Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Shaw, Carl

Keywords

Herodotus, Oracle, Homer, Hesiod, History, Archaic, Delphi, Velphic

Area of Concentration

Classics

Abstract

Herodotus was a fifth-century writer who produced The Histories. He is considered the "Father of History", and his work is likewise considered the first text of the genre "history". This new genre had to borrow conventions from earlier texts, and also establish new ones. This thesis will make several arguments about those conventions, especially the convention of Herodotus's persistent first-person voice. In the first chapter, close-reading of the text will show that Herodotus uses the authority and knowledge of the Oracle at Delphi as a model for his own authoritative voice. It is argued that Herodotus also models his "wise-advisers" off the Oracle. In the second chapter, it will be shown how Herodotus aligns himself in importance with Homer and Hesiod, the two great archaic poets. It will also be shown that Hesiod, more likely than Homer, established the convention of persistent and authorital first-person voice. The last chapter argues a pessimistic view of both the "didactic interpretation" of Herodotus and the efficacy of "wise-advisers" and their oracle-like power.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida Libraries, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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