Abstract: The fact that the extant ancient Greek literature, the use of poiētēs and poiēsis first appeared in Herodotus' Histories is no accident. Although the Histories has not touched upon the issue of "poetics", it has demonstrated the historical background of the birth of ancient Greek poiētikē. Before scholars begin to investigate in-depth the semantic issue of the word poiētikē, we have to look into the reason why the differences between the nature of poetry-making and that of other making techniques happen to become a problem during the democratic period of Athens. To have a proper and accurate understanding of the original problem confronting ancient Greek poiētikē, we must delve into the problems that Athenian democracy has faced. The question of whether Herodotus is a so-called empirical historian or a poet adept in "poetry-making" still remains open. Nevertheless, that Herodotus' Histories is a chronicled poetry-making coming into being as a reflection of the democratic era of Athens and its problems is an undisputable textual fact.

Key words: Herodotus, poiētikē, Athenian democracy, narrative poet, political history