Book 4: Herodotus’ Histories
Due: October 12.
[Illustration: Life-size bull made of silver sheets with
gilding on the head and ‘elsewhere’. Votive offering at Apollo Sanctuary,
Delphi. 6th century BCE. Delphi Museum]
Note: Today’s reading assignment
is the first 144 sections of book 4, pages 234-283 in Robin Waterfield’s
translation. I encourage you to read the rest of this book, on Libya, but
the following questions only cover the Scythians and Darius’ campaign against
them.
0. Where did the Scythians live? (Maps A and H). What territories are
nearby? What rivers are there?
1. Why do the Scythians blind their slaves? (4.1-2, and note).
2. How did the Scythians defeat the revolt of the slave descendants?
(4. 3-4)
3. Why did Darius want to invade Scythia? (4.1-4)
4. What is the first of the stories about the origins of the Scythians
which Herodotus tells? What is a SAGARIS? (4.5, and “Glossary of Foreign
Words Used by Herodotus”, p. 743)
5. What is the second of the stories about the origins of the Scythians
which Herodotus tells? (4.8-10)
6. What is the third of the stories about the origins of the Scythians
which Herodotus tells? (4.11-15)
7. What was the unusual story of Aristeas the son of Caystrobus, from
Proconnesus? (4.13-15)
8. How has archaeology given some confirmation to Herodotus’ account
of Cannibals near Scythia? (4.18 and note, p. 648)
9. What kind of life did the Argippaei have? (4.23 and note, p. 648)
10. What are some customs of the Issedones? (4.26)
11. What does Herodotus say about the severe winters of the far north?
(4. 28-31)
12. What does Herodotus say about the Hyperboreans and Hypernotians?
(4.32-36, and note p. 648-49)
13. What does Herodotus say about the earth-encircling ‘river’ Ocean?
(4.8 and 4.36, and note, p. 649)
14. Herodotus calls Africa “Libya”. How does he know that it
is surrounded by water, except where it joins with Asia? (4.42-43)
15. How did Darius the Persian king attempt to find out whether the Indus
River flows into the sea? (4.44, and note, p. 650)
16. What does Herodotus say about the origins of the three continents
Asia, Libya (Africa) and Europe? (4.45)
17. What is the most important matter in human life that the Scythians
have found a solution to? (4. 46)
18. Where do the most ignorant peoples in the world live, and who is
an exception to this? (4.46)
19. What does Herodotus say about
Scythian religious practices? (4.59-63, and note, p. 651)
20. What are Scythian war customs? (4.64-66, and note, p. 651)
21. How do Scythian diviners do their work? (4.67-69, and note, p. 652)
22. How do the Scythians swear oaths? (4.70) 26. How do the Scythians
bury their kings, and how does what Herodotus says square with archaeological
finds? (4.71-72, and note, p. 652)
23. What does Herodotus say about the Scythian attitude towards adopting
customs from other peoples? What examples does he give? (4.76-80, and note,
page 653)
24. What does Herodotus say about Artabanus’ advice to Darius about the
Scythian invasion? (4.83)
25. What preparations did Darius make before crossing the Hellespont
into Europe? What does Waterfield think about the numbers of his troops,
as Herodotus reports them? (4. 83-88, note, p. 654)
26. Why does Darius change his mind about dismantling the pontoon bridge?
What does he decide to do instead? (4.97-98)
27. Which of the Taurian customs relates to Agamemnon’s daughter? Which
daughter is this? What play by Euripides refers to this idea? (4.103, and
note, p. 655)
28. What does Herodotus say about Neurian werewolves, and how does A.
Ivantchik rationalize the notion? (4.105 and note, p. 655)
29. How did the remote Budinians come to have sanctuaries to the Greek
gods? (4.108)
30. Who were the Amazons, and how did they come to marry Scythian husbands?
What were their customs like? (4.110-117)
31. When the Scythians saw that they could not get the allies they wanted
from among their neighbors, what strategy did they adopt against Darius?
What parallel with a campaign by Napoleon does Waterfield point out? (4.120-130,
note, page 657)
32. Why did the Scythians send a bird, mouse, frog, and five arrows to
Darius? (4.131-133)
33. Why does Darius decide to leave Scythia, and what does a hare hunt
have to do with this decision? (4.134-135)
34. How did the Ionians guarding Darius’ bridge cleverly escape the wrath
of both the Scythians and the Persian King? (4.136-142)
35. What were the roles of Histiaeus and Miltiades in the debate about
what to do about Darius’ bridge? (4.137-139)
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