Herodotus

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Herodotus

• The Persian Wars, The Rise of Athens, and the
  Invention of History

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Key Battles-Overview

• 546 Persian Conquest of Asia Minor
• 499-94 Ionian Rebellion
• 490 Battle of Marathon
• 480 Invasion of Xerxes
• 480 Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis
• 479 Plataea
• 431-404 Peloponnesian War
• 404-03 Thirty Tyrants at Athens Restoration
  of Democracy

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Sparta (cf. Athens)

• Subjected the helots
• Every man was required to, from the age of seven,
  be trained for war.
• Men lived in the mess hall and trained every day.
• Women could be educated, had relative freedom,
  could choose their own husbands.
• Each man was given a plot of land and enough
  helots (they were state-owned) so he wouldnt
  have to work.
• The Spartans were always in the minority in their
  land, vastly outnumbered by the helots,
  therefore, they needed to have a constantly-ready
  warrior class. They could not be away from home
  for long.
• They were ruled by two hereditary kings who
  provided military leadership along with a council
  of 28 men (over the age of 60). They also had the
  Gerousia that voted on key issues.
• They achieved incredible equality among citizens,
  but at the expense of a subject population. Great
  at fighting and building, but not at the arts,
  since individual achievement was discouraged.

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Athens (cf. Sparta)

• Athens did not have a subject population, per se,
  but its tensions were always over how to share
  power among various groups and classes within the
  city. Weber says that as a result of
  commercialization the city was divided into
  aristocrats, new wealth (with land), new wealth
  (without land), craftsmen, unskilled workers,
  subsistance farmers, sharecroppers, and debt
  slaves, plus a burgeoning population of metics
  and slaves.
• Solons reforms (594/93) were aimed at protecting
  the peasant class (with a debt-bail-out) and
  insuring social justice, but he also used wealth
  as the criteria for an aristocratic council that
  directed the assembly. This is actually a big
  step, making wealth, rather than birth, the basis
  for public office.
• The tyrants, especially the Peisistratids (named
  after Peisistratos/Pisistratos) further
  strengthened central administration at the
  expense of the aristocracy, and made Athens
  central, establishing a national coinage, and
  creating and embellishing city festivals.
• Cleisthenes reforms (508) broke the family
  structure and creating ten artificial tribes
  along local lines.
• Most scholars believe that the use of the
  Athenian navy in resistance to the Persians gave
  rise to more democratic foundations that
  eliminated the last vestiges of aristocratic
  privilege in the constitution (under Ephialtes
  and Pericles).

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Sixth-century Athens--Aristocratic

• Basileus retained as aristocratic magistry
• Archon is chief magistrate
• Aristocratic excesses
• Debt slavery sinks most of the free population
• Appointment of Solon as a lawgiver halts a civil
  war in the 590s.

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Solons Reforms

• End debt-slavery
• Uses public funds to relieve/redeem poor
  Athenians
• Protects property ownership
• Ends aristocratic privileges
• Replaces aristocratic rule with a property-based
  oligarchy

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PisistratosTyrant Three Times 560-527

• Tyranny in the ancient world tends to be the
  rule of one man based upon popular (i.e.
  non-aristocratic) support
• Solon only provided temporary relief, but
  lower-classes were still deprived of economic
  power (not to mention political power)
• Peisistratos centralized Athens, established
  festivals, created public buildings/spaces.

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Persian War(s)

• There were numerous Greek colonies on the west
  coast of Asia Minor
• In 499 B.C. some Greek colonies revolted against
  Persian rule
• Athens sent troops to support the revolt

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• Darius crushed the revolt rather quickly
• He decided to punish Athens for helping the
  colonies
• After training for a few years Darius sent troops
  to invade Greece
• Sailed on to the Bay of Marathon

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The Battle of Marathon

• Athens asked Sparta to help, but Spartan troops
  would not arrive for 9 days (they were in the
  middle of religious festivals)
• Other city-states decided not to help Athens
  against the Persian Empire
• Athens, largely alone, faced the Persian attack
  force
• Persian troops100,000
• Athenian troops20,000

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• The Athenians used a well-trained hoplite
  formation.
• The organized charge surprised the large but
  scattered (and poorly organized) Persian army
• A double-envelopment charge routed the Persians
  and sent them fleeing.
• Persians6, 400 dead
• Athenians192 dead
• Darius returned to Persia, dying before he could
  mountain another punitive attack.

