Herodotus

Herodotus tells us that opinion among the Athenian commanders was divided with some opposed to attacking with their heavily outnumbered force. Others, especially Miltiades supported an offensive strategy. Miltiades is credited with persuading the war archon Callimachus through a stirring speech to cast his deciding vote in favour of an offensive strategy. Herodotus in his narrative has Miltiades say ‘If we refuse to fight, I have little doubt that the result will be bitter”. However it has also…

(184). Cambyses proceeded to marry two of his sisters and then killed one of them; Herodotus describes these crimes as “acts of a madman” (184). While in Memphis, Cambyses also “entered the temple of the Cabiri, which no one but the priest is allowed to do, made fun of the images there…and actually burnt them” (187). As for Polycrates, he came into sole power by killing one of his brothers and banishing the other. Herodotus writes that Polycrates raided many places with the defense that “a…

“The Battle of Salamis” Throughout history mankind has always been drawn to war. Whether we be fighting over land, power, or wealth it remained the same. During this era of history humanity stayed the same wanting to conqueror all they could for the sake of glory. There was one empire who was quite good at taking what they wanted and this empire was the Persian empire. The Persians seemingly took whatever they wanted and no man or country seemed poised to stop them. That is until of course they…

Good Life. Although we would like to attain the Good Life without difficulties or obstacles, Croesus and C.S. Lewis suggest we may sometimes need to endure hardships in our process of becoming happy and achieving the Good Life. In The History by Herodotus, Solon’s encounter with Croesus illustrates the bittersweet nature of ignorance, and demonstrates how ignorance can hinder one from reaching the Good Life. Croesus exemplifies a man of pleasures, a king whose every desire for…

In Balcer’s analysis of the Indo-European epics—in particular, the Behistun Inscription—he asserts that the nature of historiography as to how the panegyric text was formed through the methods of the scribal tradition detecting “the exposition…and the entire text as well possess[ing] numerous qualities of epic narrative and thematic development” (61). Yet, this continues as he finds the “epic form, based upon scattered kernels of historical oral traditions, produces a fictional narrative”, which…

The meat producing Table of the Sun in Herodotus is indicative of the readily available abundance of food which does not require persistent toil in the Golden Age. However, it is a contrast to the Hyperboreans’ vegetarian diet of acorns. This account alone produces several similarities and differences…

exact role that Herodotus portrays fate to play throughout his work is more difficult to determine. On one hand, Herodotus’s work demonstrates a more fatalistic mindset right from the beginning in books one through four– with characters such as Cambyses and Croesus struggling in their attempts to alter the outcome of predetermined prophesies. At first glance, this appears to create a simple case for Herodotus’s belief in a fatalistic universe. Yet in books five through nine, Herodotus approaches…

lasted 28 years, starting in 558 B.C.E. Not much is known about his early life and family background, but, like many important historical figures, there are many stories regarding his history. A Greek historian named Herodotus told the most popular of these stories. In his story, Herodotus says that Cyrus’ grandfather, Astyages, had a dream, which was later interpreted as a sign that Cyrus would one day overthrow him. He ordered that Cyrus, who was just an infant at the time, would be left…

If the slaves built the Great Pyramid at Giza is very hard to know. I believe that most of the workers were slaves but, I think a small number of them were paid workers. The sources Herodotus and the textbook showed that the slaves did build the Great Pyramid at Giza. Herodotus and the textbook states that the king forced the Egyptian slaves to work for 20 years. They also state over 10,000 men worked on building the pyramid. The source Shiffman said a large number of the workers were…

impalpable area in which the atoms move. Furthermore, Epicurus reasons that there are limitless atoms and limitless void; however, there are limited, although incomprehensible, varieties of shapes of these atoms. (The Essential Epicurus: Letter to Herodotus, pgs 21-22) This inquiry led to the idea that atoms do not change; they are permanent, everlasting and possess their own mass and configurations. Even those substances that form compounds, he claims, change their configurations by loss of…