Herodotus Essay

Historians owe much to Herodotus, a greek historian from the fifth century B.C.E. In fact, he all but invented the concept of recording the going-ons of empires for future use of historians (WOW 137). One of the main texts that was recovered compared the cultural differences between Egypt and Persia. Taking into account the fact that Herodotus was of Greek origins, his observations on religious and social structures cannot be taken at face value. In Herodotus' time there was a new way of thinking

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

This essays point is to analyze the primary source and review what the document tells us about the Persians and what it might be telling us about the Greeks. The primary source being used is “On the Customs of Persians”by Herodotus which is written from his view point on the Persians in comparison to the Greeks customs and beliefs. This paper will discuss the similarities and differences between the two with evidence found in the primary source to back it up with quotes and explanations to why it’s

certain schools of history adhere to the belief that history is an unending and unchanging cycle, sometimes at the gods’ hands. This concept of providence, or lack of free will, is the most significant parallel between the works of Herodotus and Thucydides. For Herodotus, history was made, or rather given, in the traditional definition of providence: divine guidance of events. Over the course of his works there are numerous examples

Positive and Negative Tendencies of Man In his Inquiries, Herodotus utilizes the interactions of his characters with other mortals and with their environments to describe the nature of humans. In these instances, characters express qualities about themselves that can easily be overlooked. Such interactions of humans are often with rivers, which appear frequently throughout the anecdotes. Within his stories concerning rivers, Herodotus outlines the polarity present in human attitudes throughout

Possibly giving credence to this, Herodotus claims Pan’s beginnings were extremely primordial, to the point that Pan is among the first gods of the earth. He

Herodotus did his very best when he wrote “The Histories” at staying in a neutral view of everything he recorded. He did this in order to try and record with the best accuracy what events were occurring around him and the ones that had occurred in the past. With this in mind, it is very difficult to offer which way Herodotus may have viewed Polycrates while writing about the tyrant and his story. This was also the reason why he avoided passing judgment on Polycrates himself, or at least attempted

women in society and sexual practices of different peoples. Herodotus describes all kinds of different sexual practices. This includes the Massagetae, who Herodotus says were very promiscuous (Herodotus 94). He describes Babylonian marriage practice as a kind of auction of the prettiest girls to pay for the dowries of ugly girls (Herodotus 86-87). And he describes the Persians as having many wives and concubines (Herodotus 63). As Herodotus describes all these practices, he does so in a way that indicates

this essay I will be addressing comparatives of two ancient Greek historians, Thucydides and Herodotus. These first historians gave us a prospective of ancient Greece during the 5th century, In order to compare and contrast historical methods and objectives of Herodotus and Thucydides I will examine the characteristics of their method, and also in their historical objectives in writing history, how do Herodotus and Thucydides differ in their aims and methods of writing history? The context in which history

The logic of the plot, as it appears in Herodotus and Darius, cannot be denied. The essential problem to be settled was that of power, pure and simple. From the beginning, the problem with the desire to eliminate Bardiya was that there was no heir, since Cambyses, as everyone knew, had died without male issue. According to Herodotus, it was not until after the murder of the “magus” and his companions that the Seven addressed the issue: “The conspirators met to discuss the situation in detail. At