Herodotus of Halicarnassus

Herodotus is often called the father of history. He was a little kid when Queen Esther was going through all of the stuff that we're reading about in her book, if we assume Xerxes to be properly identified as the king in the book of Esther. Herodotus indulges in long digressions and all kinds of rabbit trails that'll take you into all kinds of little corners of ancient history you didn't see coming. And he's not afraid to make moral pronouncements or to warn you about the folly of making this mistake or that.