The Histories by Herodotus is considered the founding work of history in Western Literature. Although not a fully impartial record, it remains one of the West's most important sources regarding these affairs. Moreover, it established the genre and study of history in the Western world (despite the existence of historical records and chronicals beforehand).
The Histories also stands as one of the earliest accounts of the rise of the Persian Empire as well as the events and causes of the Greco-Persian Wars between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus portrays the conflict as one between the forces of slavery (the Persians) on the one hand, and freedom (the Athenians and the confederacy of Greek city-states which united against the invaders) on the other.
The oldest extant copy of Histories by Herodotus are manuscripts from the Byzantine period dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries
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The first and perhaps the greatest work of historical writing, The Histories describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire.