(Book 1.0) Here are presented the results of the enquiry carried out by Herodotus of Halicarnassus. The purpose is to prevent the traces of human events from being erased by time, and to preserve the fame of important and remarkable achievements produced by both Greeks and non-Greeks; among the matters covered is, in particular, the cause of the hostilities between Greeks and non-Greeks . . . .
(1.123) My job, throughout this account, is simply to record whatever I am told by each of my sources. The Egyptians say that Demeter and Dionysus are the rulers of the underworld kingdom. The Egyptians were also the first to claim that the soul of a human being is immortal, and that each times the body dies the soul enters another creature just as it is being born. They also say that when the soul has made the round of every creature on land, in the sea, and in the air, it once more clothes itself in the body of a human being just as it is being born, and that a complete cycle takes three thousand years. This theory has been adopted by certain Greeks too – some from a long time ago, some more recently – who presented it as if it were their own. I know their names, but I will not write them down.
(2.109) The priests also told me that Sesostris divided the country among all the Egyptians, giving each man the same amount of land in the form of a square plot. This was a source of income for him, because he ordered them to pay an annual tax. If any of a person’s plot was lost to the river, he would present himself at the king’s court and tell him what had happened; then the king sent inspectors to measure how much land he had lost, so that in the future the man had to pay proportionately less of the fixed tax. It seems to me that this was how geometry as a land-surveying technique came to be discovered and then imported into Greece. But the Greeks learned about the sundial, its pointer, and the twelve divisions of the day from the Babylonians.
(3.38) I will give this one proof among many from which it may be inferred that all men hold this belief about their customs. When Darius was king, he summoned the Greeks who were with him and asked them for what price they would eat their fathers' dead bodies. They answered that they wouldn’t do it for any amount of money. Then Darius summoned those Indians who are called Callatiae, who eat their parents, and asked them (the Greeks being present and understanding through interpreters what was said) what would make them willing to burn their fathers at death. The Indians cried aloud, that he should not speak of so horrible an act. So firmly rooted are these beliefs; and it is, I think, rightly said in Pindar's poem that custom is king of all.
(5.18-20) The Persians who had been sent as envoys came to Amyntas {the Macedonian king) and demanded earth and water for Darius the king. He readily gave to them what they asked and invited them to be his guests, preparing a dinner of great splendor and receiving them hospitably. [2] After dinner, the Persians said to Amyntas as they sat drinking together, “Macedonian, our host, it is our custom in Persia to bring in also the concubines and wedded wives to sit by the men after the giving of any great banquet. We ask you, then, (since you have received us heartily, are entertaining us nobly and are giving Darius our king earth and water) to follow our custom.” [3] To this Amyntas replied, “ We have no such custom, Persians. Among us, men and women sit apart, but since you are our masters and are making this request, it shall be as you desire.” With that, Amyntas sent for the women. Upon being called, the women entered and sat down in a row opposite the Persians. [4] Then the Persians, seeing beautiful women before them, spoke to Amyntas and said that there was no sense in what he had done. It would be better if the women had never come at all than that they should come and not sit beside the men, but sit opposite them to torment their eyes. [5] Amyntas , now feeling compelled to do so, bade the women sit beside them. When the women had done as they were bidden, the Persians, flushed as they were with excess of wine, at once laid hands on the women's breasts, and one or another tried to kiss them . . . . “ [in response, the Macedonians dress up their beardless young men as women and kill the Persians}.
Persian invasion of Greece
(7.9,
a Persian general is the spokesman) “We (the Persians) conquered the Sacae, the
Indians, the Ethiopians, the Assyrians, and plenty of other important races,
and we now hold them in slavery.
Why? Not because they did us any
wrong, but just because we wanted to increase our dominion. It would be a terrible thing, then, for us
not to punish the unprovoked aggression of the Greeks.
What
do we have to fear? The number of
troops they can muster? Their wealth
and the power it gives them? No, we
know how they fight and we know that their power is limited. We have overcome and hold subject their
offspring – the so-called Ionians, Aeolians, and Dorians, who settled here on
our continent . . . Besides, from all I hear, the Greeks usually wage war in an
extremely stupid fashion, because they’re ignorant and incompetent. When they declare war on one another they
seek out the best, most level piece of land, and that’s where they go and
fight. The upshot is that the victors
leave the battlefield with massive losses, not to mention the losers, who are
completely wiped out. “
(7.186,
size of Persian army that invades Greece): “When all these tens of thousands
are added to the figures from Asia, the
total number of fighting men comes to 2,641,610.”
(7.101-2,
Persian king asks a deposed king of Sparta if Greeks will fight back): “So tell me: will the Greeks stand their
ground against me? Will they
resist? It seems to me that all the
Greeks, and even the combined forces of the entire western world, would be
incapable of withstanding my advance, unless they formed a unified front.”
“So
Demaratus said, . . . ‘There has never been a time when poverty was not a
factor in the rearing of the Greeks, but their courage has been acquired as a
result of intelligence and the force of law.
Greece has relied on this courage to keep poverty and despotism at
bay. I admire all the Greeks . . . but
I shall restrict what I have to say to the Spartans alone. First, then, there’s no way in which they
will ever listen to any proposals of yours which will bring slavery on Greece;
second, they will certainly resist you, even if all the other Greeks come over
to your side. As for the size of their
army, there’s no point in your asking how, in terms of numbers, they can do
this. If there are in fact only a thousand
men to march out against you, then a thousand men will fight you.’ Xerxes’ response was to laugh.”
