ans20%5 10 Historical Facts That Herodotus Got Hilarlously Wrong Listverse
HISTORY
10 Historical Facts That Herodotus Got
Hilariously Wrong
SUZANNE RAGA APRIL 8, 2015
Called the Father of History by Cicero, the Greek historian Herodotus (born in 484 B.C.)
wrote The Histories, the Western world’s very first work of history. Gathering research from
his travels around Egypt, Africa, and Asia, Herodotus recorded his observations and
interviews with locals in a thorough, consistent way. Because he exaggerated and
fabricated some parts of The Histories, though, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction
and truth from bias. His stated goal was to record what people told him, even if he didn't
necessarily believe what he heard. Here are 10 things that Herodotus (also called the
Father of Lies by historians who doubt his credibility) most likely got wrong in The
Histories.
Babylon The Behemoth
Photo via Wikipedia
Photo via Wikipedia
Photo credit: amanderson2
Photo via Wikipedia
nipitstverse.com/20151040810-Nsterca-fct- that her odotus-go-iarcusy-wreng! 120In Book One of The Histories, when Herodotus describes the physical and political
atmosphere in Persia, he greatly exaggerates how massively fortified the city of Babylon is.
According to Herodotus, the had "magnificence greater than all other
cities of which we have knowledge.” He claims that 100 bronze gates were erected at the
entrance of Babylon, and that Babylon's walls were 100 meters (328 ft) high, 22 kilometers
(14 mi) long, and 50 meters (164 ft) thick, He also says he saw a deep, water-filled trench
that surrounded the entire perimeter of the city.
Historians don't agree on whether Herodotus ever actually visited Babylon; skeptics argue
that he probably fabricated the details of his description of the city, Archaeological evidence
tells us that Babylon had Not 100, and was not as grand as Herodotus boldly
claimed. So, although he wrote about Babylon as if he himself had been there, he most
likely
Giant Golden Ants
nipitstverse.com/20151040810-Nsterca-fct- that her odotus-go-iarcusy-wreng! 20In Book Three, Herodotus claimed that huge furry ants, the size of foxes, lived in Persia and
spread golden particles of dust as they dug in the sandy ground. Herodotus said that after
these giant ants would dislodge the gold dust from the sand, the locals would collect the
dust.
For centuries, historians criticized this claim as outright fabricated until the 1990s, when a
French explorer discovered that a marmot (a type of large squirrel) which lived in the
Himalayas (India and Pakistan) spread gold dust when it dug the earth. The people who
lived in this region, the Deosai Plateau, had a long oral tradition of describing how their
ancestors collected gold dust from the ground. The Persian word for mountain ant was
very similar to the Persian word for marmot, so Herodotus probably misunderstood the
Persians he spoke to before he recounted the story.
Although his description of the animals turned out to be a misunderstanding rather than
an outright lie, Herodotus later asserted in Book Three that the “ants” were predators of
adult camels, hunting and devouring them. Marmots probably haven't done this.
Egyptian Embalming: Evisceration Enemas
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In Book Two, Herodotus gives lengthy descriptions of Egypt, discussing the Nile River,
mummification, Egyptian gender roles, animals, and holy festivals. However, most
historians doubt whether Herodotus ever actually visited Egypt. For example, he gives
detailed descriptions of the three great pyramids yet fails to mention the Sphinx, a highly
suspect omission. (If he actually saw the pyramids, then he definitely would have seen the
Sphinx.) Additionally, Herodotus , describing the three methods
ranging from most expensive to least expensive. Herodotus claimed that elite, deceased
Egyptians’ organs were removed from the left side of their abdomens, while commoners
received cedar oil enemas to quickly remove the stomach and organs from the body.
Our understanding of Egyptian embalming and mummification comes largely from
Herodotus and other Greek historians like Diodorus of Sicily, but Herodotus got a lot wrong.
