Why did Greeks and Persians see the world differently?

Topic 9: Herodotus – a deep dive

Enquiry question: Why did Greeks and Persians see the world differently?

Herodotus' life and work

• Life: born at Halicarnassus (Bodrum, Turkey) in Caria, c. 484 BC. He was a Greek from a city under Persian rule.
  • He travelled widely: Egypt, Babylon(?), the Black Sea, Scythia.
  • He lived in Athens and later at Thurii in southern Italy.
• The Histories: completed c. 430s–420s BC, in nine books.
  • The proem (opening statement), paraphrased: he sets out his inquiry so that the great deeds of Greeks and barbarians would not lose their fame, and especially why they went to war with each other.
• "Father of History": Cicero called him this (De Legibus 1.5), while also noting the many fables in his work.

His methods

• Autopsy: his own observation.
• Oral tradition: interviews with priests, local informants and family traditions, e.g. the Alcmaeonids in Athens and Demaratus' descendants.
• Some documents and poetry.
• He often gives multiple versions and invites readers to judge.
  • Hdt. 7.152: "I am obliged to report what is said, but I am not obliged to believe it all."

Themes

• Hubris and nemesis: arrogance punished by the gods. Example: Xerxes whipping the Hellespont (7.35).
• Divine jealousy and the instability of fortune: Solon and Croesus (Book 1).
• Dreams and oracles.
• Reciprocity and revenge.
• Freedom versus despotism: Greeks obey the law; Persians obey a master (7.104).

Barbarophilism and pro-Greek bias

• Plutarch's criticism: in On the Malice of Herodotus (De Herodoti malignitate), Plutarch attacked Herodotus as philobarbaros ("barbarian-lover"). He said Herodotus was too kind to Persians and too critical of some Greeks, e.g. the Thebans and Corinthians.
• Herodotus' fair treatment of non-Greeks:
  • He shows respect for Persian customs: the Persian education of boys to "ride, shoot the bow and tell the truth" (1.136).
  • The "Constitutional Debate" (3.80–82): Persian nobles debating democracy, oligarchy and monarchy. He insists it happened, although Greeks doubted it.
• Pro-Greek predisposition:
  • The overall narrative celebrates Greek freedom against Persian despotism and exaggerates Persian numbers (e.g. 7.60, 7.184–186).
  • He depicts Persians fighting under the whip (7.223).
  • He depicts Xerxes as emotional and capricious.
• Anti-Ionian attitudes: he is often dismissive of the Ionian Greeks. He portrays their revolt as badly led (Aristagoras' selfish motives) and the Ionians as unwilling to endure training before Lade (6.12). This may reflect Athenian prejudice in his own time, or Samian sources.
• Pro-Athenian tendency: 7.139, his verdict that Athens saved Greece (see Topic 14).

Reliability: overall assessment

• Strengths:
  • He was close in time to the events: he wrote within living memory of the war.
  • He shows critical awareness and gives multiple versions.
  • Archaeology confirms some details: e.g. the Serpent Column (Delphi, now in Istanbul) lists the Greek states that fought (cf. Hdt. 9.81). Traces of the Athos canal have also been identified.
• Weaknesses:
  • Dependence on oral tradition, which can be biased or legendary.
  • Moralising and divine explanations.
  • Implausible numbers.
  • Speeches and conversations are invented.
  • Limited access to Persian sources.
• Modern view:
  • Historians such as Pierre Briant use Persian evidence (royal inscriptions, Persepolis tablets) to correct Herodotus' Greek-centred view.
  • Tom Holland (Persian Fire, 2005) uses Herodotus vividly, while highlighting the Persian perspective.

Glossary

Term	Definition
Historia	"Inquiry": Herodotus' term for his research.
Barbarophilism (philobarbaros)	Being sympathetic to non-Greeks; Plutarch's accusation against Herodotus.
Oral tradition	History passed on by word of mouth.
Autopsy	Eyewitness observation by the historian.
Hubris	Arrogance / excessive pride, offending the gods.
Nemesis	Divine retribution for hubris.
Pro-Greek predisposition	Herodotus' underlying sympathy with the Greek cause and values.

Self-test

Q1: What does Herodotus say is the purpose of his work? A: To preserve the memory of the great deeds of Greeks and barbarians, and especially to explain why they went to war with each other.

Q2: Why did Plutarch call Herodotus philobarbaros? A: Because Herodotus treated Persians and other non-Greeks fairly, even sympathetically, and criticised some Greek states. Plutarch thought this was malicious towards the Greeks.

Q3: Give one strength and one weakness of Herodotus as a source for the Persian Wars. A: Strength: he wrote within living memory and interviewed participants, giving alternative versions. Weakness: he relied on oral tradition with its biases, exaggerated Persian numbers, and lacked Persian sources.

