Where Herodotus visited and what he discovered. Herodotus - biography of a traveler
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Herodotus (about 480 - about 428 BC) is an outstanding Greek geographer, historian and traveler of antiquity.
He was born in the city of Halicarnassus, on the coast of Asia Minor. He lived in an era when Greece was at war with Persia. Herodotus decided to write the history of the Greek-Persian wars.
And tell in this story about life and the nature of the population in the countries that were under Persian rule at that time. In 460 - 450 BC e. Herodotus' travels took place.
He visited the countries of the Balkan Peninsula and cities on the Malaya coast. Herodotus made a long journey to Scythia, the southern region.
Despite the fact that the Greeks traded with Scythia, it was little known to them until Herodotus. Scythia surprised the scientist with its huge pastures and plains.
The Scythian winter, which lasted several months, seemed harsh to him. He wrote that water spilled in Scythia in winter does not make mud, that is, it freezes. Summer also seemed cold and rainy to him.
The huge rivers of Scythia impressed Herodotus - Borysthenes (Dnieper), Tanais (Don), Hypanis (Southern Bug) and others.
Herodotus knew from childhood that rivers originate in the mountains, but there are no mountains in Scythia.
These rivers, in his opinion, had to begin in unknown large lakes. The tribes inhabiting Scythia and its neighboring territories were of particular interest to Herodotus. The Scythians, living in the steppe and partially forest-steppe zones, were divided into cattle breeders and farmers.
About the peoples who lived in the northeast and north of the Scythians, Herodotus collected very interesting, sometimes even semi-fantastic information.
He learned about the hunters - Tessagets and Irks, who inhabited the "rocky and uneven land" (in all likelihood, this is near the Urals), and about dense forests in which otters, beavers and other fur-bearing animals live. Next lived the Agripean tribes, near the foot of the high and inaccessible mountains.
They had flat faces with large chins and shaved heads. Herodotus learned that even further away there were settlements of the Arimaspians - one-eyed people.
There is a lot of gold there, but vultures guard it. Vultures are lion-like monsters with eagle beaks and wings. Beyond Scythia in the Far North, there are uninhabited lands. It’s very cold there, it’s always cold, and it’s night for half a year.
Herodotus went to the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus from Scythia. He learned from the inhabitants of Colchis that there is a huge sea (Caspian) behind the mountains, and beyond the sea there is a wide plain. The Masagets live there - warlike tribes.
Before Herodotus, the Greeks represented the Caspian Sea as a backwater, and did not know what was further to the east. After Herodotus returned home, after some time he again set off on a new journey. This journey was to the Mesopotamian lowland and to the interior regions of the Asia Minor peninsula.
Herodotus described Babylon with its luxurious terraced gardens, huge library and large stone steras. Herodotus learned a lot about “the most remote of the Eastern countries” in Babylon.
He was told that a lot of gold is mined in India. And also that in India there are still many amazing plants: cereal, the grains of which are “cooked and eaten together with the shell” (rice), cane, bamboo, from one knee of which it seems like you can make a boat; trees with fruits in the form of a ball of wool - the people of India use it to make clothes for themselves.
Herodotus spent a lot of time in Egypt. He visited the famous Sphinx and pyramids, in local cities, and climbed the Nile to Siena (modern Aswan).
Herodotus also highlighted the features of the nature of Egypt: the absence of rain and clouds, the flood and rise of the Nile water in the hottest time of the year, animals unknown in Asia Minor and Greece (hippopotamuses, crocodiles, birds, fish).
The cities of Northern Libya (Africa) were visited by Herodotus after Egypt. There he collected interesting information about the inhabitants of oases in the desert zone and about the inhabitants of the northern part of the African continent.
That's all, this was the most interesting thing in the life of the ancient Greek scientist. Come back to find new articles😉
Herodotus
One of the first learned travelers was Herodotus, who, according to Cicero, is"father of history" Herodotus was born around 484 BC in the Asia Minor city of Halicarnassus. He came from a rich and noble family with extensive trading connections. At a young age, due to political turmoil, he left his hometown and lived on the island of Samos. Disillusioned with politics, Herodotus began to become interested in the history of his people and, above all, mythology. Many researchers believe that it was the desire to visit the places where Hercules performed his exploits that prompted Herodotus to travel. Coming from a wealthy family, Herodotus did not need money.
