HERODOTUS

'Herodotus' of Halicarnassus (Greek: ''Hērodotos Halikarnāsseus'') was a Greek historian from Ionia who lived in the 5th century BC (ca. 484 BC–ca. 425 BC) and is regarded as the "''Father of History''". He is almost exclusively known for writing ''The Histories'', a record of his 'inquiries' (or '', a word that passed into Latin and took on its modern connotation of 'history') into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars which occurred in 490 and 480-479 BC — especially since he includes a narrative account of that period, which would otherwise be poorly documented, and many long digressions concerning the various places and peoples he encountered during wide-ranging travels around the lands of the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

His life

Most of what is known of Herodotus' life has been gathered from his own work. There was a duration of exile from his home city of Halicarnassus during which he may have undertaken the broad journeys that he describes in ''The Histories''. These journeys took him to many places such as Egypt as far south as the first cataract of the Nile, to Ukraine, Italy and Sicily. Although his description of Babylon contains highly descriptive remarks, he does not actually claim to have visited the city.
He lived for a period in Athens and became familiar with the oral traditions of the prominent families, in particular the Alkmaeonidai, to which Pericles belonged. The Athenians did not accept foreigners as citizens and Herodotus would have felt out of place there. When Athens sought citizens for the Greek colony at Thurii in 444 BC, Herodotus' name was among the willing, according to the Suda Whether or not he died in his adopted city is uncertain.
At an unknown point in Herodotus’s life he became a ''logios''. That is, he was a teller of stories written in prose (the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse). It is important to emphasize that his work was originally presented orally, and was designed to have a sort of theatrical element to it. His subject matter often encompassed battles, other political incidents of note, and, especially, the marvels of foreign lands. He made tours of the Greek cities and the major religious and athletic festivals, where he offered performances and expected payment.
In 431 BC, the Peloponnesian War broke out between Athens and Sparta. It may have been that conflict that inspired him to collect his stories into a continuous narrative. Centering on the theme of Persia's imperial progress, which only a united Athens and Sparta had managed to resist, they may have been intended as a critique of, or an attack upon, the war-mongering that threatened to overwhelm the entire Greek world.

Contribution

Reconstruction of the Oikumene (inhabited world) Ancient Map from Herodotus circa 450 BC

Herodotus gave us a lot of information concerning the nature of the world and the status of the sciences during his lifetime.
For example, he reports that the annual flooding of the Nile was said to be the result of melting snows far to the south, and comments that he cannot understand how there can be snow in Africa, the hottest part of the known world, offering an elaborate explanation based on the way that desert winds affect the passage of the Sun over this part of the world (2:18ff).
(He also passes on reports from Phoenician sailors that, while circumnavigating Africa, they 'saw the sun on the right side while sailing westwards'. Thanks to this brief mention, which is almost an afterthought, it has been argued that Africa was indeed circumnavigated by ancient seafarers—for this is precisely where the sun ought to have been.)
Written between 431 BC and 425 BC, ''The Histories'' were divided by later editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses (the 'Muse of History', Clio, represented the first book).
As the work progresses, it becomes apparent that Herodotus is fulfilling his opening desire—to 'prevent the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due mead of glory; and to put on record what causes first brought them into conflict.' Indeed, it is only from this perspective that his opening discussion of ancient wife-stealing is comprehensible: he is attempting to discover who first made the 'west' and the 'east' mutual antagonists, and myth is the only source he can delve into for information on the subject.
The first six books deal broadly with the growth of the Persian Empire. The tale begins with an account of the first 'western' monarch to enter into conflict with an 'eastern' people—Croesus of Lydia attacked the Greek city-states of Ionia, and then (misinterpreting a cryptic oracle), also attacked the Persians. (As occurs many times throughout ''The Histories'' to those who disregard good advice, Croesus soon lost his kingdom, and nearly his life). Croesus was defeated by Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire, and Lydia became a Persian province.
The second book forms a lengthy digression concerning the history of Egypt, which Cyrus' successor, Cambyses, annexed to the Empire. The following four books deal with the further growth of the Empire under Darius, the Ionian Revolt, and the burning of Sardis (an act participated in by Athens and at least one other Greek polis). The sixth book describes the very first Persian incursion into Greece, an attack upon those who aided the Ionians and a quest for retribution following the attack upon Sardis, which ended with the defeat of the Persians in 490 BC at the battle of Marathon, near Athens.
The last three books describe the attempt of the Persian king Xerxes to avenge the Persian defeat at Marathon and to finally absorb Greece into the Empire. ''The Histories'' end in the year 479 BC, with the Persian invaders having suffered both a crushing naval defeat at Salamis, and near annihilation of their ground forces at Plataea. The Persian Empire thus receded to the Aegean coastline of Asia Minor, still threatening but much chastened.
It is possible to see the dialectic theme of Persian power and its various excesses running like a 'red thread' throughout the narrative—cause and effect, hubris and fate, vengeance and violence. Even the strange and fantastic tales that are liberally sprinkled throughout the text find their source in this momentum. At every stage, a Persian monarch crosses a body of water or other liminal space and suffers the consequences: Cyrus attacks the Massagetae on the eastern bank of a river, and ends up decapitated; Cambyses attacks the Ethiopians to the south of Egypt, across the desert, and goes mad; Darius attacks the Scythians to the north and is flung back across the Danube; Xerxes lashes and then bridges the Hellespont, and his forces are crushed by the Greeks. Thus, though he strays (and sometimes strays rather far) off of this main course, he always returns to the task at hand—answering the question, how and why did the Greeks and Persians enter into the greatest conflict then known, and what were the consequences?

