Herodotus

In On the War for Greek Freedom, a compelling work comprised of selections from Herodotus’ The Histories, Herodotus recalls many accounts of history that were relayed to him throughout his life and many travels. Upon returning home to Athens, he spent years putting together The Histories, an elaborate account of the Greco-Persian Wars (499-479 B.C.), and is now credited with being “The Father of History.” Herodotus aids the reader in learning all about the primary and secondary reasons and…

simple pleasures. In the “Good Life” reading six philosophers explored the idea of what a good life entailed and even though their philosophies shared many similarities they also had many differences. These philosophers were known as Upanishads, Herodotus, Confucius, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Marcus Aurelius. Created during rural times, their philosophies explained the lifestyles of much simpler people than today’s and most individuals were trying…

Herodotus' "The Histories" depicts the history of Greek civilization. Throughout this recount, many kings of many different states rise and fall like the waves of the ocean. The Persian army, led by kind Xerxes, attempted to conquer the lands of Greece and put an end to their prosperity. The Persians vastly outnumbered the Greeks, making a Greek defeat inevitable. However, the brave King Leonidas rallied his mightiest warriors and made one final stand against certain doom. The concept of bravery…

chapter of the book, Herodotus focuses on the Persian war against Scythians and becomes fascinated with their unique warfare. The Scythians were the people of Indo- European origin who invaded Media, revolted against Darius and threatened to disrupt the Persian trade network along the Black sea. Darius commanded his army to prepare for war from all sides of his kingdom though his brother Artabanus warned him of attracting Scythians because of the difficulty of finding them (Herodotus, 140).…

Herodotus believes that human history is far more similar to a game of chance then one would like to think. A series of separate events, a series of dice rolls, merge together into a discernible story. While in his eyes it would be disingenuous to say that mankind makes decisions on the basis of a coin flip, it would be just as mistaken to claim that man is entirely rational. The impulsivity and irrationality of the human mind determined many of the great events in history. His portrayal of…

War and Morality: Thucydides and Herodotus Jaylin Swan As I read both excerpts of Thucydides and Herodotus, I could tell that they had conflicting ideas about the question, “Is war good or bad?”. When I first thought on the topic, I was leaning more to the good side, but I re-read my notes and both excerpts and realized that I agreed with Thucydides’s argument; war is actually bad. Not only for the two nations that are fighting in the book, but for all nations and the…

1. Why did Herodotus write The Histories, his multi-volume work the excerpt on the Scythians is taken from? Herodotus wrote his work, The Histories, to educate people about his findings about his travels and how the people from these different cultures interacted and lived their lives. 2. How might his status as an outsider (he, himself was neither Scythian, nor an Amazon) assist or impede his ability to write impartially about his subject? Since Herodotus was neither an Scythian nor an Amazon…

In the transition from oral poetry to Herodotus’ written Histories, Herodotus kept many of the story telling narrative forms, most notably the habit of telling a story within the larger work, which is a device he uses more than Homer did. Herodotus presents his Histories as a series of tales explaining the circumstances leading to the Persian War. In the opening statement of his Histories, Herodotus states that the reason he had conducted and composed this research was “in the hope of thereby…

For a majority of history, there has been gender discrimination amongst humankind. Gerda Lerner explores reasons why gender discrimination came to be and how without the full perspective of both sexes, there is no real depth to our knowledge. Both Herodotus and Wallace Stevens’ works show that there is a disparity between the two sexes created by society and after thinking of Lerner’s work it is very apparent. This paper will demonstrate that in order to fully understand history and the world…

Greek mythology narrates the stories of great Greek manteis such as Calchas or Melampus mentioned in Homer and Herodotus. What one first notices in the narratives of mythological seers is the fact that they all belong to great families of diviners, for instance Theoclymenus , a fact which implies that the μαντική τέχνη was genetically transmitted . Apart from that, as Flower and Sara Johnston support, a god could also choose an individual to teach them or offer them the gift of being a mantis.…