Hestia: Exploring the World of Herodotus

Hestia was an interdisciplinary research and public engagement project that used digital mapping to explore the ancient world described in Herodotus’s Histories. Bringing together Classical Studies, Geography and Digital Humanities, it investigated how places, peoples and their relationships shaped the historian’s account of the world.

The project identified place names in a digital version of the Histories and used geographic information systems, Google Earth and interactive visualisations to connect the narrative with its locations. Its approach examined how places were linked through the text, offering a richer understanding of ancient geography and questioning a simple division between East and West. The tools were designed for researchers, students and anyone interested in the ancient world.

The original project ran from September 2008 to July 2010, followed by Hestia2 from July 2013 to June 2014, which expanded its digital tools and explored wider questions about visualising complex humanities data.

Achievements and outputs

Hestia produced a geospatial database of the Histories, improving the identification of ancient places and connecting them to the Pleiades gazetteer. It also provided ways to explore these locations through Google Earth and read the narrative alongside maps. Digital text and resources

A major output was HestiaVis, an interactive platform offering an overview of place references, a reading view combining text and maps, and detailed views showing connections between locations. The project also created free OpenLearn educational resources and organised a seminar series examining network analysis, mapping, visualisation and public access to research. Hestia2 outputs

Through Hestia Schools, a partnership with educational charity The Iris Project, the project developed and trialled workshops that helped pupils explore Herodotus and ancient geography using interactive technology. Its research also generated academic publications on spatial analysis, ancient literature and digital humanities.

Project team

The core team comprised:

  • Elton Barker — The Open University: Classical Studies and digital approaches to ancient texts.
  • Stefan Bouzarovski — University of Manchester: Human Geography and the analysis of spatial relationships.
  • Chris Pelling — University of Oxford: Greek literature and expertise in Herodotus.
  • Leif Isaksen — University of Southampton: Digital Humanities and geospatial analysis.

Core team profiles

Additional contributors to Hestia2 and its educational work included:

  • Kate Byrne — University of Edinburgh: Natural language processing and the identification of ancient place names.
  • Eric Kansa — Open Context: Adaptation of the visualisation platform.
  • Adam Rabinowitz — University of Texas at Austin: Classroom trials of Hestia’s resources.
  • Beverley Daley-Yates — Freelance learning consultant: Development of the OpenLearn materials.
  • Enrico Daga — The Open University’s Knowledge Media Institute: Development of HestiaVis.
  • Tom Brughmans, Nicole Coleman, Phil Jones and Tony Hirst: Hestia2 seminar leaders.
  • Lorna Robinson — The Iris Project: Schools engagement through Hestia Schools.

Hestia2 contributors, Schools partnership