Herodotus

See also Wikipedia's article about "Herodotus".

Herodotus was the father of all historians, which means he was the father of all constructions of the past to favor Western chauvanist megalomania (thanks for ruining the fun, Edward Said). Consequently, he is beloved by Westerners, such as Ryszard Kapuscinski, and loathed by Persians like Alidad Damooei.

His Histories form part of the first-semester Lit Hum syllabus. Lit Hum classes traditionally groan about trudging through the work, but found their education came in handy when it came to pointing out the exaggerated plot points in The 300.