Opinions

Herodotus' invention has earned him the twin titles ''The Father of History'' and ''The Father of Lies'' [1]. As these epithets would seem to imply, there has long been a debate—at least from the time of Cicero's 'On the Laws' (Book 1, paragraph 5)—concerning the veracity of his tales, and, more importantly, concerning the extent to which he knew himself to be creating fabrications. Indeed, every manner of argument has surfaced on this subject, from a devious and consciously-fictionalizing Herodotus to a gullible Herodotus whose sources 'saw him coming a long way off'. Herodotus was, however, by his day's standards, reasonably accurate in his accounts, respectful of evidence, and a master of narrative. It is unfair, in other words, to condemn him for relating tales of giant man-eating ants, if such stories were told to him. Indeed, recent research focusing on Herodotus' report about "gold-digging, giant ants" has gone a long way towards rehabilitating Herodotus' reputation as a scientific historian - see the "Criticisms of Herodotus" section below. Like myths and legends in general, they need not have been true to have been meaningful stories.

Criticisms of Herodotus

There are many cases in which Herodotus was not sure of the truth of a certain event or unimpressed by the dull 'facts' he received, reported the several most famous accounts of a given subject or process and then wrote what he believed was the most probable. Though ''The Histories'' were often criticized in olden times for bias, inaccuracy and plagiarism (for example, Lucian of Samosata attacked Herodotus as a liar in ''Verae Historiae'' and went as far as to deny him a place among the famous on the Island of the Blessed), this methodology has been seen in a more positive light by many modern historians and philosophers, especially those searching for an example of relatively objective historical writing. Of course, given the sensitivity of the issue, the very founding of the discipline of history, this has not become a consensus view; attacks have been made by several scholars in modern times, a few even arguing that Herodotus exaggerated the extent of his travels and invented his sources.
Discoveries made since the end of the 19th century have greatly helped to restore Herodotus' reputation. The archaeological study of the now submerged ancient Egyptian city of Heraklion and the recovery of the so-called 'Naucratis stela' give extensive credibility to Herodotus' previously unsupported claim that Heraklion was founded under the Egyptian New Kingdom. Because of this recent increase in respect for his accuracy, as well as the quality and content of his observations, Herodotus is now recognized as a pioneer not only in history, but in ethnography and also anthropology.
One of the most interesting discoveries yet made concerning Herodotus' honesty is that of Michel Peissel, a French ethnologist, who claims to have discovered that in an isolated region of the Dansar Plateau, in the Himalayas region between India and Pakistan, there live marmots (a species of burrowing squirrel) who tend to throw up gold dust whenever they dig their burrows. According to Peissel, he interviewed the Minaro tribal people who live in the Dansar Plateau, and they confirmed for him that they have, for generations, been collecting the gold dust that the marmots expose in their diggings. Even more tantalizing, in his book, "The Ants' Gold", Peissel offers the theory that Herodotus became confused because the old Persian word for "marmot" is quite similar to that for "mountain ant". Herodotus, who probably did not know any Persian, may have unwittingly been the victim of a simple misunderstanding of translation. The suggestion that he completely made up the tale may continue to be thrown into doubt as more research is conducted. This theory, of course, fails to take into consideration Herodotus' own followup at 3.105 ff, wherein these "marmots" are said to chase and devour full-grown camels, however this could be an example of a tale told to keep others from seeking this relatively easy to access source of gold dust.

In popular culture

★ In Michael Ondaatje's novel and the movie based on it, The English Patient, Laszlo Almasy carries a copy of Herodotus' Histories and refers to it often for information about the areas of the Saharan desert he is searching. He also keeps important items in it and annotates the margins with his own observations and stories.

★ In Neil Gaiman's novel, American Gods, Shadow is given a copy of Herodotus' Histories by an inmate in the prison he is incarcerated at.

External links

★ Herodotus at About.com

★ A reconstructed portrait of Herodotos, based on historical sources, in a contemporary style.

★ Herodotus on the Web

★ Herodotus for Kids

★ Herodotus of Halicarnassus at Livius.org

★ 1911 Britannica article "Herodotus"

Online translations

★ Herodotus Inquiries—new translation with extensive photographic essays of the places and artifacts mentioned by Herodotus hyper-linked to the text

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★ (translation by George Campbell Macaulay, 1852–1915)

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★ The History of Herodotus at The Internet Classics Archive (translation by George Rawlinson)

★ Parallel Greek and English text of the History of Herodotus at the Internet Sacred Text Archive

★ Excerpts of Sélincourt's translation

★ Herodotus ''Histories'' on Perseus

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