On Herodotus and the Greek Representation of Assyria
A short university essay on the topic.
Introduction
The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus are one of the most influential Greek histories ever written, admired and shunned by many. Herodotus wrote in the fifth century BCE and gathered traditions concerning wars, political events, geography and the customs of peoples throughout the world known to him. M. Cicero later named him the Father of History while, in the same passage, observing that his work contained innumerable fables:
quamquam et apud Herodotum patrem historiae… sunt innumerabiles fabulae (Cicero, Book I, 1959)
This tension remains important when approaching Herodotus as a source for Mesopotamia. He presents information which can at times be compared with other evidence, yet he also reports material that is difficult to verify and uses geographical and cultural categories which do not always correspond with those used by modern historians.
This essay will examine how Herodotus represents what he calls Assyria, with particular attention to geography, customs and women. The problem is not simply whether Herodotus was correct or incorrect. His use of “Assyria” itself requires caution, since he includes Babylon within this category. Herodotus derives his sense of authority from claiming that he himself had visited Babylon and had heard from a variety of sources (Momigliano, 1958). His account therefore remains useful both as evidence for certain aspects of Mesopotamian society and, perhaps more importantly, as evidence for the manner in which a Greek writer understood and represented the peoples of the East. I will consider where his reporting appears plausible, where it becomes doubtful, and where his own cultural assumptions may have affected the image that he produced.
Scholarly History
The Histories has gone through many translations and interpretations since antiquity. Fragments dating from the Roman period have been found among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, including P.Oxy.XVII 2099 (1927), demonstrating the continued transmission of the text. During the Renaissance Herodotus was translated into Latin by Lorenzo Valla, whose complete translation was published in 1474, and later Henry II Estienne defended Herodotus in his Apologia pro Herodoto (Humble, No Date). Estienne faced backlash from the Church for his French version of the Apology which was a satirical attack on the Catholic Church and was forced to remove some of the pages (Humble, No Date). Since the Renaissance, It has surged in demand and especially during the 19th and 20th century an increase in translations and publications occurred due to the fascination in the world of antiquity. The long history of criticism surrounding Herodotus is relevant because scholars have repeatedly questioned the boundary between historical inquiry and story within his work.
Greek Intellectual Culture in Antiquity
It is, thus, also imperative to understand the intellectual culture in Greece during the period that the Histories was written to fully comprehend the reliability and scope of the work. There is no foundations, that we know of, that Herodotus could have based his style of writing on due to the almost complete vanishment of any works that may have preceded Herodotus (Momigliano, 1958). Thucydides believed that Herodotus’ approach to history was incorrect and that the only true form and way of writing a historical work was by focusing on the contemporary, this in the words of Momigliano resulted in Herodotus being “cut off from the stream of ancient historiography” (Momigliano, 1958). The ancient intellectual writers of Greece and Rome criticised Herodotus for his approach towards writing the Histories. It could not always be verified from where he drew much of his knowledge, and this uncertainty contributed to accusations that he was a plagiarist or, as aforementioned by Cicero in my introduction, a writer of made up stories. I will be referring to this criticism, in context of Assyria, as I discuss and analyse the validity and significance of Herodotus’ Histories throughout the study.
Assyrian Geography
Geography is one of the more important elements in Herodotus’ representation of Assyria. It should be noted that Herodotus considers Babylon to be a city within Assyria1 (Herodotus, 1.178), a classification that does not correspond with the distinction modern historians make between Babylonia and Assyria; although other writers in antiquity could also use these terms in ways that differ from modern classifications (MacGinnis, 1986). It is therefore more useful to recognise that Herodotus’ “Assyria” is a Greek geographical category rather than to assume that it must correspond exactly with the political or ethnic boundaries reconstructed by modern Assyriology. Herodotus views Assyria as the old power of the Greek view of the East (Alonso-Núñez, 1988), from which later powers such as the Medians and Scythians emerge. The city of Is, modern day Hit, is mentioned as lying upon a tributary of the Euphrates river (Herodotus, 1.179) yet we know that this is an incorrect placement of the city as it does not lie upon a tributary (MacGinnis, 1986). This raises the question of whether Herodotus can be trusted as a source for Assyrian history when such a mistake is being made in the subject of geography when Herodotus claims to have visited the area. I do, however, account for the likelihood of Herodotus using companions, natives or slaves to gather information. His wording that the city is “eight days’ journey from Babylon” (Herodotus, 1.179) presents the possibility that he perhaps questioned a resident of Babylon about the city instead of travelling there himself. His account may preserve genuine local information while still transmitting misunderstandings.