He traveled all over Greece and Asia Minor, then sailed to the Phoenician city of Tire. Most of all, Herodotus was attracted to the East and its rich cultural heritage. Herodotus traveled through Libya, visited Babylon, but he was especially struck by Egypt, where he stayed for three months. In Egypt, he asked the inscriptions to be translated for him, asking the priests about the history of this state. He was interested not only in the life of the pharaohs, but also visited embalmers' workshops. He measured the length of the perimeter of the base of the pyramids in steps, making specific mathematical calculations. Returning to Greece, Herodotus shared his knowledge with his compatriots. This was his first trip.
Herodotus's second journey passed through Asia Minor, from where he arrived by ship to the Northern Black Sea region, through the Helespont to the Milesian colony of Olbia at the mouth of the Dnieper-Bug estuary. There he met with the nomadic tribes of the Scythians, observed their customs and rituals, and studied their social system.
Herodotus devoted his third journey to studying the Balkan Peninsula. He traveled around the Peloponnese, the islands of the Aegean Sea (Delos, Pharos, Zakif and others), then traveled through southern Italy and the north of the Balkan Peninsula.
Herodotus traveled for 10 years (from 455 to 445 BC), and outlined all his observations in 9 books, each of which was named after one of the muses. In his famous work “History,” Herodotus described not only the history of many peoples, but also ethnographic signs, i.e. description of facial features, skin color, type of clothing, way of life, rituals, folk signs, general way of life, etc.
Herodotus's "History" intricately combines his personal observations, real information about distant countries obtained in his travels, with a retelling of mythological events. Herodotus is distrustful of stories about people with goat legs or werewolves from the Neuroi tribe, but he quite seriously describes the giant gold-mining ants from the Indian desert. Herodotus also did not believe the testimony of the Phoenicians, who circumnavigated the African continent, that during the voyage the sun turned out to be on their right side.
Despite the existing inaccuracies, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of Herodotus’ work. He collected many ancient ideas about the world, described the geography of many countries, the life of different peoples.
Only fragments of his writings have reached us, but the main thing is that Herodotus has the glory of the first Greek tourist, since, unlike his predecessors, he traveled not to achieve some other goals, but for the sake of the journey itself, i.e. for the sake of pleasure, to satisfy one’s own inquisitiveness and curiosity.
Herodotus believed that the clearest example of a traveling people were the Etruscans, or, as the Greeks called them, Tyrrhenians or Tyrsenians - people from the state of Lydia, located on the territory of Asia Minor. The name of the legendary Etruscan prince Tyrsenus was preserved in the name of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Returning as a young man to his homeland, Halicarnassus, the famous traveler took part in the popular movement against the tyrant Lygdamis and contributed to his overthrow. In 444 BC, Herodotus attended the Panathenaic festivals and read excerpts from the description of his travels there, causing general delight. At the end of his life, he retired to Italy, to Turium, where he died around 425 BC, leaving behind him the fame of a famous traveler and an even more famous historian.
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(c. 484 BC – c. 425 BC)
Ancient Greek historian, born at Halicarnassus in Caria around 484 BC. e., died around 425 BC. e., can be considered the first travel scientist. In order to write the most complete historical work possible, he traveled to all the famous countries of his time: Asia Minor, Babylon and Persia to Ecbatana (now Hamadan), the entire Black Sea region up to the Crimea (Chersonese), the West to Sicily and Italy, southern Egypt to Elephantine. For that time, this was an amazing scale of travel. He found his second home in Athens, where he was closely associated with Pericles and Sophocles. Based on what he saw and questioning information, he gave the first general description of the then known world. Although he had errors and internal contradictions, many of his data were confirmed by later research. The greatest confusion was caused by his data about the Nile, which, in his opinion, comes from the far West, which, until the final clarification of the issue in the 19th century, led to the assumption of a relationship between the Nile and Niger. The Russian translation of the works of Herodotus belongs to F. G. Mishchenko: “History in nine books”, vol. 1-2, 2nd ed. M., 1888.
Bibliography
- 300 travelers and explorers. Biographical Dictionary. – Moscow: Mysl, 1966. – 271 p.
The geographical ideas of Hecataeus were ridiculed by another great ancient Greek scientist, Herodotus. The extensive work, written by him while he lived in Italy, contains the history of the struggle of the Greeks with the barbarians and ends with a description of the revolt of the inhabitants of Ionia against the Persians and the capture of the Hellespont by the Greeks (480-479 BC). But his narrative contains countless digressions devoted to describing the places he visited and the customs of the people he saw there. In the 5th century BC e. there were no professions of historian, geographer or astronomer, and there were no corresponding professional associations. There were no scientific societies or academies. Herodotus is generally characterized as the first great historian and his work as a literary masterpiece of ancient Greek prose. However, he is considered a historian mainly because there are more historians than geographers: after all, it is easy to prove that a significant part of his work is devoted to geography. In essence, the work of Herodotus is associated in our minds with the very old idea that history should be interpreted geographically, and geography historically. It is Herodotus who is credited with the phrase that geography is “the handmaiden of history.” Herodotus left us some excellent examples of research in the field that we now call historical geography, that is, the reconstruction of past geographical reality and the tracing of geographical changes over time. But Herodotus is also known as the “father of ethnography.” He is called so because he convincingly and vividly described the traditions of peoples unfamiliar to the ancient Greeks.
