Group Read **Herodotus** Book 3

It's March and time to move on to Book 3.

That took me a bit longer than expected, mainly clearing up some unfinished books before returning to Herodotus.

Thoughts on Book 3 :-

The speeches and dialogue - I'm wondering where he got his information. Seems like he may have let his imagination run away with him.

The weird "facts" about how rare and precious items are obtained. Especially as he says that he doesn't believe in the Tin Islands as he never met anybody who had been there. Who was he listening to about India?

Anybody else got any thoughts?

calm, are you saying that you don't believe in the magical ants who build their hills with gold dust? ;-)

I can't tell if he is making up the speeches and dialogue, and they are representative of his personal opinions, or if he is writing down stories he heard from other people, who are themselves making up the speeches to represent their personal opinions. There is one speech, the one where one of the Seven talks up democracy (I forget which), where my copy (the Landmark one) has a footnote suggesting that this speech is actually Herodotus stating his views of tyranny.

I've also finished with Book 3. I think I found this one the least interesting so far, but maybe that was because I read it in little snippets for a week or more.

>2 calm: I also found the comment about the Tin Islands interesting. I wonder if this is the earliest recorded comment about Britain... maybe something in Egyptian records is earlier?

>3 jfetting: The notes in my edition (Penguin Classics) also say he's probably just stating his views of the various forms of government.

I had a question, but now I've forgotten what it was... oh, well.

Done with Book 3. I found it more interesting than the last book, less geography and more customs. Thank goodness for the Landmark footnotes to keep track of what's actual history and what's not. I especially enjoy the retelling of oracles and dreams and how people reacted to them. Interestingly, not once has Herodotus mentioned one in which the fortune was not fulfilled.

Back to my point about the fantastical stories. A bit of further reading and it seems that the people who had these resources were protecting their own interests. The stories discouraged others from trying to steal and also helped increase the value.

ivyd - I understand that the trade with the Tin Isles might have been going on for a thousand years before Herodotus's time. I guess he just didn't speak to someone who claimed to have been there.

auntmarge64 - I like the oracles as well. It gives us an interesting insight to customs and beliefs. Wasn't there a bit in one of the earlier books where a ruler decided to test the various oracles by asking what he was doing on a particular day. He found one or two to be accurate and the others wrong. Not that we are told about the inaccurate ones

>6 calm: Not that we are told about the inaccurate ones

Or what happened to them. :)

I'd make a comment about the superstition level but I doubt it's much different today among the world's various cultures and religions. It's always been helpful to be able to look outward for guidance of whatever sort can be found. Although to judge from Herodotus, the oracles were usually right - or at least their predictions could be made to fit an interpretation of the events which occurred.

I remembered my question: I was confused by his reference to the Egyptian gods by Greek names (Dionysus in particular). I don't know much about ancient mythology, but I had always thought that Egypt and Greece had separate pantheons of gods. Am I mistaken, or was he assigning the Greek name to a more or less equivalent Egyptian god?

>6 calm: The Tin Isles: According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Greeks settled Britain somewhere around 1200 BC. Of course, Geoffrey was not very reliable either. But I wonder why we think that the trade had been going on so long... were there other ancient references to it?