Histories (Herodotus)

The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. Written about 440 BC in the Ionic dialect of classical Greek, The Histories tells the story of the Greco-Persian Wars between the Achaemenid Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus travelled extensively around the ancient world, conducting interviews and collecting stories for his book. At the beginning of The Histories, Herodotus sets out his reasons for writing it:

Herodotus of Halicarnassus here displays his enquiry, so that human achievements may not become forgotten in time, and great and marvellous deeds – some displayed by Greeks, some by barbarians – may not be without their glory; and especially to show why the two peoples fought with each other.

– Penguin Classics translation, revised from Aubrey de Sélincourt's 1954 version

The Histories is divided into nine books, each named after one of the Muses. The rise of the Persian Empire is chronicled, and the causes for the conflict with Greece. Herodotus treats the conflict as an ideological one, frequently contrasting the absolute power of the Persian king with the democratic government of the Greeks. The Histories contains a famous account of the Battle of Marathon, of which Herodotus wrote:

So when the battle was set in array, and the victims showed themselves favourable, instantly the Athenians, so soon as they were let go, charged the barbarians at a run. Now the distance between the two armies was little short of eight furlongs. The Persians, therefore, when they saw the Greeks coming on at speed, made ready to receive them, although it seemed to them that the Athenians were bereft of their senses, and bent upon their own destruction; for they saw a mere handful of men coming on at a run without either horsemen or archers. Such was the opinion of the barbarians; but the Athenians in close array fell upon them, and fought in a manner worthy of being recorded.

– translation, George Rawlinson

Storyline

Book I (Clio)

View of Delphi, looking down from the theater.

• The rulers of Lydia (on the west coast of modern Turkey): Candaules, Gyges, Sadyattes, Alyattes, Crœsus (6–7)
• How Gyges took the kingdom from Candaules (8–13)
• The singer Arion's ride on the dolphin (23–24)
• Solon's answer to Crœsus's question that Tellus was the happiest person in the world (29–33)
• Crœsus's efforts to protect his son Atys, his son's accidental death by Adrastus (34–44)
• Crœsus's test of the oracles (46–54)
• The answer from the Oracle of Delphi concerning whether Crœsus should attack the Persians (famous for its ambiguity): If you attack you will destroy a mighty empire (55–56)
• Pisistratus' rises and falls from power as tyrant of Athens (59–64)
• The rise of Sparta (65–68)
• Crœsus's defeat by Cyrus II of Persia, and how he later became Cyrus's advisor (70–92)
• The rulers of the Medes: Deioces, Phraortes, Cyaxares, Astyages, Cyrus II of Persia (95–144)
• The rise of Deioces over the Medes
• Astyages's attempt to destroy Cyrus, and Cyrus's rise to power
• Harpagus tricked into eating his son, his revenge against Astyages by assisting Cyrus
• The culture of the Persians
• The history and geography of the Ionians, and the attacks on it by Harpagus
• Pactyes' convinces the Lydians to revolt. Rebellion fails and he seeks refuge from Mazares in Cyme (Aeolis)
• The culture of Assyria, especially the design and improvement of the city of Babylon and the ways of its people
• Cyrus's attack on Babylon, including his revenge on the river Gyndes and his famous method for entering the city
• Cyrus's ill-fated attack on the Massagetæ

Book II (Euterpe)

Statue of the Egyptian goddess Hathor.

• The proof of the antiquity of the Phrygians by the use of children unexposed to language
• The geography of Egypt
• Speculations on the Nile river
• The religious practices of Egypt, especially as they differ from the Greeks
• The animals of Egypt: cats, dogs, crocodiles, hippopotamuses, otters, phoenixes, sacred serpents, winged snakes, ibises
• The culture of Egypt: medicine, funeral rites, food, boats
• The kings of Egypt: Menes, Nitocris, Mœris, Sesostris, Pheron, Proteus
• Helen and Paris' stay in Egypt during the Trojan War
• More kings of Egypt: Rhampsinitus (and the story of the clever thief), Cheops (and the building of the Great Pyramid), Chephren, Mycerinus, Asychis, Anysis, Sethôs
• The line of priests
• The Labyrinth
• More kings of Egypt: the twelve, Psammetichus (and his rise to power), Necôs, Psammis, Apries, Amasis II (and his rise to power)

Book III (Thalia)

The ruins of Persepolis, capital of the Persian Empire.