The geographical information in Herodotus's work was based on his own observations made during many years of travel. The Mediterranean coast in a western direction was known to him all the way to southern Italy, where he lived in the last years of his life. Through the straits he sailed to the Pont Euxine (Black Sea), reaching the mouth of the Istra (Danube). From there he made a multi-day journey through the steppes along the Don Valley. In the east, in the Persian kingdom, he knew many areas; he visited Susa and Babylon. I was in Egypt many times and sailed up the Nile all the way to the first cataract at Elephantine (Aswan).
Describing Egypt, Herodotus expressed his disagreement with the traditionally drawn border between Asia (the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea) and Libya (the southern coast) along the Nile River, as was the case with Hecataeus. The Nile Valley, he argued, is composed of silt brought by the river from Ethiopia. This silt is dark in color and can be easily plowed. All this makes it completely different from the light clays of Syria or the red sands of Libya. He further said that Egypt is inhabited by Egyptians who do not become Asians or Libyans because they live on different banks of the Nile. Libya, Herodotus argued, is located west of Egypt. This controversy represents one of the earliest discussions of regional boundaries and contains many arguments that have been used again and again by subsequent generations of scholars.
Herodotus was well aware of some of the natural processes occurring on Earth. To support the hypothesis that the Nile silt, deposited in the Mediterranean Sea, created the delta of this river, he used the method of historical geography. Having reconstructed the ancient coastline, he showed that many cities that were early ports are now located far from the coast. The process of delta formation, Herodotus said, can be observed in many places, for example, in the floodplain of the Meander River near Miletus. He also pointed out that winds blow from cold places to warmer ones. Thus, back in the 5th century. BC e. Herodotus was able to explain the process of delta formation and establish the relationship between air temperature and wind direction.
Not all of Herodotus’s explanations can be accepted from the standpoint of modern knowledge, but even those that are now recognized as erroneous are distinguished by the logic of evidence. Like all ancient Greek geographers, Herodotus was intrigued by the regularity with which the summer floods occurred on the Nile. The waters of this river, rising suddenly in mid-May, reached their maximum in September; then the flood gradually subsided, and in April or early May the Nile level became lowest. Since all other rivers known to the Greeks, including the Tigris and Euphrates, experienced high water from November to May, and low water in the summer, all students of geography, perplexed, asked the question: what is the reason for the unusual behavior of the Nile?
First of all, Herodotus analyzed the explanations put forward by other scientists and rejected them. For example, he found untenable the idea that a strong north wind blowing in winter (aethesium) drives water upstream in the Nile, and then it returns to form a flood. He argued his disagreement with this hypothesis by the fact that, regardless of this wind, high water and low water occur regularly; in addition, on other rivers, where the wind also pushes water upstream, such floods do not form. He also rejected the idea that the Nile floods were caused by melting snow in Ethiopia, on the grounds that this country is located closer to the equator than Egypt. After all, if snow never falls in Egypt, how can it fall in Ethiopia?
His own hypothesis was ingenious and well illustrated the use of logic in the theoretical constructions of ancient Greek thinkers. Like all ancient Greek scientists, Herodotus shared the idea of a fundamental law postulating the symmetry of the structure of the world. The Ister, as it seemed to him, originated near the western coast of Europe and flowed first to the east, and then turned south, bypassing the Pontus Euxine, the Hellespont and the Aegean Sea, to the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile, in accordance with the law of symmetry, had to follow a similar course: starting near the western coast of those lands that then became known as Libya, it carried its waters to the east, and then turned to the Mediterranean Sea, crossing Egypt in a northern direction. In winter, Herodotus continued, cold northern winds forced the sun to move along a more southern path that lay directly over the upper Nile valley. The intense heat caused by the sun at its zenith caused intense evaporation of river water, which is why in winter the level of the Nile was the lowest. In the summer, when the Sun returned to its usual path “through the middle heavens,” the volume of water increased again, since downstream the Nile crossed the direction of the Sun’s movement at a right angle, which contributed to less evaporation. Since this explanation was consistent both with ideas about symmetry and with direct observations of the onset of floods, it was generally accepted by scientists of that time.
