Xerxes personified

This thesis investigates the use of a broad range of narrative techniques used by Herodotus in his Histories, including some that cross the modern Western intellectual boundaries established between our sense of fiction and non-fiction writing, as well as between science and imagination. Specifically, five such narrative techniques used in the Histories-theme, form, character, world-building, and audience analysis-are now common to creative writing. The thesis, contending that Xerxes is a fully-developed character, examines how those techniques are used to create his literary character. Also discussed is the validity of the use of imagination, implied by the presence of creative writing techniques, within Herodotus and history in general. The thesis concludes by endorsing the use of creative writing techniques in the practice of history