Historical Opinion of Herodotus

On one level, this was the speculation of the victor: the huge Persian Empire had attempted to subordinate the tiny city-states of mainland Greece and been repelled, hence, Greece had bettered Persia - an objective lens statement of fact. On another level, it was a conclusion of ism.

It was a specifically Greek philosophical worldview that certified Herodotus' historical opinion, although that in itself did not ensure an anti-Persian opinion. In this affair of philosophical worldview, writes British historian Michael Grant, "Universal truth seems to him [Herodotus] plainly discoverable through this or that human being." Combining this point-of-view with objective facts much(prenominal) as victory/failure leads Herodotus the observer to the unavoidable conclusion that historical evaluation rests on such factors as one man's strength (or Virtue) versus another man's weakness. Thus, consequently, could Herodotus write admiringly of the Persian empire-builder, Cyrus the Great, who had conquered the kingdom of the richest man in the kn admit world, Croesus of Lydia.

It was, of course, a philosophy not untinged by fiction and mysticism. The Greek heritage had gods behaving bid men and Homeric men performing the deeds of gods. The "myth as history" approach quoted earlier takes into account this prognosis of chronicle: as the Grimm brothers determined when assembling their Teutonic syndicate tales, these legends are quite often only thinly-allegorized recou

There is no doubt that this is an inflated spell; if such had been the reality then Xerxes would have had no motive to withdraw from Greece, but could have simply resettled it with his own standing army. Important to the modern historian is the fact that this overpoweringly large invasion force was perceived by participants as so huge. Such a perception of reality, Herodotus understood, helps to explain the ensuant reactions of the Greeks themselves.

It makes seem practicable, for instance, the ease with which Thessaly and other city-states acquiesced to the Persian demand for " commonwealth and water" (that is, providing provisions, safe-passage and nominal acknowledgement of Persian sovereignty in return for freedom from violent conquest). By the same token, such an impression of juggernaut allows Herodotus to illustrate the importance of such a relatively minor engagement at Thermopylae, when a bittie force of Greeks held back the Persian advance for several days.

premier there was the ancient complement of the twelve hundred and sevener vessels which came with the king from Asia ... amounting, if we allow to each ship a ring of two hundred men, to 241,400.

Hellas has a foster-sister pauperisation who never leaves her; but she has brought in a guest in the force of Virtue, the child of Wisdom and Law; and by Virtue's aid Hellas keeps Poverty at bay and Servitude likewise. ... As for their numbers, do not postulate how many they are, that their resistance should be a possible social occasion; for if a thousand of them should take the field, they will meet thee in battle, and so will any number, be it less than this, or be it more.

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