Balance in Herodotus' HISTORIES
Date of Award
2009
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Shaw, Carl
Keywords
Herodotus, Athens, Interpretation, Persia, Histories, Balance
Area of Concentration
Classics
Abstract
Balance is an important concept in Herodotus' Histories. I use it in my thesis as a broad umbrella term, which covers changes of fortune, mirroring, opposition and retribution. Balance is a cosmic law within the Histories, where every action has a karma-like reaction in order to maintain this balance. Herodotus sets up this theme in his preface to the Histories when referring to cities, "For most of those which were great once are small today; and those which used to be small were great in my own time. Knowing, therefore, that human prosperity never abides long in the same place, I shall pay attention to both alike." With this in mind I examine how this theme of balance influences the natural world of the Histories: the animal kingdom, geography, and ethnography. From here I narrow my focus to how balance plays out on the individual level by examining Croesus and Cyrus in Book One. Examining how balance played out in the events of their lives, I show that each of their lives reflects the experience of the other. Then I broaden my scope to see how balance works in the societal level by examining how the Athenian and Persian empire reflect each other, much like Croesus and Cyrus. My final conclusion is that there are many examples of balance throughout the work and my analysis of the Histories shows that this balance has a broader function of providing examples to the Athenian audience, so that they do not meet the same fate that the Persians did.
Recommended Citation
McGrath, Ana, "Balance in Herodotus' HISTORIES" (2009). Theses & ETDs. 4151.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/4151
Rights
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