Reading Herodotus

Pictures related to Herodotus and my book, Reading Herodotus: A Guided Tour through the Wild Boars, Dancing Suitors, and Crazy Tyrants of The History (JHU Press, 2012).

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12y

trireme

The Olympias is a modern reconstruction of an ancient Greek trireme, the state-of-the-art warship in the classical period. The trireme had sails, but they weren't used in battle. The ship was propelled by 170 oarsmen, who sat in three tiers on either side of the vessel in very tight, uncomfortable conditions. Athens had a fleet of 200 triremes in 480, when the Persians invaded under Xerxes.

an old photo of a man with a beard and wearing a headdress in front of a black background

Ancient Greece Soldier

Homosexuality In Ancient Greece

Western Civilization

Classical Greece

Themistocles was the architect of Athens' navy. He convinced the Athenians to build a serious fleet in 483 B.C. when they had a surplus of funds. Their fleet, in turn, helped save Greece when the Persians invaded in 480. Indeed, Greece would almost certainly have been defeated w/o Athens, which means that classical Athens as we know it--the radical democracy, art, philosophy and literature, the buildings of the Acropolis--would not have happened.

people walking in front of a large building with columns and flags on the side walk

An inscription on the main post office building in New York City reads: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." This unofficial motto of the USPS in fact comes from Herodotus' description of the Pony Express-like courier service employed in Persia. Herodotus mentions it at 8.98, when describing how the news of the Persians' defeat at Salamis made its way back to the Persian capital at Susa.

a book cover with an image of books on top of it and the title, plutacks lives, volume 1

In his anonymously published work 1601, Mark Twain refers to a story Herodotus tells at 2.162 about the Egyptian revolutionary Amasis, whose flatulence was, as Twain puts it, "the precursor to the fall of an empire."

an open book sitting on top of a wooden table

Johns Hopkins University

Reading Herodotus: A Guided Tour through the Wild Boars, Dancing Suitors, and Crazy Tyrants of The History

The Johns Hopkins Press sent me covers of the book: the background is richer than it looks on Amazon, and the texture is velvety!

the word moon ark written in black ink on a white paper sheet with writing underneath it

Molon labe - Wikipedia

Molon Labe! The Ancient Greek phrase μολὼν λαβέ; Modern Greek pronunciation [moˈlon laˈve]) means "Come and take them". It is a classical expression of defiance reportedly spoken by King Leonidas I in response to the Persian army's demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons at the Battle of Thermopylae. It is an exemplary use of a laconic phrase.

Tennessee Williams' first published fiction was a short story entitled "The Vengeance of Nitocris," which he wrote when he was sixteen. It was based on Herodotus' brief mention at 2.100 of Queen Nitocris of Egypt, who devised an elaborate scheme to avenge the murder of her brother.

a stone marker with writing on it sitting next to a plant and rocks in the background

403 Forbidden

This plaque at Thermopylae is inscribed with the beautiful epitaph written by Simonides of Ceos to commemorate the Spartan dead: "Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie."

a person holding a piece of bread in their hand, with the peel removed from it

Natural History Museum

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This 14,000-odd-year-old human skull, found in Somerset, England, was allegedly used as a drinking cup. (I'm not sure how they know this.) The Scythians, who lived to the north of the Black Sea, likewise made skull cups--just one of the unpleasant things they did to their enemies.

a map showing the route of jesus and his people

Ancient World Maps

Social Studies Teacher

A map of Thermopylae, where the 300 Spartans under Leonidas, together with 1100 men from Boeotia (Thespians and Thebans), fought and died* trying to hold back Xerxes' army. Thermopylae, which means "hot gates," was named for its hot springs and the three constrictions, or "gates," that mark the passage. *Well, the Thebans surrendered.