Anthropologists in 2013 used CT scans of mummies and three-dimensional
reconstructions to discredit Herodotus's description of the Egyptian embalming process as
of what actually happened. We don’t know exactly
what sources Herodotus used to get his information on Egyptian customs, but he most
likely relied heavily on conversations with locals (who didn’t speak Greek), such as the
people of Chemmis (the modern-day Egyptian city of Akhmim).
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Gold-Hoarding Cyclopes And Griffins
Herodotus makes multiple references in Books Three and Four to one-eyed men (cyclopes,
the plural of cyclops) called Arimaspoi, Claiming that these cyclopes steal gold from Grypes
(griffins) in northern Europe, Herodotus is not merely relating a mythical story or poem
about these creatures; he seems to seriously and sincerely believe that they exist. To prove
his point that cyclopes and griffins live in Europe and that the griffins’ job is to guard
stockpiles of gold, he refers to the Greek poet Aristeas and the Issedones (ancient residents
of Central Asia), who mention the cyclopes and griffins
To further convince his readers that his writings about the cyclopes and griffins are
accurate, Herodotus uses alittle : He says that the Scythians (Iranian
nomads) call cyclopes “Arimaspoi" because in the Scythian language, arima means “one”
and spou means “eye.” Unless and until archaeological evidence uncovers one-eyed
humans and a half-lion, half-eagle creature, Herodotus is plain wrong.
Why The Nile River Floods
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In Book Two, Herodotus talks about the Nile River, which regularly overflows and floods the
Nile Delta and the areas of land on both sides of the river. He was fascinated by the
behavior of the Nile, as he had never seen nor heard of any river that behaved like it.
Herodotus really wanted to discover why the Nile rises for 100 days, starting on the
summer solstice, before it retreats into low tide for winter.
After correctly discounting Greek explanations for the cause of the Nile's rising—the
Etresian winds, the flow of the ocean, and melting snow—Herodotus explains his theory
for why the Nile swells during summer. His theory is a little convoluted, involving winter
storms that disrupt the usual course of the Sun, which dries out the streams in Libya that
feed into the Nile. Unfortunately, Herodotus was mistaken about the Nile. We now know
that the river actually floods in the summer months due to heavy tropical rainfall in
Ethiopia,
Greeks vs. Persians: David And Goliath
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Throughout The Histories, Herodotus discusses the Persian Wars (499-449 B.C.), a series of
battles in which Greek city-states were defending their land and political power against the
encroaching Persian empire. Because no Persian primary source accounts of the Persian
Wars exist today, we have to rely on Greek sources. (Herodotus’s account is the most
comprehensive and relatively contemporaneous.)
However, since he was Greek, Herodotus was not completely impartial, and we have to
closely examine his narrative for any pro-Greek, anti-Persian bias in order to get close to
the truth, Describing the end of the Battle of Marathon, Herodotus claims that the corpses
of 6,400 Persians were left on the battlefield, while only 192 Greeks (Athenians) were
Killed, Yes, it’s true that the Persian army was significantly larger than the Greek forces, and
it's accurate that the Greeks did conquer the Persians at Marathon. However, the numbers
Herodotus uses are exaggerated on such a large scale that historians feel the need to
investigate the accuracy of the rest of his accounts of military affairs. Since Herodotus was
born six years after the Battle of Marathon, his sources for that information were Greeks
who had been influenced and biased by the post-Marathon Athenian political climate.
Athenians’ perspective was that their victory at Marathon made Athens the leader of
Greece, which they used as the main justification for Athenian imperial policy.
Lion Cubs Clawing Their Way Out Of The Womb
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When Herodotus wrote The Historiesin the late 400s B.C., many philosophers were
interested in discussing reproduction in the animal kingdom, specifically why some animals
gave birth to multiple offspring at once. Herodotus claimed that timid creatures frequently
give birth to multiple babies so that some will survive even though many are killed by
predators. Conversely, harsh creatures (like lions) only conceive once a lifetime because
they're and therefore not in danger of going extinct. Regarding
lions, Herodotus says that lion cub fetuses use their sharp claws to scratch at their
mother's womb, scratching more and more until they're born. The lioness can supposedly
only give birth once because her womb is a mangled, scratched-up piece of useless flesh
after giving birth
Aristotle for this claim, and modern natural history has
proved Herodotus completely wrong, He may have been guessing that the birth process
was painful because the offspring was struggling to get out. He also may have based his
claims on ancient medical writings, such as those by the Greek philosopher Democritus, but
many accounts don't survive today. To describe his belief that rabbits can
, Herodotus used the word epikuisketai, an extremely unusual
and scientifically technical term, which indicates that he probably did read medical writings
about animal reproduction.