---

Topic 10: Background to the Persian Empire – Cyrus, Cambyses and Darius

The rise of the Achaemenid Empire

King	Dates (BC)	Key events
Cyrus II "the Great"	r. c. 559–530	Overthrew the Median king Astyages (c. 550). Conquered Lydia (Croesus, c. 546), bringing the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor under Persian rule. Took Babylon (539). Known for tolerance of local customs (cf. the Cyrus Cylinder). Herodotus says he died fighting the Massagetae (1.214).
Cambyses II	r. 530–522	Conquered Egypt (525). Herodotus portrays him as mad and impious, e.g. stabbing the sacred Apis bull (3.27–29). Egyptian evidence (Apis burial records) contradicts parts of this, so it is possibly hostile Egyptian priestly tradition.
Darius I	r. 522–486	Seized power after the death of Cambyses and the reign of "Bardiya/Smerdis".

How Darius came to power:

• Darius' own version (the Behistun inscription): he overthrew a usurper, Gaumata the Magus, who had impersonated Cambyses' brother Bardiya.
• Herodotus' version (3.61–88): the "false Smerdis" story and the seven conspirators. Darius won the throne through his groom's trick with a horse.
• Many historians suspect Darius' account justified his own usurpation.

Darius' achievements:

• Reorganised the empire into satrapies paying fixed tribute: Herodotus 3.89 lists 20.
• Built the Royal Road from Sardis to Susa, with royal staging posts (Hdt. 5.52–54).
• Introduced standard coinage (the gold daric).
• Built Persepolis.
• Campaigned against the Scythians (c. 513), crossing into Europe; Thrace was brought under Persian control.
• Herodotus 3.89: Persians called Cyrus a "father", Cambyses a "master" and Darius a "shopkeeper" (kapelos), because of his financial organisation.

The nature of Persian kingship

• The king's titles: "Great King, King of Kings, king of lands", ruling by the favour of Ahuramazda.
• The Naqsh-e Rustam inscriptions (Darius' tomb; OCR-prescribed, LACTOR 16 nos. 48 and 103), paraphrased:
  • Darius presents himself as chosen by Ahuramazda to restore order.
  • He lists the many peoples who bear his throne.
  • He claims to be just: to reward the loyal, punish wrongdoers, and not be ruled by anger.
  • Useful for: Persian royal ideology (order versus "the Lie", universal rule). It is propaganda, not a neutral record.
• Xerxes' inscription (LACTOR 16 no. 63, the "daiva" inscription from Persepolis): Xerxes lists subject lands, including Ionians, and claims to have destroyed the sanctuaries of false gods (daivas) where they were worshipped. It shows a religious justification for royal action.
• Court practice: proskynesis (prostration or obeisance before the king), seen by Greeks as servile (cf. Hdt. 7.136). The king was secluded and surrounded by ceremony.

Persian customs (Herodotus 1.131–140)

• They had no temples or statues. They sacrificed to the gods on mountain tops.
• They valued many sons. From 5 to 20, boys learned three things: to ride, to shoot the bow, and to tell the truth (1.136).
• Lying was the most disgraceful thing, and being in debt the next (1.138).
• They adopted foreign customs readily (1.135).
• They deliberated on important matters while drunk and reconsidered them sober, or vice versa (1.133).

The satrap

• Satraps were provincial governors, usually Persian nobles, with civil and military authority, who collected tribute.
• Example: Artaphernes, Darius' brother, was satrap at Sardis during the Ionian Revolt.
• In the Ionian cities, Persia ruled through Greek tyrants loyal to the king, e.g. Histiaeus and Aristagoras of Miletus.

Glossary

Term	Definition
Achaemenid	The Persian royal dynasty (Cyrus to Darius III).
Satrap / satrapy	A Persian provincial governor / his province.
King of Kings	The Persian royal title expressing universal rule.
Ahuramazda	The supreme god of Achaemenid royal inscriptions.
Proskynesis	Obeisance (bowing or prostration) before the Persian king.
Behistun inscription	Darius' trilingual inscription justifying his accession.
Persian customs	Herodotus' ethnography of Persian practices (1.131–140).

Self-test

Q1: What three things did Persian boys learn, according to Herodotus? A: To ride, to shoot the bow, and to tell the truth (1.136).

Q2: Why must the Naqsh-e Rustam inscription be used with caution? A: It is royal propaganda presenting Darius' ideal image (just, chosen by Ahuramazda). It shows ideology, not necessarily reality.

Q3: Why did Persians call Darius a "shopkeeper"? A: Because he organised the empire's finances, fixing tribute from the satrapies (Hdt. 3.89).

