Historians

Hecataeus of Miletus

• ca. 500 BC• Wrote a Periodos Ges• “Hecataeus of Miletus says (mutheitai) this: I

will write only what I believe to be true because the many stories told by the Greeks are, I think, ridiculous.”

• Hecataeus: FGrHist 1F1a.

Herodotus of Halicarnassus

• Born ca. 485• Halicarnassus

• Exiled• Periodos Ges• Thurii• Died ca. 425• The “Father of History”

Thurii

Halicarnassus

The ‘Histories’ (Inquiries)

• ca. 429 BC• “The inquiries of Herodotus of Halicarnassus are here

recorded…” (Hdt. proem).• historia –learning by examination, inquiry; the

knowledge so gained. • A processing of information to discover a truth.• Implies critical evaluation, comparison, qualification.

• histor – a wise man, a judge.

Narrative Structure

• Croesus of Lydia conquers the Greeks of Asia• Cyrus of Persia conquers Lydia and Ionia (Book 1)• Cambyses conquers Egypt (Books 2 – 3)• Darius invades Scythia (Books 3 – 4)• The Ionian Greeks revolt from Darius (Book 5)• Darius retaliates – Battle of Marathon (Book 6 -7)• Xerxes and the invasion of 480 (Books 7 – 8).• Greeks victorious (Book 9).

Father of History…Father of Lies

• Herodotus used the “free-running style which… comes to an stop only because there is no more to say” (Aristotle Rhetoric 1408a. 28-34).

• “the Persian stories are... largely if not wholly inventions” (Flory 1987: 25).

• Herodotus “likes to tell wonderful stories, sometimes apparently for their own sake” (Fornara 1990: 26).

Departure:

• Homer:• “Sing to me, oh Muse, the wrath of Achilles…”

• Hesiod:• “Muses, come tell of Zeus and sing his praises…”

• Herodotus:• “The Persian storytellers say… (Hdt.i.1.1)• “these are the stories told by the Persians and the Phoenicians.

I won’t judge if either are true…” (Hdt. i.5.3)

Method:

• It will be my rule in all of these stories that I will write each down as I heard it told” (Hdt. ii.123).

• “I am bound to tell what I have been told, but I am not at all bound to be persuaded by it, and as far as I am concerned that statement holds true for the whole book” (Htd. vii.152).

Herodotus’ Abduction Logos

• First, win the audience…

• The stories you cherish are yours, and you needn’t give them up.• Io was an Argive and she did go to Egypt

• She just wasn’t raped by Zeus or turned into a cow.• Europa did got to Crete

• But she wasn’t taken by Zeus or on the back of a bull.• Medea did come from Colchis• Helen was taken to Troy• And all of these things are not just stories, but wrongs done.

• Second, demonstrate the method:

• “…the Persians report… not agreeing with the Greeks” (i.2.1)• “the Greeks, they say…” (i.2.1)• “In the next generation after this, they say…” (i.3.1)• “And the Persians say …” (i.4.3)• “The Persians for their part say that things happened that way…” (i.5.1)

• Source comparison…• “the Phoenicians do not agree with the Persians …” (i.5.2)• “These are the stories told by the Persians and the Phoenicians…” (i.5.3).

Translation from muthos to logos

• Herodotus Book I. 1 – 5• Io, Europa, Medea and Helen• Each myth is related in the form of logos but without

changing the essential elements.• The Gyges myth

• What seems more likely, a magic ring or a dark corner?

The Beginning of History

• “…when I have pointed to the man who I know first began to commit wrong against the Greeks, I shall go forward further with the story…” (i.5.3)

• The first statement of knowledge, of certainty. Instead of they (some strange foreigners) say this and they say that.

• The first man is Croesus, the date is 561 BC.

Why is the beginning so Important?

• “The beginning (arche) is half of the whole” Plato Laws753e.6

• Repeated in Aristotle Politics 1303b.29

• “The beginning is more than half of the whole” Aristotle Nic. Ethic. 1098b.

• See also Plutarch Sertorius 1.1; Polybius v.31.1, 32.1; Diodorus xviii.59.6

The Publication of the Histories

• Herodotus presented sections at the Olympic Games:• 29 July 432, the 87th Olympiad / or 16 July 428, the 88th.

• Dateable references:• Herodotus says (vii.23) that Eurymachus, son of Leontiades, was

the commander of the Theban attack on Plataea in February of 431 BC. This is confirmed by Thucydides (ii.2.3).

