Introduction
The Histories is the first history book written in Western literature. It was written by a man named Herodotus. We know little about him, but his approach to researching the cause of events and writing them down laid the foundation of what would become written history.
Context
The Histories is an account of events in Ancient Greece and the surrounding region around the years 400-500 bc.
It mostly covers war between Greece and Persia, but also describes in details ancient Egypt, Ethiopia, and many other cultures who were living around the region at that time.
Herodotus traveled a lot, and it is believed that he did in fact visit ancient Egypt. While some of his accounts are obviously wrong or based on myths, many of his accounts do seem to be from firsthand experience.
Where he did not have firsthand experience to write from, he relied on other people’s accounts of events. His approach to critically evaluating other people’s stories and trying to present them in a factual and unbiased way was a new way of understanding and presenting events. We take this approach for granted today, but this was an important step for western civilization.
Summary of Content
The book covers:
- Greco-Persian wars
- Athens and Sparta
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
It covers cultural customs from various nations, and follows the politics of power and violence in the region at the time.
Themes and Analysis
While the book is meant to be a somewhat unbiased historical account of the events at the time, there are still themes present.
First, in the beginning of the book, Herodotus makes his goal clear:
“Herodotus of Halicarnassus here displays his inquiry, so that human achievements may not become forgotten in time, and great and marvelous deeds - some displayed by Greeks, some by barbarians - may not be without their glory; and to especially show why the two peoples fought with each other.”
Another theme:
“For most of those which were great once are small today; and those which used to be small were great in my own time. Knowing, therefore, that human prosperity never abides long in the same place, I shall pay attention to both alike.”
And “human life is like a revolving wheel and never allows the same people to continue long in prosperity”.
Another theme: hubris. People who get too greedy or arrogant eventually get what’s coming to them.
Personal Reflection
This was a fun read for me because I knew fairly little about this period of history. Herodotus tells a story with massive scope, and gives the reader a sense of adventure along the way.
The Histories is a reminder of just how violent and tumultuous this time in history was. While Greece was starting to flirt with democracy, the world was still a very unfair and violent place. The reality was that being a healthy and thriving society was dependent on being able to fight to protect yourself against many different enemies. The region was in constant flux, and you could be thriving one day and enslaved the next.
Critical Evaluation
The obvious way to start critiquing The Histories is by pointing out the many inaccuracies. Plenty of stories that Herodotus tells are obviously wrong, made up, or exaggerated. Despite this, Herodotus gets a lot right, and the sheer amount of effort required to put together a book like this is hard to imagine. The more fanciful parts of the book make for entertaining reading sitting comfortably in the age of Wikipedia.
In a way we can learn more from an imperfect account like Herodotus’ because it shows us what it was like to try to perceive the world at that time. To me this is a much deeper way of understanding that time period compared to reading a sterile year-by-year account of events put together by modern historians. It gives us a subjective way of viewing the events of the time, while still seeing it through a historical lens.
Key Takeaways
Summarize your key takeaways or learning points. What new insights or perspectives did the book provide?
The world was violent
Anenemy could attack you and enslave you at any time
Herodotus was curious about the world and did his best to understand other cultures and how they interact with one another
People fight harder when they are fighting to preserve their freedom, rather than fighting as slaves on behalf of a king. This is a secret weapon of (more) free societies.
Conclusion
I enjoyed reading The Histories — it was much more readable and entertaining than I expected. It takes patience, and the story sometimes veers wildly between locations and times, but overall it’s a rich way to dive into this period in history.