---

Topic 11: The Ionian Revolt (499–494 BC) and Darius' motives for invasion

Course of the revolt

1. The Naxos expedition (499):
   • Aristagoras, deputy tyrant of Miletus, persuaded Artaphernes to attack Naxos.
   • The expedition failed after a quarrel with the Persian commander Megabates (Hdt. 5.30–35).
2. The revolt begins:
   • Fearing punishment, and urged by Histiaeus (who was detained at Susa and sent a message tattooed on a slave's scalp, 5.35), Aristagoras gave up his tyranny.
   • He proclaimed equality (isonomia) and raised Ionia in revolt.
3. The appeal to Sparta:
   • Aristagoras showed Cleomenes a bronze map. When he admitted that Susa was three months' journey from the sea, Cleomenes ordered him to leave.
   • When Aristagoras tried bribery, Cleomenes' daughter Gorgo warned her father (5.49–51).
4. Athens and Eretria join:
   • Athens sent 20 ships and Eretria 5.
   • Hdt. 5.97: "These ships were the beginning of evils for Greeks and barbarians."
   • Herodotus remarks that it seemed easier to deceive 30,000 Athenians than one Spartan.
5. The burning of Sardis (498): the city burned, including the temple of the goddess Cybebe. Persia later used this to justify burning Greek temples (5.102).
   • The Greeks were defeated near Ephesus, and the Athenians withdrew (5.103).
6. The revolt spreads to the Hellespont, Caria and Cyprus.
7. The Battle of Lade (494):
   • The Ionian fleet was poorly disciplined: they refused Dionysius of Phocaea's training (6.11–12).
   • The Samians and Lesbians deserted.
   • Persia won decisively.
8. The sack of Miletus (494): the men were killed, and the women and children enslaved and deported (6.18–20).
   • In Athens, Phrynichus' play The Capture of Miletus reduced the audience to tears. He was fined 1,000 drachmas (6.21).
9. The aftermath: Artaphernes reorganised tribute. Mardonius later replaced Ionian tyrants with democracies (6.43).

Darius' motives for invading Greece

Motive	Evidence	Evaluation
Revenge on Athens and Eretria	Hdt. 5.105: on hearing of Sardis, Darius asked who the Athenians were, shot an arrow into the sky praying for vengeance, and ordered a servant to say three times at every dinner, "Master, remember the Athenians."	A dramatic, moralising story typical of Herodotus. But revenge for Sardis is plausible: Athens had intervened in the empire.
Imperial expansion and royal ideology	The Naqsh-e Rustam inscriptions present the king as ruler of many lands. Expansion was a royal duty. The 492 campaign of Mardonius re-established control in Thrace and Macedon before the fleet was wrecked off Mount Athos (Hdt. 6.43–45, which says about 300 ships and over 20,000 men were lost).	Supports a long-term strategic aim: to secure the western frontier and the Aegean. Briant stresses this.
Restoring Hippias	The exiled Athenian tyrant accompanied the expedition and guided the Persians to Marathon (Hdt. 6.102, 6.107).	Persia preferred loyal tyrants in Greek cities. Hippias was the means of control.
Demand for submission	Hdt. 6.48–49: in 491, heralds demanded "earth and water". Many islands, including Aegina, submitted. Hdt. 7.133: Athens threw the heralds into a pit, and Sparta threw them into a well.	Shows a policy of securing submission. Killing heralds made war certain.
Security	Mainland Greeks could stir revolt among the Ionians.	Strategic: stabilise the frontier.

Anti-Ionian attitudes in Herodotus

• Herodotus portrays the revolt as self-interested (Aristagoras and Histiaeus), poorly coordinated, and lacking discipline (Lade, 6.12).
• But: the revolt lasted six years, and in some areas, such as Caria, rebels fought hard.
• Herodotus' Athenian and Samian sources, and the low reputation of Ionians in the Athenian empire of his own day, may have coloured his account.

Self-test

Q1: How many ships did Athens and Eretria send to the Ionian Revolt? A: Athens sent 20 and Eretria 5 (Hdt. 5.97).

Q2: Why did Cleomenes refuse to help Aristagoras? A: Aristagoras admitted that Susa was three months' journey inland, which was too far for a Spartan army. When Aristagoras tried to bribe him, his daughter Gorgo warned him against it (Hdt. 5.49–51).

Q3: Give two motives for Darius' invasion of Greece. A: Revenge on Athens and Eretria for their part in burning Sardis (Hdt. 5.105), and expansion and security of the empire's western frontier, in line with royal ideology (also restoring Hippias).

Assessment checkpoint: Year 12 mock: a 12-mark source question and a 36-mark essay on Spartan topics.

---