From. Myth to History: Herodotus' treatment of Greek myth
My poster is titled: ‘From Myth to History: Herodotus’ treatment of Greek myth’, I analysed my question and came up with a format that would best deliver my essay, in regards to this I made the decision to divide my poster into two main sections; myth and history. This allowed for a simplified visualisation of my question to clearly display information on my poster. Taking this into consideration and to further the readability, I organised my poster layout from left to right allowing it to be easily read across the page. This is why my title is in the top left corner, so it would naturally be read first and then my main bodies of information followed next to one another drawing to the right of the page. I chose a bold blue for the background which isn’t too light or dark a shade, and one that isn’t harsh on the eye but made the text stand out against it, it is also a natural earthy colour as this reflects the classical theme of the poster. I also chose to make certain words larger than others to draw the readers eye in the targetted area as well as putting significant words in bold to emphasise their importance on the poster.
By simplifying my essay down into two main boxes; myth and history for my essay I was able to organise my points easily. I felt it was important to first included definitions of both myth and history to give the reader a better understanding of the information on my poster. For the myth box, I chose to focus on how Herodotus was able to create a division between myth and history through his unique methods as a historian, and also how he treated myths in respect to his main goal of recording history accurately. Then for the history box, I first highlighted some Greek words which I deemed significant to analysing Herodotus previously mentioned unique methods. Then I included details which emphasise his skills as a historian and to make clear how Herodotus viewed history himself. This is furthered by my initial opening paragraph at the beginning of the poster where I convey what history was to Herodotus, and how this differs to our view of history today.
Lastly, I chose a statue of Herodotus so the reader could visualise the man in question when reading my poster, which explains its placement at the very beginning. I also included a picture of a Greek plate which depicts a scene from the Persian war to support where it is mentioned in the myth box. My last image is a map of the world according to Herodotus because I thought it would be interesting to the reader to see how he saw the world from his travels and research, and demonstrates to the reader how long ago Herodotus lived to emphasise how different his version of history would have been.
