Leadership In Herodotus's 'The Histories'

One of the themes seen in this section is the changing of leaders. This is seen constantly throughout The Histories, whether the changes are accurate or not. In this section, Herodotus writes that Darius died before he had the “chance to punish either Egypt or the Athenians” and was succeeded by his son, Xerxes (414). Another theme that is seen in this section is repetition of history. Not only does Xerxes decide to continue with his father’s attack on Athens, but he also has an interaction with one of the men in his army that is very similar to one that his father had. When Darius was preparing for his invasion of Scythia, Oeobazus asked to have one of his three sons left at home during the invasion, Darius said that he would leave all three …show more content…
This is seen multiple times in this section. First, Artabanus tries to advise Xerxes against attacking Athens, telling him that his plans are not thought out well enough and that “amongst living creatures it is the great ones that God smites with his thunder, nor does he allow them to show off…Often a great army is destroyed by a little one, when God in his envy puts fear into the men’s hearts,” but Xerxes rejects this advice (419-420). Then, while marching towards Greece, two portents occurred. Herodotus writes that the meanings were very obvious, indicating that Xerxes was going to “lead an army against Greece with the greatest pomp and circumstance, and then to come running for his life back to the place he started from,” but Xerxes chooses to ignore both of these omens (438). Lastly, when Xerxes asks Demaratus whether the Greeks will fight back or not, Demaratus says, “they will not under any circumstances accept terms from you which would mean slavery for Greece…Moreover, there is no use in asking if their numbers are adequate to enable them to do this; suppose a thousand of them take the field – then that thousand will fight you,” but this advice, too, Xerxes chooses to