Please skim Books 3 and 7 of Herodotus' Histories. You might find particularly helpful Book III, Section 80 and Book VII, Sections 10-20, 28, 35, 51, 61, 135 and 140.We've agreed that a good history should be interesting--and, occassionally, funny as well. From these sections, pick out a Herodotus story that seems to you to be particuarly interesting or particularly amusing. Explain why you like this particular story.
By the way, there will be two additional ID's for the midterm: HERODOTUS STORY I, and HERODOTUS STORY II. You will be able to use any Herodotus story you choose for these ID's.
Laura McCowan
ReplyDeleteI loved the whole thing, but the funniest was the Indians stealing gold from the Ants. Really, Ants. The even sacrifice male camels, in order to steal the gold. As far as a more serious story, I liked the Xerxes coming to power thing. The Spartan exile telling him how. Even better then that was the conference with his Generals. Artabanus seemed really wise. He even, for a while, denounced Xerxes' dreams.Plus Artabanus really doesn't want to go to war, he seems to know that they are going to lose.
The reason, is that Herodotus is telling something that most things neglect. I've heard a lot about the Greek side of things, but not really the Persian.Plus it shows just how the planning is taking place. It's easy to read too, because it reads so much like fiction not just facts.
I like the story of the seven conspirators and including darius and what darius says " if a lie is necessary why nhot speak it, we are all after the same thing, whether we lie or speak the truth, our own advantage, men lie when they think to profit by decpetion, and tell the truth for the same reason"
ReplyDeleteherodotus has a lot of good stories with plenty of good lines thrown in about life and morals in his stories. He's making history more interesting by including these things and making his book more readable
Annie Merkel
ReplyDeleteOf the suggested sections to pay particular attention to, I like one from Book VII. Section 28 on page 428 talks about Pythius's fortune. He mentions how he is wealthy and states his exact wealth: "So I went into the matter of my finances and found upon calculation that I possessed 2000 talents of silver, and 3,993,000 gold Darics." I found this section memorable just because of the astonishing numbers. In my mind I always think that the past civilizations were always so poor compared to life today. However, this proves that there were very wealthy people, even in Ancient Greece.
Peter Ryman
ReplyDeleteYou know... I don't think I like any of it. Homer does tell a lot of stories; that's true. Homer tells a lot of TEDIOUS stories as well. If I were to pick out a Herodotus story that is...interesting... I would pick the part where Xerxes proposes a debate about his thoughts of taking over Greece. What I thought interesting I guess about this whole ordeal, and even about every story that Homer tells, is the incredible detail that he gives within each one. Example: "Xerxes was exceedingly angry. 'Artabanus,' he replied, 'you are my father's brother, and that alone saves you from paying the price your empty and ridiculous speech deserves." How does Homer know that's exactly what he said? How does he know the words, the sentence structure, the pauses, the exclamation points? How does he know it to the utmost detail? Is he making it up? Is this just what he heard from his sources that he inquired of?
That's all that seemed to interest me; I guess his stories just don't appeal to me. I would rather be caught up with a story of truth, significance, and virtue. Something that really does matter and that can be applied to my life today. All Homer can dish out is fable, worldly-mindedness, monotony, and mind-numbing sagas.
Sam Merkel
ReplyDeleteI liked the story of when Cambyses was told that to get revenge he should ask Amasis' daughter to marry him because it will basically cause the Egyptian king to get really mad. When he sends his "daughter" over to him and he can't tell whether or not it is actually the daughter or not and the girl tells him that he has been tricked and she is not really the daughter but really Nitetis. I like this story because it shows how men back than didn't pay much attention to womens looks they just see a good looking girl and want her for himself, and even today guys do the same thing.
Kirsten Saunders
ReplyDeleteAlthough this story falls in book 2 (page:142), the story of Rhampsinitus is both interesting and amusing, so it is noteworthy. In the end, the thief gets the girl and the fortune, through simple wit and cunning. This is interesting insight into certain values (specifically those of the Egyptian king). Wit and intelligence was valued enough to outweigh theivery (the good guy did finish last).