Battle of Plataea
(9.28) Presently the whole Greek army was arrayed as I will show, both the later and the earliest comers. On the right wing were ten thousand Lacedaemonians; five thousand of these, who were Spartans, had a guard of thirty-five thousand light-armed helots, seven appointed for each man. [3] The Spartans chose the Tegeans for their neighbors in the battle, both to do them honor, and for their valor; there were of these fifteen hundred men-at-arms. (Corinthians, Potidaeans, Arcadians, etc.) At the end, and first in the line, were the Athenians who held the left wing. They were eight thousand in number, and their general was Aristides. The sum total, then was 38,700, all of whom were hoplites, except for the seven assigned to each of the Spartans.
9.
49 Mardonius (the Persian general) sent his cavalry to attack the Greeks
[2] The horsemen rode at them and shot arrows and javelins among the whole
Greek army to its great hurt, since they were mounted archers and difficult to
deal with in an encounter; they spoiled and blocked the Gargaphian spring from
which the entire Greek army drew its water. [3] None indeed but the
Lacedaemonians were posted near the spring . . . . Under these circumstances
the Greek commanders met with Pausanias on the right wing to discuss various
matters, including the loss of the army’s water supply and their harassment by
the Persian cavalry . . . . The upshot of the commanders’ conference was that
they decided to move their forces to the island. . . .”
9.59 With that, he led the Persians
with all speed across the Asopus
in pursuit of the Greeks,
supposing that they were in flight; it was the army of Lacedaemon and Tegea
alone which was his goal, for the Athenians marched another way over the broken
ground, and were out of his sight. [2] Seeing the Persians setting forth
in pursuit of the Greeks, the rest of the barbarian battalions straightway
raised their standards and also gave pursuit, each at top speed, no battalion
having order in its ranks nor place assigned in the line.
9.60. So they ran pell-mell and shouting, as
though they would utterly make an end of the Greeks. Pausanias, however, when the cavalry attacked him, sent a
horseman to the Athenians
with this message: “Men of Athens,
in this great contest which must give freedom or slavery to Hellas,
we Lacedaemonians
and you Athenians
have been betrayed by the flight of our allies in the night that is past.
[2] I have accordingly now resolved what we must do; we must protect each
other by fighting as best we can. If the cavalry had attacked you first, it
would have been the duty of both ourselves and the Tegeans,
who are faithful to Hellas,
to aid you; but now, seeing that the whole brunt of their assault falls on us,
it is right that you should come to the aid of that division which is hardest
pressed. [3] But if, as may be, anything has befallen you which makes it
impossible for you to aid us, do us the service of sending us your archers. We
are sure that you will obey us, as knowing that you have been by far more
zealous than all others in this present war
9.61. When the Athenians
heard that, they attempted to help the Lacedaemonians
and defend them with all their might. But when their march had already begun,
they were set upon by the Greeks
posted opposite them, who had joined themselves to the king. For this reason,
being now under attack by the foe which was closest, they could at the time send
no aid. [2] The Lacedaemonians
and Tegeans
accordingly stood alone, men-at-arms and light-armed together; there were of
the Lacedaemonians
fifty thousand and of the Tegeans,
who had never been parted from the Lacedaemonians,
three thousand. These offered sacrifice so that they would fare better in
battle with Mardonius
and the army which was with him. [3] They could get no favorable omen from
their sacrifices, and in the meanwhile many of them were killed and by far more
wounded (for the Persians
set up their shields for a fence, and shot showers of arrows). Since the Spartans
were being hard-pressed and their sacrifices were of no avail, Pausanias
lifted up his eyes to the temple of Hera
at Plataea
and called on the goddess, praying that they might not be disappointed in their
hope.
9.62. While he was still in the act of praying, the men of Tegea
leapt out before the rest and charged the barbarians, and immediately after Pausanias'
prayer the sacrifices of the Lacedaemonians
became favorable. Now they too charged the Persians,
and the Persians
met them, throwing away their bows. [2] First they fought by the fence of
shields, and when that was down, there was a fierce and long fight around the
temple of Demeter
itself, until they came to blows at close quarters. For the barbarians laid
hold of the spears and broke them short. [3] Now the Persians
were neither less courageous nor weaker, but they had no armor; moreover, since
they were unskilled and no match for their adversaries in craft, they would rush
out singly and in tens or in groups great or small, hurling themselves on the Spartans
and so perishing.
9.63.
Where Mardonius
was himself, riding a white horse in the battle and surrounded by a thousand
picked men who were the flower of the Persians,
there they pressed their adversaries hardest. So long as Mardonius
was alive the Persians
stood their ground and defended themselves, overthrowing many Lacedaemonians.
[2] When, however, Mardonius
was killed and his guards, who were the strongest part of the army, had also
fallen, then the rest too yielded and gave ground before the men of Lacedaemon.
For what harmed them the most was the fact that they wore no armor over their
clothes and fought, as it were, naked against men fully armed.
This translation is partially from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu,
with modifications based on R. Waterfield, Herodotus The Histories
(Oxford: 1998).