Herodotus and the theory of forms of government

Herodotus cannot be considered just a historian. He was also a political thinker who, although he didn’t systematise any kind of theory, was responsible for an important discussion about forms of government. The passage known as the Persian constitutional debate represents not only the reproduction of a supposed dialogue between nobles, but above all an implicit and indirect conceptual elaboration on the governments of the one, the few and the majority - which would contribute to the tradition of Hellenic political philosophy in later periods.