7 Surprising Stories from Herodotus' Histories

Did you know that according to Herodotus the ancient Egyptians mourned their pets as they did people? Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and today's video is all about seven of the most surprising stories from Herodotus's histories. Don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up, subscribing to our channel and hitting that bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on any new uploads. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization who is now on Patreon. Patreon is a brilliant site that offers exclusive benefits to those who subscribe. Your support helps us create videos twice a week so make sure to check it out via the pop-up in the top corner of the screen or via the Patreon link down below. Herodotus was a Greek writer who lived in the midst of the 5th century BCE. He was born around 484 BCE probably in Halicarnassus in Asia Minor and he died at some point between 425 and 413 possibly in the Greek colony of Thurii or by the plague in Athens. We aren't really sure. He's known as the father of history which was a title first given to him by the Roman orator Cicero for his famous work The Histories. We don't know a whole lot about his life but what we do know is that he was born into a wealthy aristocratic family and his skill in writing suggests he was very well educated. He wrote in Ionian Greek. He was clearly a very well-read man and his ability to travel seemingly at will as documented in his histories suggests he was a man of some means. Since his writings of battle are quite precise and always told from the point of view of a foot soldier it's thought he may have served as a hoplite. Herodotus' Histories is a nine-book tome which provides a detailed account of the Greco- as well as observations and stories from his travels to Greece, Egypt and Asia Minor. As Herodotus puts it at the very beginning of his book, Herodotus of Halicarnassus here presents his research so that human events do not fade with time. May the great and wonderful deeds some brought forth by the Hellenes other by the barbarians not go unsung as well as the causes that led them to make war on each other. He definitely wasn't an impartial observer and often included his own personal opinions on various customs people and events. Although some of the information has been challenged as exaggerated or incorrect, which can in some instances be blamed on issues of translation, he's still recognized as the father of history with many of his accounts being confirmed by archaeological evidence. So then on we go into seven of the most entertaining and somewhat weird stories from Herodotus' Histories. Our first tale comes from book one and plays out in multiple stages. Let's call it all the times that Croesus, King of Lydia, misinterprets the Oracle of Delphi. Croesus, the King of Lydia, thinks he might be able to take on the Persian Empire and so he devises a plan to test all of the different oracles. The oracle that correctly recounts what Croesus was doing would be the one he believed. Only the Oracle of Delphi prophesied correctly that he was cooking hard-shelled tortoise and lamb meat in a bronze cauldron with a bronze lid. So after sending rich gifts to the Oracle of Delphi he asks the oracle whether he should go to war against Persia and whether he should find some allies. The oracle replied that if Croesus were to wage a war against the Persians he would destroy a great empire. Of course Croesus thought that was a fantastic prophecy. Little did he know the great empire he would destroy would be his own since he was defeated by Persia and wound up in chains instead of on the Persian throne. Round two of Croesus versus the oracle saw Croesus ask whether he would have a long-lasting reign and with that the oracle replied, but whenever a mule becomes king of the Medes then tender-footed Lydian flee by the pebbled river Hermas and do not delay nor feel shame at being a coward. So naturally Croesus thought he was going to have a long rule and his descendants would continue to rule forever since a man would always rule the Medes never a mule and overall he was pretty delighted. However the oracle was doing what it does best in hiding the truth under layers of mystery and analogies for what the Pythia actually foresaw was not something Croesus should have been delighted about. The mule which is a cross between a horse and a donkey was actually a metaphor for the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great whose mother was a Mede and father a Persian and would eventually cause the fall of the Lydian kingdom. The final round of Croesus versus the oracle was this time about his mute son. Croesus sent a mission to Delphi to inquire about his son and this is what the Pythia said, Lydian of race king of many Croesus you fool desire not to hear at home that prayed for sound of your son's voice much better for you to be far from that the day on which you hear it first will rob you of prosperity. At this point Croesus had been king of Lydia for 14 years but the Persians were advancing on his position in battle Cyrus's camels had defeated the Lydian cavalry and Croesus's army was forced to take refuge behind the wall of Sardis. As the wall was being taken by the Persians Croesus was advanced upon by a Persian who didn't recognize him as the king of the Lydians. When his mute son saw the approaching Persian he shouted you there do not kill Croesus. These were the first words he ever spoke and following them the Persians quickly captured Croesus took Sardis and all of the oracle's predictions came true. Still in book one we now come to Herodotus's descriptions of some of the Babylonian customs which begins with the one he himself thinks is the wisest and that is the custom of the auctioning of wives. According to Herodotus all of the girls of marriageable age are assembled together and the men of marriageable age would form a circle around them. The auctioneer would have the women stand up one by one starting with the most beautiful and he would sell them for the purpose of marriage. When the first young woman was sold then he would start the sale of the second most beautiful and all the wealthy men would try to outbid the other for the prettiest girls. The homelier women came with a monetary incentive for people to bid on them. Once all of the most beautiful women were sold the auctioneer would then sell the most unattractive or crippled women and they would go to the man who would accept the smallest amount of gold and marry them. The gold made from the sale of the beautiful women went to If the couple did not get along it was customary to give the gold back and any man of marriageable age was permitted to buy a wife even if they came from another village. This is one of the parts of Herodotus' histories that has been challenged by a number of scholars throughout the years and according to Herodotus by the time he was writing this down the custom was no longer Moving on to book two and looking to Egypt. Herodotus is very interested in the Egyptian customs surrounding animals. For each different animal in Egypt there is a different caretaker for it. They could be male or female and their children would grow up learning to care for that same type of animal. If someone were to