In Book I, Herodotus describes in depth the social structure, customs, religion, value systems, politics, diplomacy, and the elite of the Persians; in such a way that one may forget that Herodotus is Greek and not Persian. According to Herodotus, the Persian religion is not anthromorphic meaning that their gods do not have human features like the Greek gods. Their main god is the heavens, and they sacrifice to the heavens from the top of mountains. Other deities, which they worship, are the sun, the moon, the earth, fire, water, and wind. The Persians erected no statues or temples, therefore when it came ceremonial sacrifices to their gods, no altars or fires were made. Instead, myrtle leaves were placed in headdresses and the object to be sacrificed was taken to a purified place and the person invoked the deity in which the object would be sacrificed to. One could not ask for personal blessings but only blessings to the king and they community in which he lived in (1.55).
Herodotus also describes the eating and drinking habits of the Persians. According to him, the Persians have grand feasts, especially during birthdays, where ox, horses, camels or donkeys are baked whole and served at the table. Their desserts are many and various and eating goes on for a long time and everyone leaves the table full due to their long and stimulating conversations, most of them being important decisions that need to be made. This is why it is a custom that important decisions need to be made when they are drunk on wine and later reviewed when they are sober (1.55-56). .
When it comes to the social structure of the Persians, Herodotus is very attentive. He writes:.
When Persians meet in the streets one can always tell by their mode of greeting whether or not they are of the same rank; for they do not speak but kiss-their equals upon their mouth, those somewhat superior on the cheek. A man of greatly inferior rank prostrates himself in profound reverence (1.
Herodotus was the worlds first Greek western historian. ... " Herodotus grew up in Halicarnassus and later settled in Athens. ... Herodotus is known to be the worlds first western historian. ... Thucydides' approach to writing history was far more different than Herodotus'. ... Herodotus is the first historian to record the events of the Persian Wars. ...
Herodotus" work, The Histories, has become a major reference work used by historians, giving an unparalleled account of Greek history before c.420BC. Only Herodotus, of all the Greek writers, provides a historical narrative from archaic times to the 5th century BC. ... Herodotus" opening states, he would examine "especially why the two peoples fought with each other." (1.0) To that end, Herodotus describes archaic Greek tyrants and great Persian kings, giving context to and explaining the major occurrences of the war between the Greek states and Persia. ... Herodotus had a purpose in inclu...
As depicted by Herodotus, most women in the ancient world were of little importance. ... Throughout The Histories, Herodotus tells several stories in which women are mentioned. ... Throughout Herodotus" stories, women were often snatched for revenge. ... Herodotus does not write of women with the same respect he writes of men. ... The women in Herodotus" stories generally follow the tradit...
This gives us the immediate view as Herodotus the historian. ... Indeed, Thucydides dismissed Herodotus as a storyteller for the sensational nature of his Histories. ... As such, it is fundamentally necessary to understand the nature and purpose of Herodotus' history in order to gain a clearer picture of the extent to which the accuracy of Herodotus' enquiry is admissible. ... In order to understand Herodotus as conforming to either an historian or a storyteller, we must look at and past Herodotus' preamble, examining the work in its entirety. ... In this instance, Herodotus&#x...
The Iliad was written famously by Homer, a Greek poet of the eighth century (estimated by Herodotus), and focuses on the Trojan War as the major conflict of Ancient Greece. ... Here there are comparisons and contrasts to be found for Greek soldiers and leaders when reading Homer's The Iliad and Herodotus' The Histories. ... The next contrast that can be made between the epic poem and Herodotus' work is how god-like the Greek leaders are portrayed by each author. ... Herodotus seems to emphasize more of the hero in his character than anything supernatural. ... Leonidas also ha...
Herodotus, the Greek historian, wrote and observed the daily lives of the Persians in contrast to the Greeks of the time. ... Herodotus noticed these social and cultural differences. ... This observation was written around 500 B.C.E by the Greek historian named, Herodotus. ... Herodotus probably felt the same way about the Greeks and the Persians. ...
Herodotus Herodotus was born in the small Ionian Greek town of Halicarnassus. ... Herodotus paid specific attention to causation. ... Herodotus was much ahead of his time. ... Although Herodotus and Thucydides wrote in a fairly similar time they have very different concepts to causation. ... This is the same idea Herodotus used to write except of course Herodotus was pro Athens. ...
Within the text of Herodotus, this term meant "a non-Greek." ... (Herodotus, pg. xxx) Herodotus The Histories is an amazing work. ... Herodotus is no exception. ... This belief is very apparent in book two of Herodotus... (Herodotus, pg. 56-57) As one can see, Herodotus is not simply relaying the customs of the Persians. ...
Herodotus gives us insight on the war with Persia. ... Herodotus believed in studying events so they would not be forgotten. ... It also seems that Herodotus's work depended a lot on mythology. ... This is one of the differences between Herodotus and Thucydides. ... Thucydides seems more the historian than does Herodotus. ...
