Homer on mankind, Book XXI‘Lord of the Earthquake,’answered the Archer-King 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 three—Homer’s 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 barbarians—may not be without glory (akleos); and for other things and especially to show why (di’an 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 returnse.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 West—when did Asia first come into contact with Greeks

Herodotus’ Sense of Aetiology

• Human revenge—action & reaction of nations and individuals

• Human ambition—impulse 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 H’s 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 backward…men 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 hoardsThan 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.

 

Solon’s examples of Happy Men• Tellus, the Athenian• Cleobis and Biton of

Argos

“Man is entirely a creature of chance…”

“Call no man ‘happy’ until he’s dead.”

Solon, Athenian lawgiver ca 594 BC

After Solon’s departure – Nemesis!

• Croesus’ son

• Adrastus’ tale

• War with Cyrus – Fall of Sardis

• Croesus’ realization of Solon’s 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