• He mentions (vii.137) the execution of Aneristus and the other Spartan envoys which occurred in Athens in the summer of 430 BC (Thuc.ii.67).

• He does not mention the Plague, which hit Athens in the spring of 430, or the death of Pericles in Sept. of 429.

• But why would he?

Cultural Relativism?

• “…nomos is king of all” (Hdt. iii.38)• Human law is relative…

• “if each nation were to choose the best laws…they would each choose their own laws” (Hdt. 3.38)

• But is divine law absolute?• Is there an arche that explains diverse human conditions?

The mutability of Fortune

• “I shall go forward further with the story, giving an account of the cities of men, small as well as great: [4] for those which in old times were great have for the most part become small, while those that were in my own time great used in former times to be small: so then, since I know that human prosperity never continues steadfast, I shall make mention of both indifferently” (i.5.3-4).

Messages: The Tragic Trilogy

• Hybris – Ate – Nemesis• Hubris:

• Overconfidence, pride, ego• A sense of entitlement

• Ate:• Recklessness, foolishness, lack of forethought

• Nemesis• Divine retribution

Gyges and the Wife of Candaules

• Did Gyges have a choice?• Rather than follow one wrong with another, he should have

chosen death.• Sewell-Rutter, N. J. 2007. Guilt by Descent: Moral Inheritance and

Decision Making in Greek Tragedy. Oxford UP.

• Why mention Archilochus (i.12.2)?• The Mermnadae will pay for the sin of Gyges in the fifth

generation (i.13.2): Croesus

Arion and the Dolphin

• A morality tale about transgression of nomos.• Because Arion did the right thing –• the Orthian measure (orthios nomos) is a pun on

orthos nomos, the right way.• “This allows [Herodotus] to begin the Croesus story

with the theme of divine salvation that will also end it” (Gray 2001, 17).

• It also establishes his thesis that divine law does prevail.

Solon and Croesus

• “O Croesus, man is altogether a creature of accident” (i. 32.4)• “But we must of every thing examine the end and how it will

turn out at the last, for to many God shows but a glimpse of happiness and then plucks them up by the roots and overturns them” (i.32.9).

• Croesus = the archetypal hubristic monarch• Atys = the masculine version of Ate• Adrastus = From Phrygia, temple of Nemesis• Hubris – Ate – Nemesis.

The Lyd0-Milesian War

• i.19: The temple of Athena accidentally burned• Alyattes, king of Lydia, falls ill• Recovers only after building two temples

The Ionian Revolt

• V.102:• In 499 BC the Ionians rose in revolt from Persia.• Athens sent 20 ships “and these ships proved to be the

beginning of troubles for the Greeks and the Barbarians” (Hdts. v.97).

• Ionians attacked Sardis and burned the temple of Cybele

• “Zeus, grant me vengeance on the Athenians” Darius’ prayer (Hdts. v.105)

Ionian Guilt• Failed to support Croesus

• So too the Spartans• Sailed with Cambyses against Egypt:

• The Phoenicians did as well, • but when ordered to attack Carthage they refused (Hdt. iii.19)

• Missed opportunity for Freedom in 513 BC:• “If free men you are the most worthless and cowardly• If slaves, you are the most loyal” (Hdt. iv.142)

• Turned on each other in 494 BC• The battle of Lade• ‘We would rather be slaves that have to work so hard for our freedom’ (Hdt.

vi.12)

Cyrus’ Warning

• "from lands which are not rugged men who are not rugged are apt to come forth, since it does not belong to the same land to bring forth fruits of the earth which are admirable and also men who are good in war." So the Persians acknowledged that he was right and departed from his presence, having their opinion defeated by that of Cyrus; and they chose rather to dwell on poor land and be rulers, than to sow crops in a level plain and be slaves to others” (Hdt. ix.122.3-4)

HistoriansHecataeus of MiletusHerodotus of HalicarnassusSlide Number 4The ‘Histories’ (Inquiries)Narrative StructureFather of History…�Father of LiesDeparture:Method:�Herodotus’ Abduction LogosSlide Number 11Translation �from muthos to logosThe Beginning of HistoryWhy is the beginning so Important?The Publication of the HistoriesCultural Relativism?The mutability of FortuneMessages: The Tragic TrilogyGyges and the Wife of CandaulesArion and the DolphinSolon and CroesusThe Lyd0-Milesian WarThe Ionian RevoltIonian GuiltCyrus’ Warning