Herodotus And Ibn Fadlan Analysis

Ibn Battuta has idiosyncrasies, prejudices, and arrogance. He is also a man of curiosity, and conviction. It is because Ibn Battuta represents or comes across so much like ourselves that it is easy to dive more deeply into his writing and stories and see things through his eyes. What the reader can see is a picture of African civilization before European influence. Battuta’s stories

Herodotus’s The Histories uses the culture of different peoples as a category of historical explanation in order to explain the entire story behind the conflict between the Greeks and the Persians, though his conception and account of culture has been a topic of debate for many decades. Herodotus’ method when exploring the culture of other peoples is to compare them to the known culture, his own culture, of Greece. Through the comparison of ‘the other’ to Greece, Herodotus not only explains the culture and traditions of other countries or people, but he also affirms Greek identity by constantly comparing or relating to Greek customs in order to show the likeness or stark differences of cultures. Many scholars have, however, criticized Herodotus for doing this; naming him an ethnocentric for introducing all other peoples and cultures as inferior to his own. This essay will seek to expose whether Herodotus is an ethnocentric or a cultural relativist by exploring the ways in which Herodotus refers to ‘the other’ and the customs and culture of these people. Through the exploration of the Egyptians and the Scythians in Herodotus’s The Histories, this essay will determine that Herodotus’s conception of culture develops from a cultural relativist perspective rather than an ethnocentric point of view, where he uses his own well-known culture as a basis for explaining other cultures and customs, while respecting their difference as being of equal value in their own land, as Greek

Fenn has used some first person’s phrases in this book, so she can give her opinion about certain topics. However, it’s quite fascinating to many of us because many authors usually avoid using first person’s phrases in their book. There are so many pictures about Mandan’s people are included in this book with a caption, it can help a reader to experience each situation visually for better understanding. The tone of this book is very formal and proper by the way Fenn have includes her experience in the beginning of this book. In the Encounters at the Heart of the World, Fenn’s writing style is very clear and concise at the same time because every topic in this book has been discussed very efficiently. However, the climax of the book nearly end during epidemic of 1837/38, which is quite early in terms of Mandan’s history. “The winter of 1836-37 was especially difficult. The summer had been disheartening. Twenty-eight warriors and the war chief wounded”. This book takes a reader to a transition of a successful centuries to dominance by the

Heroes, as shown in literature, often undertake the most difficult tasks and place themselves in mortal danger in order to bring back, for themselves and their societies, both knowledge and treasure. Their stories follow “Hero Journey.” The Odyssey, as the epic story of the hero Odysseus, follows closely the complete cycle of a Hero Journey, both as a physical and as a psychological undertaking. The Hero Journey, used as a framework for both Odysseus’ physical and mental journeys, serves to bind the two together. Each of Odysseus’s physical difficulties can be viewed as a metaphor for a psychological hardship that he must overcome, and by overcoming these hardships, Odysseus matures—achieving a more complete understanding of himself and

For the values of the Greeks, he mentions women, money, alliances, their intelligence, and most importantly, their freedom. The Greeks treat women more as property than as marital companions. Money was also valued greatly, for Greece was a poor country. Alliances were almost always used in battle to strengthen their numbers and intelligence because Greece had a very small army compared to the Persians. Intelligence was also needed in war for battle strategies, which were necessary for victory. But the one thing that the Greeks valued greatly was their freedom. They were willing to defend themselves in any way necessary to preserve their freedom. However, the values of the Persians were few and were very different from the values of the Greeks. The greatest value of the Persians was probably land, for they conquered countries and towns in order to expand their empire. They themselves also valued women as objects, for they would take them as plunder after conquering towns and camps. The Persians, unlike the Greeks, were very rich, with over three million, nine hundred and ninety-three thousand Darics. The final value of the Persians that I will mention is their strength in numbers. The Persian land and naval forces were huge compared to the Greek military. Herodotus explains the many values of the Greek culture and the Persian culture, as well as their differences, in his detailed work of writing, The

Odysseus, king of Ithaca, was probably on of the greatest warriors in the history of Ancient Greece. It is said that the poet, Homer, wrote the story of the Odyssey. In this story, Odysseus and his crew are trying to make their voyage back home to Ithaca after they have fought with the Trojans. During the long journey, Odysseus will show some of his character traits which include his bravery, cleverness, and wisdom that will assist him with the situations he encounters on his journey home.

Herodotus’s superb writings help explain these war dealings in detail, which can warn of the indomitable Spartans and the overconfident Persians. Overall, Herodotus has created The Histories, a magnificent token of western history; the famous battles of the Greeks and Persians, will always be remembered because of Herodotus’s brilliant elucidations.

Throughout Herodotus’ The History, Oracles, and dreams play an important role. While the gods have almost no presence throughout the book, the Oracles and/or dreams are linked to many of the major events.

In parallel to the argument between the Just and Unjust speeches, ‘new’ triumphs over ‘old’ once again in the fight between Strepsiades and Pheidippides. Pheidippides declares to his father, “I will make it clearly apparent, by Zeus, that I was beating you with justice (Clouds, 1332). Throughout their argument, Pheidippides was applying the same techniques to his speech that the Unjust speech utilized. Their apparently cynical disrespect for social mores emphasizes the fact that what is ‘old’ is losing its strength within society. What is right is in palpable contrast to what is currently occurring in the social order. Strepsiades broached the suggestion that as a father he has nurtured Pheidippides from infancy to his adulthood. Because of this, Strepsiades insists that he has earned his son’s respect. However, Pheidippides is convinced

“Herodotus of Halicarnassus here gives the results of his researches, so that the events of human history may not fade with time and the notable achievements both of Greeks and of foreigners may not lack their due fame; and, among other things, to show why these peoples came to make war on one another.” Herodotus is considered one of the founders of historiography. It had long been argued that Herodotus was important for his military histories of Ancient Greece, but although his works focused on military and war he put specific emphasis on detailed factors that related more to the cultural aspects of Greek history.

Another of Jordan’s sub topics in this book deals with the Savage behavior exhibited by Africans and viewed among the English explorers. The English were at sometimes appalled with the differences in morals, table manners, and most visible

IX. I). Herodotus contrast with Thucydides in the fact that Herodotus resigns from characterizing people as barbaric but instead calls them poor and cannot live on their own or claims they are a danger to themselves. While in Thucydides they call Ionians barbaric and Greeks used this as reasoning to enslave them.

Herodotus marked a new way of recording and interpreting history: conducting research. He recorded what he saw, heard, and experienced as he traveled around places like the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and as far up as Babylon. He went on expeditions and encountered much of his information through in person exchange, an accomplishment surely to be considered great. Martin believes Herodotus explored an extensive amount of history and peoples and showcased a spectrum of topics like “war, politics, religion, commerce, geography, climate, ethnography, and individual human motivations” (Martin 7). In his writings called The Histories, Herodotus begins with The Story of Croesus and

because through his first person narrative, the reader is drawn to his sensitive nature, his

The main character and narrator Ibn Fadlan tells his story in a very educated manner, using basic descriptive words to give you the feeling of where the story takes place and what the people are like. “And we traveled forth until we came to the river Bagindi. There we took our skin boats which had been made from camel hides, spread them out, and loaded the goods from the Turkish camels.” (31) There are also memories of dialogue among the characters which are recounted as well. “Finally I said to Herger, ‘The rain is cold.’