Early in book three, there is interesting commentary on contracts and ceremony. Page 172 illustrates several instances of contract. For example, Herodotus comments on the Arab ceremonies for contracts, cutting the palms of their hands and dipping the bloodied wool over seven stones separating the parties. This contract binds the two parties in strict honor. Another interesting episode in book three follows shortly after on page 174, noting the thickness of skulls between the Persians and the Egyptians. Decidedly, Egyptians have thicker skulls because of the exposure to the sun. This is an interesting cultural comparison. Egyptians use sun to their benefit and Persians protect against the sun. This is a short interlude and commentary on Persian and Egyptian culture, but nonetheless interesting.
ReplyDeletethe above comment is by kirsten saunders, oops :)
ReplyDeleteOn page 62 they had a short story on how the greeks would make laws. First they would arrange a meeting and drink wine until they were wasted pretty much and would make the laws when they were drunk. The next morning when they were sober they would look at the laws they remembered from the night before and if they made sense when they were sober they were law and vice versa. If they were sober when they made a law they would approve they law when they were wasted, this probaly isn't the best way to do things but i am sure they had fun doing it.
ReplyDeleteJon Evenson
Ruth Wilson
ReplyDeleteThe tale of the two princes was interesting. Their father killed their mother and their grandfather told them about it. One prince, being of simple mind did nothing, the other cast off his father, even to the point where he refused to inherit the throne and all the family money. I really like the fact that finally, FINALY! somebody does something bad and doesn't just die for it, but lives every day knowing that there are consequenses for their actions. I think that is a much more fitting punishment than a nasty death- death only happens once!
I thought the story of Darius capturing Babylon was pretty interesting. I think Herodotus did a good job of explaining what happened in an interesting way. He first described what the Babylonians did to prepare for the siege, which included strangling most all the women of the city. This was a very surprising part of the story. He then follows it with a bit of dry humor when he mentions the man saying that Babylon wouldn't fall until mules have foals and then saying "Now whoever it was who made this last remark, naturally supposed that no mule would ever have a foal." By adding this line in Herodotus not only adds in a small bit of humor, he gives enough foreshadow that makes the reader want to see if it really does occur. Then, after the mule foals he shows just how Persia captured Babylon and what Zopyrus did to help them win, which I thought was interesting.
ReplyDeleteJohn Rawerts
Brian Johnson
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the story of Otanes in Book 3. He advocated for a government by the people, but when he did not convince others with his arguments, he was able to persuade them to allow his family and decendants to be free regardless of the style of government.
I also found the arguments in favor of differing types of government to be very interesting as I am a political science major.
i actualy realy liked section 80 of book 3.
ReplyDeletei thought his speach was very well spoken, even if it didnt convince the people he was speaking to. when reading the speach i could almost visualize it in my head and it was realy exiting to listen to.
-allison rademacher
I particularly liked section 135 of book 4. It was quite ingenious of Darius to leave behind the mules during his retreat so the Scythians would be none the wiser. But at the same time he's also kind of jerk because he blatantly betrays his own men simply because they are not well, which seems to go against everything our forces stand for. In today's world you never leave a man behind no matter how injured he is, but Darius didn't think twice about flat out lying to a group of his men so he could get out of there faster. So on the one hand I admire his creativity and on the other hand I am disgusted by how he acts towards his own men.
ReplyDeleteI really like the story about the fountain of youth from book three. The Icthyophagi question the King about why his men live so long 120 years or more, and they first ask about diet. The king explaings what the people eat, but its when he shows them the mysterious bathing pool that the Icthyophagi, feel as though they are discovering the real truth. This is very interesting to me because its the first evidence for the idea of a fountain of youth with special waters that can help one live an extremely long life.
ReplyDeleteZach Anderson
I really enjoyed the story in Book 7, sections 10-20, where Xerxes is trying to decide if they should go to war or not. Herodotus could have easily just had the Persians go to war without a thought, but he made it much more interesting by having a man visit Xerxes in his dreams and twist his thoughts around.He made, what could have been, a simple part in the story very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI like the story of Xerxes and his crossing of the river with his army (which took 7 full days and nights). I thought it was interesting, and then at the end of section 57 there was some comedy.
ReplyDelete"...a great portent occured -- a mare gave birth to a hare" (p 438).
First of all I was just amazed at how many troops they had, and the man who asked Xerxes why he has changed his name from Zues and is marching with every man in the world for conquest and devastation was funny. And then came the line about the mare and the hare and I just had to laugh because it seems like such an odd thing to envision. Poor hare.