The people of China did not have to worry about invasions coming from the southwest because of these mountains: .

Herodotus views history as a source of moral lessons, with conflicts and wars as misfortune. herodotus, preferred moral lessons and drawing conclusions over fact, making him similar to other popular historians of the time. thucydides uses factual reports of political and military events, based on eye-witness accounts. thucydides' view of only factual based reports, was uncommon for the time, neither thucydides or herodotus, cited sources.