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Marathon's Mass Burial Battleground
The Battle of Marathon was hugely important to the Greeks because it symbolized their
first victory over Persian tyranny, Herodotus claimed that the surviving Greeks buried the
192 slain Athenian soldiers in the middle of the battleground to pay tribute to them. For
hundreds of years, archaeologists and researchers have excavated Marathon to try to find
these Athenian remains,
For years, a hill known as the soros (burial mound) has been considered to be the only
serious candidate for Herodotus's battlefield burial ground. A large number of burials
certainly occurred at this location; many of them were men who died a violent death
Some of the burials include ceramics dating to around the time of Marathon. However, new
research dates most of the ceramics that were buried with the dead as from the sixth
century B.C.—long before the Battle of Marathon. Another problem is that the soros
includes the bones of two women, who certainly were not fighting at Marathon.
Persian Pederasty
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Pederasty, a relationship between adult men and adolescent boys, was a common cultural
practice in ancient Greece. In Book One of The Histories, Herodotus states that the Greeks
introduced pederasty to the Persians. In a passage describing the Persians’ clothing
choices and polygamous lifestyle (they marry multiple wives and keep concubines),
Herodotus remarks that Persians also copulate with boys—a practice they learned from
the Hellenes (Greeks).
Scholars have disagreed on the origin(s) of Persian pederasty since ancient times, and not
many sources back up Herodotus's claims. For example, Plutarch argued that Persian men
had relations with eunuch boys long before they encountered Greek culture. However, we
should keep in mind that Plutarch thought Herodotus was a total crackpot—he wrote On
The Malice Of Herodotus, an essay criticizing The Histories for its inaccuracies and
misrepresentations, Sextus Empiricus, a Greek philosopher, wrote that Persian law (which
predated Persian exposure to Greeks) recommended pederasty. Whether Herodotus was
wrong or not, we do know that the Greeks took pride in their culture. Plato listed pederasty,
philosophy, and nude sports as three defining features that separated the Greeks from
barbarians.
The Dolphin Who Saved A Famous Musician
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In Book One of The Histories, Herodotus tells the story of Arion, a renowned harpist who
performed for Periander, the ruler of Corinth. After winning money in a music competition
in Sicily, Arion set sail back to Corinth. When the crew of his ship conspired to kill him for
his money, Arion sang one last song before jumping overboard, and a dolphin carried him to
safety to the Taenarum shore, Periander doubted Arion’s fantastical story until the
scheming sailors showed up, were amazed to see Arion alive, and admitted their plot.
We don't know for sure if Herodotus believed that a dolphin saved Arion, but he
acknowledged that it was a wonderful miracle. It's easy to dismiss Arion’s story as fiction,
myth, or metaphor or to argue that the dolphin was probably a piece of driftwood or
another boat. However, there is some compelling evidence that the story could be true.
First, Herodotus provides corroborating evidence—he says that the Corinthians and the
Lesbians agree in their account of the story, dolphin included. Second, Herodotus describes
a small bronze statue, dedicated to Arion, of a man on a dolphin’s back at Taenarum.
Pausanias, a Greek traveler in the second century A.D., wrote that he saw this statue at
Taenarum. Third, coins minted in Corinth and Tarentum depict nude men riding on
dolphins. Finally, there are multiple modern reports of dolphins rescuing humans from
maritime dangers like sharks.
However, none of these dolphin-rescue reports are fully confirmed. Also, the image of a
Like U fact, which may
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's account of
Arion’s rescue.
Suzanne writes about indie music at After The Show,
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