Defense of Father Historia

Defense of Father Historia Even though the Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus is sometimes described as the Father of Lies due to sundry(a) contradictions and factual blunders in his The Histories, it is largely through these ostensible flaws that he makes one of his most salient contributions- a depiction of Greek ethos. His account of the Achaemenid Empire and the accession of Cyrus the Great specifically, can be contrasted with other sources in order to discern this value. James Redfield euphemistically contends that in the works of Herodotus and other ancient Greek writers, the frequently fanciful falsification of facts can be termed poetic jurist (Redfield 103). This distortion can occur in three discern ways. First, while unraveling Dariuss claim to be the ninth king of Persia and a descendent of Achamenes , scholar T. Cuyler Young Jr. indirectly uncovers that Herodotus has an simile for presenting facts in a manner that follows well-known paradigms of royal life-time and Greek story-telling (Young 29). In the Histories, dominant Greek themes involving exposed children (Cyrus was cast out by his family) (Hdt. 110.51) and divine succession (even though his grandfather tries to pop up him, Cyrus, as predicted, usurps him) are included (Hdt.108.50).

Second, the Near Eastern relationship for over dramatizing or of referring to mythological beings to account for unknown events is as well as characteristic of the time period. In this respect, Herodotus can be compared to dickens other principal sources: the Babylonian Chronicle and the Dream Text of Nabonidus. In one of Herodotuss accounts, Astyages, the last king of the Medes, loses a decisive battle because Harpagus, one of his generals, defects because he was tricked by Astyages into eating the corpse of his son (Hdt.129.60). Similarly, in Naboniduss equally unlikely account, the fall of the Medes was ground on a prediction from a conversation among the king and the god Marduk in a dream (B 315, 250). On... If you fatality to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.