• Cambyses II of Persia's (son of Cyrus II and king of Persia) attack on Egypt, and the defeat of the Egyptian king Psammetichus III.
• Cambyses's abortive attack on Ethiopia
• The madness of Cambyses
• The good fortune of Polycrates king of Samos
• Periander, the king of Corinth and Corcyra, and his obstinate son
• The revolt of the two Magi in Persia and the death of Cambyses
• The conspiracy of the seven to remove the Magi
• The rise of Darius I of Persia.
• The twenty satrapies
• The culture of India and their method of collecting gold
• The culture of Arabia and their method of collecting spices
• The flooded valley with five gates
• Orœtes's (governor of Sardis) scheme against Polycrates
• The physician Democêdes
• The rise of Syloson governor of Samos
• The revolt of Babylon and its defeat by the scheme of Zopyrus

Book IV (Melpomene)

Scythian warriors, drawn after figures on an electrum cup from the Kul'Oba kurgan burial near Kerch (Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg).

• The history of the Scythians (from the land north of the Black Sea)
• The miraculous poet Aristeas
• The geography of Scythia
• The inhabitants of regions beyond Scythia: Sauromatae, Budini, Thyssagetae, Argippaeans, Issedonians, Arimaspi, Hyperboreans
• A comparison of Libya (Africa), Asia, and Europe
• The rivers of Scythia: the Ister, the Tyras, the Hypanis, the Borysthenes, the Panticapes, the Hypacyris, the Gerrhus, and the Tanais
• The culture of the Scythians: religion, burial rites, xenophobia (the stories of Anacharsis and Scylas), population
• The beginning of Darius's attack on Scythia, including the bridge over the Bosphorus
• The brutal worship of Zalmoxis by the Getae
• The customs of the surrounding peoples: Tauri, Agathyrsi, Neuri, Androphagi (man-eaters), Melanchlaeni, Geloni, Budini, Sauromatae
• The wooing of the Amazons by the Scyths, forming the Sauromatae
• Darius's failed attack on Scythia and consequent retreat
• The story of the Minyæ (descendants of the Argonauts) and the founding of Cyrene
• The kings of Cyrene: Battus, Arcesilaus, Battus the Lame (and the reforms of Demonax), Arcesilaus (his revolt and death)
• The peoples of Libya from east to west
• The revenge of Arcesilaus' mother Pheretima

Book V (Terpsichore)

• The attack on the Thracians by Megabazus
• The removal of the Paeonians to Asia
• The slaughter of the Persian envoys by Alexander I of Macedon
• The failed attack on the Naxians by Aristagoras, tyrant of Miletus
• The revolt of Miletus against Persia
• The background of Cleomenes I, king of Sparta, and his half brother Dorieus
• The description of the Persian Royal Road from Sardis to Susa
• The introduction of writing to Greece by the Phoenicians
• The freeing of Athens by Sparta, and its subsequent attacks on Athens
• The reorganizing of the Athenian tribes by Cleisthenes
• The attack on Athens by the Thebans and Eginetans
• The backgrounds of the tyrants of Corinth, Cypselus and his son Periander
• Aristagoras's failed request for help from Sparta, and successful attempt with Athens
• The burning of Sardis, and Darius's vow for revenge against the Athenians
• Persia's attempts to quell the Ionian revolt

Book VI (Erato)

Miltiades.

• The fleeing of Histiaeus to Chios
• The training of the Ionian fleet by Dionysius of Phocaea
• The abandonment of the Ionian fleet by the Samians during battle
• The defeat of the Ionian fleet by the Persians
• The capture and death of Histiaeus by Harpagus
• The invasion of Greece under Mardonius and enslavement of Macedon
• The destruction of 300 ships in Mardonius's fleet near Athos
• The order of Darius that the Greeks provide him earth and water, in which most consent, including Aegina
• The Athenian request for assistance of Cleomenes of Sparta in dealing with the traitors
• The history behind Sparta having two kings and their powers
• The dethronement of Demaratus, the other king of Sparta, due to his supposed false lineage
• The arrest of the traitors in Aegina by Cleomenes and the new king Leotychides
• The suicide of Cleomenes in a fit of madness, possibly caused by his war with Argos, drinking unmixed wine, or his involvement in dethroning Demaratus
• The battle between Aegina and Athens
• The taking of Eretria by the Persians after the Eretrians sent away Athenian help
• Pheidippides's encounter with the god Pan on a journey to Sparta to request aid
• The assistance of the Plataeans, and the history behind their alliance with Athens
• The Athenian win at the Battle of Marathon, led by Miltiades and other strategoi
• The Spartans late arrival to assist Athens
• The history of the Alcmaeonidae and how they came about their wealth and status
• The death of Miltiades after a failed attack on Paros and the successful taking of Lemnos

Book VII (Polymnia)

Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques-Louis David (1814)

