Assignment: Coursepack,
pp. 32-44.
Topics Addressed:
- What is history?
- Who was Herodotus and why has he been
called the "father of history"?
- Herodotus' life, times, and
travels.
- Herodotus' topic: the Persian
Wars
- The structure of Herodotus'
Histories:
- Book I The rise of the Persian king
Cyrus and the creation of the Persian empire, whose conquests
included the kingdom of Croesus in Lydia (in Asia minor)
- Book II A description of
Egypt
- Book III Conquest of Egypt by the
Persian King Cambyses, and the rise Darius to power in
Persia.
- Book IV Expeditions of Darius against
the Scythians and the Libyans
- Book V Operations of the Persians
against the Thracians and the revolt of the Ionian
Greeks
- Book VI The subdual of the Ionians.
Invasion of Macedonia by the Persians. Includes the famous
battle of Marathon.
- Book VII Death of the Persian King
Darius. Preparations of the Persian King Xerxes for a massive
invasion of the Greek mainland. Battle of
Thermopylae.
- Book VIII Battles of Artimisium and
Salamis. Withdrawal of Xerxes.
- Book IX Battle of Plataea and retreat of
Persians
- Herodotus' sources.
- Herodotus' conception of the
gods.
- Moral history and the search for non-moral
rational explanations of cause and effect.
- Herodotus on Egyptian influences on Greece
and modern political controversy:
- M. Bernal, Black Athena: The
Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, New Brunswick,
NJ, 1987.
- G. G. M. George, Stolen legacy: Greek
philosophy is stolen Egyptian philosophy, Trenton, NJ, 1954
(reprinted: 1992).
- M. Lefkowitz, Not out of Africa: how
"Afrocentrism" became an excuse to teach myth as history,
New York, 1996.
- The value of antiquity: Egyptians vs.
Phrygians and the word BECOS.
- Herodotean digressions (like his chapter on
Egypt).
- Herodotus' historical method as illustrated
in his inquiry into the cause of the Nile's
inundations.
- Herodotus on the Egyptian origin of Greek
gods.
- Herodotus on the peculiarity of Egyptian
customs? How do such customs help him determine who the Greeks
are.
- A useful book on cats:
- D. Engels, Classical cats: the rise
and fall of the sacred cat, London, 1999.
- How does history contribute to consructing
culture?