Assyrian Customs
The clothing that is worn is described as that of a “linen tunic, reaching to the feet; over this…another tunic, of wool” (Herodotus, 1.195). MacGinnis suggests that the addition of a woollen tunic may indicate that Herodotus visited Babylon during winter (MacGinnis, 1986). For the most part, Herodotus is quite accurate in his portrayal of the Babylonians. Many people would have worn different styles of clothing and dressed in different manners, which makes it impossible to nail down one specific style. Herodotus, more than likely, recalled the variety of people he had seen and erected a general image in his mind of the average Assyrian cloth, perhaps attempting to make the reader see the similarities or simplicity of the Assyrian garment in comparison to that of the Greek.
Medicine was the “wisest of [Assyrian] customs” according to Herodotus (Herodotus, 1.197). In Herodotus’ account, there was no use for physicians in Assyria, at least for the common man. People were brought out into the marketplace so that all could approach the disease-struck person and advise upon a possible treatment or medicine to the disease. Those of higher status may have had access to more sophisticated treatments and even a form of doctor (MacGinnis, 1986). Although not directly, Herodotus may be contrasting this custom with Greek professional medicine; however, his description of it as the “wisest” custom complicates the argument that he is simply portraying Assyrian medicine as uneducated.
The burial practice of the Assyrians was to embalm them in honey and prepare rites for the dead (Herodotus, 1.198). Herodotus likens this to the Egyptian method of burial. MacGinnis points out that there is a likely chance that this was the case; there is both written and archaeological evidence of preserving the dead in honey (MacGinnis, 1986). As mentioned before, Herodotus may have interacted with locals of the area he was visiting. It is possible that he questioned locals about their burial practices, although it cannot be asserted from the account that he personally witnessed the occurrence of a burial.
Women in Assyrian Society
Women are represented in a very negative light by Herodotus. He introduces a sense of barbarity to how they are treated in the Assyrian world. Herodotus relies on this Greek idea of sexuality and the morality attached to it to, in a way, attack the customs of the Assyrians and portray them as barbaric and unmanly (Wenghofer, 2014). The marriage markets (Herodotus, 1.196) and custom of having intercourse with a stranger (Herodotus, 1.199) are especially supportive of this point. The marriage markets were held annually when women that reached the age of marriage were collected and brought to a market. At this market, men could bid on the women they wanted as wives, with the wealthiest usually bidding on the most attractive and vice versa. Herodotus’ account conveys that women were treated no better than a common slave sold at a slave market. To reinforce this negative picture, Herodotus adds that those in poverty prostituted their daughters for money. This is difficult to reconcile with what is known of the economic and social structure of the society at the time, where marriages were more strictly arranged around political, familial and economic factors (Wenghofer, 2014). The act of having intercourse with a stranger at least once is described as “the foulest Babylonian custom” by Herodotus; such language may encourage the Greek reader to associate Babylonian customs with foulness2. The woman could not refuse to perform the act with the first man that cast some money to her otherwise it would have been considered a sin. Later scholarship has also challenged the use of this passage as straightforward evidence for an established institution of sacred prostitution in the ancient Near East (Budin, 2008). The treatment of women presented is one of great degeneracy within the picture constructed by Herodotus, portraying the Assyrian peoples as worse than their Greek counterparts.
Conclusion
Thus, we must ask whether Herodotus’ representation of Assyrian history is accurate? It is not entirely accurate due to his inherent confusion with the peoples of Babylon, Assyria and surrounding areas. Nevertheless, parts of his historical reporting on the customs and geography of the area appear to be accurate. The exaggeration of marriage customs and treatment of sexuality comes across as a mockery of the Assyrians and can reinforce an idea of Greek cultural superiority. Herodotus is full of subtleties that expose his Greek-orientated mindset while writing on the topic. It is, however, unsurprising that a writer during a period in which Persian power remained central to Greek historical memory would write about the peoples of the East through a Greek cultural framework. Overall, it is clear why the source has drawn so much criticism and analysis as the reader is compelled to question it at every step of the way. A further dive into the topic would be welcomed.
References
Alonso-Núñez, J. M. (1988). Herodotus’ Ideas About World, 19, 125–133. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44080183
Budin, S. L. (2008). The Myth of Sacred Prostitution in Antiquity. Cambridge University Press.
M. Cicero. (1959). De Legibus. Georges de Plinval. Belles Lettres. Paris.
Herodotus. (1920). Histories. English translation by A.D. Godley. Harvard University Press. Cambridge.
Herodotus. (1927). P.Oxy.XVII 2099. ed. A. S. Hunt.
Humble, N. (No Date). The 1592 Edition of Herodotus’ Histories edited and printed by Henry II Estienne in Geneva. Reading East. https://www.ucd.ie/readingeast/essay1.html
MacGinnis, J. (1986). Herodotus’ Description of Babylon. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 33, 67–86. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43646520
Momigliano, A. (1958). The Place of Herodotus in the History of Historiography. History, 43(147), 1–5. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24404038
Wenghofer, R. (2014). Sexual Promiscuity of Non-Greeks in Herodotus’ “Histories.” The Classical World, 107(4), 515–534. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24699733