• The amassing of an army by Darius after learning about the defeat at Marathon
• The quarrel between which son should succeed Darius in which Xerxes I of Persia is chosen
• The death of Darius in 486 BC
• The defeat of the Egyptian rebels by Xerxes
• The advice given to Xerxes on invading Greece: Mardonius for invasion, Artabanus against (9-10)
• The dreams of Xerxes in which a phantom frightens him and Artabanus into choosing invasion
• The preparations for war, including a canal and bridge across the Hellespont
• The offer by Pythius to give Xerxes all his money, in which Xerxes rewards him
• The request by Pythius to allow one son to stay at home, Xerxes' anger, and the march out between the butchered halves of Pythius's son
• The destruction and rebuilding of the bridges built by the Egyptians and Phoenicians at Abydos
• The siding with Persia of many Greek states, including Thessaly, Thebes, Melia, and Argos
• The refusal of aid after negotiations by Gelo of Syracuse, and the refusal from Crete
• The destruction of 400 Persian ships due to a storm
• The small Greek force (appox. 6000) led by Leonidas I, sent to Thermopylae to delay the Persian army (approx. 3.4 million)
• The Battle of Thermopylae in which the Greeks hold the pass for 3 days
• The secret pass divulged by Ephialtes of Trachis in which Hydarnes uses to lead forces around the mountains to encircle the Greeks
• The retreat of all but the Spartans, Thespians, and Thebans (forced to stay by the Spartans).
• The Greek defeat and order by Xerxes to remove Leonidas' head and attach his torso to a cross

Book VIII (Urania)

A Greek trireme

• Greek fleet is led by Eurybiades, a Spartan
• The destruction by storm of two hundred ships sent to block the Greeks from escaping
• The retreat of the Greek fleet after word of a defeat at Thermopylae
• The supernatural rescue of Delphi from a Persian attack
• The evacuation of Athens assisted by the fleet
• The reinforcement of the Greek fleet at Salamis Island, bringing the total ships to 378
• The destruction of Athens by the Persian land force after difficulties with those who remained
• The Battle of Salamis, the Greeks have the advantage due to better organization, and less loss due to ability to swim
• The description of the Angarum, the Persian riding post
• The rise in favor of Artemisia, the Persian woman commander, and her council to Xerxes in favor returning to Persia
• The vengeance of Hermotimus, Xerxes' chief eunuch, against Panionius
• The attack on Andros by Themistocles, the Athenian fleet commander and most valiant Greek at Salamis
• The escape of Xerxes and leaving behind of 300,000 picked troops under Mardonius in Thessaly
• The ancestry of Alexander I of Macedon, including Perdiccas
• The refusal of an attempt by Alexander to seek a Persian alliance with Athens

Book IX (Calliope)

• The second taking of an evacuated Athens
• The evacuation to Thebes by Mardonius after the sending of Lacedaemonian troops
• The slaying of Masistius, leader of the Persian cavalry, by the Athenians
• The warning from Alexander to the Greeks of an impending attack
• The death of Mardonius by Aeimnestus
• The Persian retreat to Thebes where they are afterwards slaughtered
• The description and dividing of the spoils
• The speedy escape of Artabazus into Asia.
• The Persian defeat in Ionia by the Greek fleet, and the Ionian revolt
• The mutilation of the wife of Masistes ordered by Amestris, wife of Xerxes
• The death of Masistes after his intent to rebel
• The Athenian blockade of Sestos and the capture of Artayctes

Translations of the Histories

• George Rawlinson, 1858: in classics.mit.edu full text of all books (Book I to Book IX)
• George Campbell Macaulay, 1904: full text, vol. 1, full text, vol. 2
• Alfred Denis Godley, 1921: full text
• Aubrey de Sélincourt, 1954 excerpts
• Harry Carter, 1958
• David Grene, 1985
• Walter Blanco and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts, 1992
• Robin Waterfield, 1998
• Shlomo Felberbaum, 2003 - work in progress: full text
• Andrea L. Purvis, 2007

Herodotus' Histories in popular culture

• In the movie and book The English Patient, Herodotus' work is a favorite of the main character, whose life journeys are similar to those of Herodotus. The work is continually referenced throughout, particularly in the campfire scene.

• In Neil Gaiman's American Gods, the main character, Shadow, is introduced to Herodotus's Histories by his cellmate, and the work is referenced throughout the novel.

See also

• Steganography
• Historical novels sourcing material from Herodotus:
  • Pharaoh, by Bolesław Prus, incorporating the Labyrinth scenes inspired by Herodotus' description in Book II of The Histories
  • Creation, by Gore Vidal, interpreting many scenes from the Persian viewpoint.
  • Gates of Fire, by Stephen Pressfield, has the Battle of Thermopylae (Book VII) as its centrepiece.
  • Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuściński

External links

• Herodotus' Histories: the 28 logoi

References