title: An Account of Egypt
author: Herodotus
description: He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative.
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  ![](index-1_1.jpg)
  
  
  E G Y P T A N D
  
  
  T H E L I M I TS O F H E L L E N I S M
  
  
  In a series of studies, Ian Moyer explores the ancient history and
  
  
  modern historiography of relations between Egypt and Greece from
  
  
  the fifth century bce to the early Roman empire. Beginning with
  
  
  Herodotus, he analyzes key encounters between Greeks and Egyptian
  
  
  priests, the bearers of Egypt’s ancient traditions. Four moments unfold
  
  
  as rich micro-histories of cross-cultural interaction: Herodotus’ inter-
  
  
  views with priests at Thebes; Manetho’s composition of an Egyptian
  
  
  history in Greek; the struggles of Egyptian priests on Delos; and a
  
  
  Greek physician’s quest for magic in Egypt. In writing these histories,
  
  
  the author moves beyond Orientalizing representations of the Other
  
  
  and colonial metanarratives of the civilizing process to reveal inter-
  
  
  actions between Greeks and Egyptians as transactional processes in
  
  
  which the traditions, discourses, and pragmatic interests o