How You Probably ‘Missed’ the Most Important Passage of Herodotus’ Historiography
By: Ioannis Dedes
Tags: Politics, Education, Life, History, Philosophy

How You Probably ‘Missed’ the Most Important Passage of Herodotus’ Historiography

The analysis of various sources against the supernatural characteristic

Herodotus statue in front of Austria Parliament, Vienna

Herodotus lived 484–425 BC, can be considered one of the most influential figures for historiography and for the period of antiquity in general, and most importantly he is one of the innovators and the best sources for the story of the Greek world throughout the 5th century BC. He lived at the time of Golden Age in Athens and he was alive when Athens and Sparta was about to get in a destructive war but his major work The Histories doesn’t really focus on this matter, since he wasn’t alive until the end of the civil war. At his time and for the most part of his work, the word Historia doesn’t mean history but means inquiry and shows the path that Herodotus followed throughout his investigation; that shows why he includes recordings and this is aimed at reminding readers the feats and achievements of the Greeks at this era.

Herodotus privileges greeks against non-greeks, who are called barbarians throughout the story he presents, while the first and most important aim of his investigation is the analysis of the Second Persian war (479 BC). The story of Herodotus aims at defining what does it mean to be greek and not only that but also the spirit of all Greeks to fight for each other and protect their homeland; the context is accurate since, as mentioned above, he didn’t really lived throughout the Peloponnesian War to see how the Greeks would quickly become enemies with each other. The story that he presents is written in a way that the reader can understand the whole context of the Persian Wars, since in the 9 books which are included in his Histories, the first 5 aim at presenting how the two empires were created and developed and the rest of them can depict the causal, the events and the outcome of the war between the Greeks and the Barbarians, as Herodotus calls the Persians and generally the non-Greeks.

He was the first person to create a single narrative while presenting so many information. He often gives many different stories about the same subjects and although he states his opinion, it’s clear that one should believe whatever they deemed true from his analysis. The fact that many of the stories were based on what people said about certain events is more than a problem for the reliability and that’s why historians such as Thucydides have criticised Herodotus for being ‘the father of lies’, ironically alluding to the title that he has received as ‘the father of history’. More information about the connection of Herodotus with Thucydides and their values as more than significant historians can be found in my article cited below.

However, this text aims to be more specific and stretch out the importance of a particular passage in the book. Herodotus states the following:

“So ended the speeches at the conference. Later on that evening Xerxes began to be worried by what Artabanus had said, and during the night, as he turned it over in his mind, he came to the conclusion that that the invasion of Greece would not, after all, be a good thing. Having reached this decision he fell asleep; and the Persians say that before the night was over the figure of a man, tall and of noble aspect, stood by his bed. ‘Persian’, the phantom said, ‘have you changed your mind and decided not to lead an army against Greece, in spite of your proclamation to your subjects that troops should be raised? You are wrong to change; and there is one here who will not forgive you for doing so. Continue to tread the path which you chose yesterday.’”

This particular excerpt derives from book 7 and chapter 12 and the general context is at the period before the beginning of the second Persian war, after the death of Darius the Great in the first attack (486 BC). The Persians have a conference in their city and Xerxes (486–465 BC), the son of Darius, presents their plan of another attack in Greece, as a way of avenging his father. Mardonius speaks in favour of this strategy and the majority agrees until Artabanus gets the floor, and makes a speech against the involvement in a war presenting this attack as a future Persian disaster.

In the excerpt, Xerxes is significantly worried after the conference, thinking about the words of his uncle, Artabanus, and changing his mind, deciding not to fight the Greeks. While he was asleep, a phantom comes and tells him he should stay and fight to honour his father and all Persians. This is an important part of the story due to the fact that Xerxes can be seen as a tragic character and although he made the right decision, he didn’t have a choice after that night; it was either punishment from the Gods or the loss and death after the war. The problems of Herodotus’ reliability, to which there’s also reference in the passage before the excerpt, ‘stand’ as a great limitation and there are many similar supernatural stories in his work which make some stories and events unrealistic.

The most important notion that one has to keep from this article is that Herodotus’ story, despite the influence he had and the significance of the variety of sources that he used, also included cases in which there were supernatural aspects in the story and the reliability of The Histories was questioned. The depiction of such an example is shown in the excerpt analyses, which on the one hand makes clear the cause of Xexres expedition, the events before his decision and the outcome of his actions but on the other hand includes a story of a phantom talking to the Persian while he was asleep, which gives a mythical characteristic to the events.