Homer on mankind, Book XXI

Lord of the
Earthquake,answered the ArcherKing Apollo, you would credit
me with very little sense if I
fought you for the sake of men,
those wretched creatures who, like
the leaves, flourish for a little
while on the bounty of the earth
and flaunt their brilliance, but in a
moment droop and fade away

Herodotus of Halicarnassus
(c. 485 BC 425 BC)

Halicarnassus, modern Bodrum

Literature before Herodotus

Epic poetry (Homer, Hesiod)
Prose Geographies
Prose Ethnographies
Herodotus combines all threeHomers
grand thematic sweep combined with
explanatory geographical and ethnographic
digressions.

HerodoteanThematic Paragraph #1
Herodotus of Halicarnassus here displays the results
of his inquiries, so that human achievements (ta
genomena ex anthropon) may not become
forgotten in time, and great and marvellous deeds
(erga megala te kai thomasta)some belonging
to the Hellenes, others to the barbariansmay not
be without glory (akleos); and for other things and
especially to show why (dian aitian) the two
peoples fought with each other.

Persian Wars & Events leading

up
Herodotus covers the Archaic Age of
Greece (600-480 BC), the century before
his own time.
Covers the beginning of the 2nd great
conflict between East and West, Asia and
Europe, Greeks and Orientals
First task to find the beginning of a human
event. How does he go about this?

Composition
9 Scrolls required-9 books named after 9 muses
Ring composition- central thematic thread with
multiple digressions and returns
e.g. Persian king, Cambyses, decides to conquer
Egypt and digression begins into the geography,
races, customs, history, etc. of Egypt for all of Book
II. Book III goes back to Cambyses invasion.
Point of View is East to Westwhen did Asia first
come into contact with Greeks

Herodotus Sense of Aetiology

Human revengeaction & reaction of
nations and individuals
Human ambitionimpulse of empires and
men to expand territory
Cyclical nature of all human affairs
Envy or punishment of the gods for hubris
or for transgressions against the gods

Techniques
Historia he learns by traveling and asking
questions, journalistic approach
Candor when he mistrusts information, he
says so; he does not edit out sources
Impartiality although Greek, he treats all
nationalities with equal sympathy. NB,
Herodotus on customs (nomos).

Reactions/Reception to Hs work
Plutarch wrote an essay On the Malignity
of Herodotus
Cicero called him the Father of History
He was also known as the Father of Lies
esp. with regard to the strange customs that
he explains (e.g. everything in Egypt is
backwardmen squat to urinate and
women stand up)

Significant Terms in Herodotus

Historia
Adikia
Kleos
Megala erga
Nomos
Isonomia
Nemesis (ek theou)
Tyche

Olbios
Eudaimonia
Miasmos

Persian Wars Grand Theme

Made Athens a leader among Greek city-states and
served to prompt the Delian League, a defensive
alliance amongst Aegean city-states with Athens as
the leader.
Gave Greeks confidence in their position as leaders
of the western Mediterranean and, ultimately, made
Persia a refuge for ousted tyrants and other Greeks
unhappy with their cities
Discouraged permanently Persian expansion to the
west.

Persian Empire c. 490 BC

Beginning with legends rationalized

abduction of women

Io by Phoenicians from Greece

Europa by Greeks from Phoenicia
Medea by Greeks from Aea (Eastern)
Helen by Trojans from Greece

so much for the stories of Phoenicians and

Persians (eastern folk)

Herodotus begins historical

material with Croesus, King of
Lydia
Croesus background starts with story of
Candaules & Gyges (another problem
caused by woman)
Note violations of nomos
Role of Delphic Oracle
Gyges descendants first encroach on Greek
Ionian cities via Miletus

Croesus & Solon exchange re

Human Happiness
Poem attributed to Solon:
The man whose riches satisfy his greed
Is not more rich for all those heaps and hoards
Than some poor man who has enough to feed
And clothe his corpse with such as God affords.
I have no use for men who steal and cheat;
The fruit of evil poisons those who eat.
Some wicked men are rich, some good men poor,
But I would rather trust in what's secure;
Our virtue sticks with us and makes us strong,
But money changes owners all day long.

Solons examples of Happy Men

Tellus, the Athenian
Cleobis and Biton of
Argos
Man is entirely a
creature of chance
Call no man happy
until hes dead.
Solon, Athenian lawgiver ca 594 BC

After Solons departure

Nemesis!

Croesus son
Adrastus tale
War with Cyrus Fall of Sardis
Croesus realization of Solons truth

Action moves now with Cyrus

Cyrus background Persians (mythic tone)
Cyrus defeats Astyages and encorporates
Medes empire
Cyrus advances Persian empire both east
and west Lydia, Ionian Greeks, Carians,
Assyrians, and Massagetae