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Xerxes Invasion

• Xerxes was committed to punishing and enslaving
  the Greeks.
• In 480 B.C. the Persians led an enormous
  international force into Greece
• Persians met a force of Greeks at Thermopylae
• This was a small mountain pass that controlled
  access to all of Greece
• For two days 7,000 Greeks held the Persians back,
  but

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• A Greek traitor, Ephialtes (?), showed the
  Persians a secret trail that allowed them to send
  part of their force to sneak up from behind and
  attack the Greeks
• Most of the Greek defenders ran away, but . . .
• About 300 Spartans, led by King Leonidas, stayed
  behind and fought to their deaths
• This allowed the other Greeks to escape capture
  or certain death

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• The Persians poured into Greece, wreaking havoc
  and setting fire to Athens
• As their city-state burned the Athenian people
  and the army escaped to the island of Salamis
• The Persians were quick to follow the retreating
  Greeks to Salamis
• Meanwhile, a three-day storm had devastated many
  of the Persian ships.
• Still, they had many ships left and pursued the
  Athenian fleet.
• The Athenians, with slower less maneuverable
  ships, stacked them with marines and used
  superior strategy to ram and sink many of the
  Persian ships.

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The Final Battle

• The Battle of Plataea
• The Greeks and Persians at equal strength
• Athens and Sparta fought side by side
• Greek military superiority won out and Persia
  retreated for good

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Herodotus as Historian

• historia means research or inquiry
• Until the modern era, history was literary, and
  generally thought to be instructive.
• But it is clearly different from epic, trying to
  ground its narrative in what men have done,
  providing some kind of causal explanation that
  is, to some degree, material.

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Herodotus the Historian

• ca 490-420 BCE
• Probably writing and reading/performing
  450-420s.
• Well-known in Athens from these readings. 
• We should compare this work with Homers. He is
  clearly very familiar with Homer and wants to do
  a lot of the same kinds of things, namely report
  on the great works of men, but he is not so
  concerned with the work of the gods and he
  frequently questions Homers narrative.
• Also, he does not seek out the Muse as
  inspiration, but relies on a method of inquiry
  (historia). The intrusion of his authorial
  presence into the narrative highlights the
  inquisitive nature of the project.

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This project attempts to explain the conflict
between the Greeks and the Persians, but it also
does more

• it emphasizes the pan-Hellenic character of the
  Greek people (possibly).
• it explores in general why people come into
  conflict.
• it argues in favor of freedom.
• it argues against imperialism.
• it argues against the evils of war.
• it seems to argue for the necessity of resolving
  Greek conflicts in favor of a more unified
  stance.
• it tries to situate the Greek world, with its
  customs, on a conceptual map of the inhabited
  world. In doing so, it is also an attempt to
  construct a Greek identity.

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He is often called the father of history, but
some are put off by the tall tales he tells.
For sure, he does get some things wrong, and he
does tell a lot of fabulous stories, but he often
makes it clear that he is reporting on what
people say about various problems. In fact, he is
often trying to correct the misunderstandings of
the common perceptions.   He seems to be
constantly teasing out the relationship between
fate and human action.   He seems to argue
against notions of hubris.   He gives lots of
examples that point to the instability of human
fortune, and the necessity of cycles of rise and
fall, and the looming presence of death.   He
seems to have some notion of an almost karma-like
mechanism that brings consequences to the
evil-doer.