intentionally kill an animal the penalty was death. If it was an accident then it was up to the priests to assign whatever penalty they felt right. These rules weren't the same for the ibis or the hawk. If you killed either of these birds unintentionally or not you would be sentenced to death because both were considered sacred to the gods. There were many household cats in ancient Egypt and according to Herodotus if there was ever a fire the nearby cats would be overcome with a divine seizure. The Egyptians had to stand at intervals to keep the cat safe but if the fire kept burning the cats would leap past them and rush into the flames. If this happened the Egyptians would be overcome with grief. If you lived in a household with a cat and it died a natural death everyone in the home would shave off their eyebrows. If a dog died though you would shave your entire body and head. Herodotus described many animals that lived in Egypt but it's quite clear he never saw some of them. This is obvious in his description of a hippopotamus with its four feet with cloven hooves like an ox, a blunt snout, a mane like a horse, conspicuous tusks and a horse's tail. It neighs, it's the size of the largest ox and its hide is so thick that once it's dried spear shafts are crafted from them. This is probably one of Herodotus's most infamous tales from his histories, his description of the gold digging ants of India. Herodotus gives us a description of some of the different groups of Indians like the Padaoi who ate raw meat and killed people who became ill. If a man denied being ill they would disagree, kill him and then feast on his flesh. If a woman became ill however the woman closest to her was killed. If someone were to reach old age which apparently didn't happen very often, what a surprise, they were sacrificed and feasted upon. In complete contrast to the Padaoi are the Indians that don't eat any living creatures but who only eat grasses. There are other groups of Indians around the borders of Kaspatiros and in the territory of Paktaiki. These Indians have a manner of life very similar to the Bactrians and they are the ones who are most warlike and who go out to gather the gold in the uninhabitable desert. In this desert live these huge ants which are bigger than foxes but smaller than dogs. These ants mound up the sand and then dwell underground much like the ants in Greece. But in these mounds there is gold in the sand and so the Indians ride their camels and collect the sand but they have to fill their bags quickly because the ants can detect when men are near and the ants will pursue them and they are quick. So quick that the Indians need the head start or else they wouldn't return home safely. Now of course the idea of large ants collecting gold sounds incredibly far-fetched but it seems as though Herodotus's tale is mostly fact except one tiny detail. The French explorer and anthropologist Michel Picel went on a journey to find the root of this story and what he found in the Dansar plain was gold in the sand but it wasn't ants but marmots. Marmots are roughly possum-sized and they are short-legged burrowing rodents and the ancient Persian word for them is mountain mouse ant. So perhaps this tale of gold digging ants was grounded in fact but a translation issue along the way transformed these mountain mouse ants into actual large ants. Book four of the histories is primarily concerned with the region of Scythia and in this book Herodotus describes a number of different peoples who can be found in the region. This includes the Agathiasoi whose males wear a luxurious amount of gold and who share their women for the purpose of intercourse. This is so they could all be brothers which would eliminate hatred and envy among them. There is also the Nureans who very well might be sorcerers. Why does Herodotus suggest this? Well apparently once every year one of the Nureans turns into a wolf for a few days and then a few days later turns back into himself again. That being said Herodotus makes a point in letting the reader know that he is not convinced but that is what they say and they swear that it really does happen. There are also the man-eaters who are savages who live as nomads, speak their own peculiar language and live up to their name with their custom of eating human flesh. Moving to Libya Herodotus takes the time to introduce to us the Gindanes, the lotus eaters and the Garamundis. The only custom of the Gindanes that Herodotus thought was important to document was their practice of women wearing leather ankle bracelets. These anklets weren't just for decoration but it is said that a woman wears one for every man they had intercourse with and the woman who wears the most is considered to be the best because she has gained the affection of the most men. Then we have the lotus eaters who do exactly what it sounds like they do. They live solely by chewing the fruit of the lotus and they also make wine from the sweet fruit. Finally we have the Garamundis who live just 30 days journey from the lotus eaters. They hunt the Ethiopian cave dwellers, they eat snakes, lizards and other reptiles and their language is very peculiar and sounds like screeching bats. In the region of the Garamundis there are oxen who walk backwards as they graze because they bend forward in such a way that they can't graze walking forward or else they'll get stuck in the ground. Our final entertaining tale from Herodotus's histories comes from book five in Macedon at the court of King Amyntas. The Persians arrived at the Macedonian court of Amyntas and they were invited to stay for dinner. Amyntas provided a magnificent feast and then afterwards the Persians said that their custom is to have their wives and concubines sit beside them and the Macedonians should really follow their custom. This was not the way that Amyntas and his court behaved for they kept their men and women separate but because the Persians were their masters and guests Amyntas agreed to accommodate their wishes. Amyntas had to order the women to sit beside the Persians who immediately started fondling the women. Amyntas couldn't leave due to his fear that the women would be molested but his son Alexandros couldn't contain himself and said to his father that he would take care of their guests. Amyntas warned Alexandros to do nothing that would lead to their destruction and then departed the scene. After Amyntas left Alexandros declared that they were drunk and the women had to bathe so let them bathe and then afterwards if they still wanted the women they would come back. The Persians agreed and so while the women headed to their quarters Alexandros found himself some smooth-faced young men to equal the number of women he had sent away. He dressed these young men up in women's clothing gave them each a dagger and brought them to the Persians. Alexandros seated each young Macedonian man in the costume of a woman beside a Persian and when the Persians tried to touch them the Macedonian men put their daggers to good use and killed them all. How reliable do you think ancient historians like Herodotus were and what are your favorite stories in Herodotus's works? Let us know in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on our new videos every Tuesday and Friday. 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