of translation is so delicate, so unpredictable, that the only practical solution was to explore ideas in practice on the rehearsal room f loor. Historical elements relevant to inform my embodiment of role would be the English’s role in taking over Ireland in the 1930’s, as most Irish were reduced to near poverty whereas the English had masses of wealth. Also, they planned to take everything of Irish importance away, such as lessons in school only being taught in English when over half of the population spoke Gaelic. To demonstrate the fact we are in a field, not many props are used except a bale of hay we use for me to sit on and state â€Å"the grass must be wet, my feet are soaking. We decided to set it in a field as it has to be somewhere away from civilisation where no one will catch them. We are also using and Irish folk music track at the start to set the scene for the audience and give them a sense that they are in agricultural Ireland. In order to further shape and influence my character, I undertook some drama exercises to develop a deeper understanding of my character. An example would be non- verbal communication exercises where we would run through the scene once; they go through it only with the use of facial expression, proxemics and gestures.This helped me develop a joyful, but at times confused and frustrated facial expressions, for example on the line â€Å"What-What? † after Yolland states â€Å"Yes, I know your Marie, of course I know your Marie, I mean I have been watching you night and day for the past†¦Ã¢â‚¬  even though I don’t understand what he is saying, I should be able to recognize he is complimenting or saying something beautiful though facial expressions and gestures.Also to be more aware of my proxemics and levels so I don’t look superior or upright in any way and my gestures to be soft and calming, not rigid and stiff. Hot seating also helped me as we got an in depth analysis of my character and a deeper understanding of what their objectives may be is several different parts of the play. An example of this would be to ask Marie the question â€Å"How did you feel when you met George for the first time? † This helped me with my tone and voice to my subtle, sweet and lyrical.We also have to portray the hesitance between Yolland and Marie as there love isn’t only frowned upon in society because there statuses in society are at two totally different ends of the spectrum, but the love triangle between Manus, Yolland and Marie is a very problematic one. This further adds pressure to the situation and I need to be able to portray this awkwardness and lack of understanding for the audience to be able to fully connect with us as people. I also want the audience to feel empathy for our circumstances.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Herodotus and Thucydides essays

Herodotus and Thucydides essays According to Roy T. Matthews and F. Dewitt Platt the study of history started in the fifth century B.C., when they began questioning and articulating Greeks. They started to analyze the meaning of their immediate past and to write down the results of their research. Before the classical period, the Greeks only had a slight idea of their past. Therefore, I will compare and contrast Herodotus and Thucydides, who were the first two ancient Greek historians known to us. They have not just given us a different prospective of certain events but, they have also shaped the future in their own way. Not much is known about Herodotus' life. Herodotus was born in 484 B.C. in a town called Halicarnassus modern Bodrum in southwestern Turkey. This is not far from Herodotus' native city, which is on the Island of Samos. As much as we know about Herodotus's life, is that he was exiled from Halicarnassus after his involvement in an unsuccessful takeover against the ruling dynasty, and he withdrew to the Island of Samos. He seems never to have returned to Halicarnassus, but he appears to be proud of his native city and its queen, Artemisia. It must have been during his exile that he embarked on the journeys. These journeys took him to Egypt, as far south as the first cataract of the Nile, to Babylon, Ukraine, and to Italy and Sicily. Herodotus mentions an interview with an informant in Sparta, and it is almost certain he lived for a period in Athens. In Athens, he taped the oral traditions of the prominent families, in particular the Alkmaeonidai, to which Pericles belonged on his m aternal side. But the Athenians did not accept foreigners as citizens. When Athens sponsored the colony of Thurii in 444 BC, Herodotus became a colonist. (Wikipedia Encyclopedia) He made visits of the Greek cities, the major religious and athletic festivals, where he offered performances for which he expected payment. In 431 BC, the Peloponnesian War broke ...