Herodotus also expressed disagreement with those thinkers who lived before him who doubted the existence of an ocean surrounding the earth's firmament. Some of them argued that there is no ocean south of Libya. But Herodotus, from conversations with Egyptian priests, learned about the result of the Phoenician expedition, equipped by order of Pharaoh Necho II (he ruled Egypt from 610 to 594 BC) to sail on ships along the southern coast of Libya. The Phoenician ships, he said, having passed through the Red Sea, sailed further south along the coast of the continent. In order to replenish food supplies, they stopped from time to time, sowed cereals, waited for them to ripen and harvested them. It took them three years to sail around the southern tip of Libya. Then they turned north, sailed along its western shores and finally returned to the Mediterranean Sea through the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar). This expedition proved that land is completely surrounded by water. Then Herodotus points out a circumstance that seems incredible to him, but “others may believe,” namely: at the time when the Phoenicians were at the southernmost part of Libya, sailing to the west, the Sun was located on their right hand. This observation made many scientists after Herodotus doubt the reality of the circumcontinental voyage carried out by the Phoenicians. Nowadays, the possibility of such a journey is generally accepted, but in order to put an end to many years of doubt, modern historical geographers tried to find a plausible explanation for the fact indicated by Herodotus. In particular, it is suggested that several Phoenician ships, having found themselves in the western equatorial current, were carried south of the equator and crossed the Atlantic Ocean in its relatively narrow part, reaching the northeastern coast of Brazil.
Bibliography
- James P. All possible worlds / P. James, J. Martin / Ed. and with afterword A. G. Isachenko. – Moscow: Progress, 1988. – 672 p.
(c. 484 – c. 425 BC)
Ancient Greek historian, nicknamed the "father of history." One of the first scientific travelers. To write his famous “History” he traveled to all the famous countries of his time: Greece, Southern Italy, Asia Minor, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, visited most of the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, visited the Black Sea, the Crimea (up to Chersonesos) and the country of the Scythians . The author of works devoted to the description of the Greco-Persian wars outlining the history of the Achaemenid state, Egypt, etc., gave the first description of the life and everyday life of the Scythians.
Herodotus is called the father of history. It would be no less fair to call him the father of geography. In the famous "History" he presented to his readers the entire Old World - known, unknown, and sometimes fictional - all three old countries of the world that were known to him. He's writing: “However, I don’t understand why the same land is given three different names.” The three names are Europe, Asia and Libya, meaning Africa. America will be discovered in the 15th century.
Herodotus was born around 484 BC in the Asia Minor city of Halicarnassus. He came from a rich and noble family with extensive trading connections.
In 464 he goes on a journey. Herodotus dreams of learning about other, much more powerful peoples, some of which had a civilization much more ancient than the Greeks. In addition, he is fascinated by the diversity and outlandishness of the customs of a foreign world. This is what prompted him to preface the history of the Persian wars with an extensive study of all the peoples who attacked Greece, about which the Greeks at that time still knew little.
The route of his Egyptian journey, which took place entirely during the period of the Nile flood, has been restored. He climbed up the Nile to Elephantine (Aswan), the extreme border of Ancient Egypt, passing close to the first cataract. This is a thousand kilometers of travel. In the east, he reached at least Babylon, two thousand kilometers from the Aegean Sea, and it is even possible that he reached Susa, but this is only an assumption. In the north, Herodotus visited the Greek colonies established on the Black Sea coast, in what is now Ukraine. It is even possible that he climbed up the lower reaches of one of the large rivers of the Ukrainian steppes, namely the Dnieper, or Borysthenes, all the way to the Kyiv region. Finally, in the west, Herodotus visited southern Italy, where he took part in the founding of a Greek colony. He visited what is now Cyrenaica and, no doubt, what is now Tripolitania.
Readers who knew almost nothing about the countries from which he was returning could be told anything, but Herodotus did not succumb to this temptation into which all other travelers fell. He traveled a lot. He traveled to very distant lands to obtain verified information. He explored the land with his own eyes and his own feet, undoubtedly rode a lot on horseback or on a donkey, and often sailed in boats.
In Egypt, he enters an embalmer's workshop and inquires about all the details of his craft and the cost of various procedures. In temples, he asks the inscriptions to be translated for him, asks the priests about the history of the pharaohs. He attends the religious festivals of the Egyptians, admires the colorful clothes and the shape of their hairstyles. Finding himself at the pyramids, he measures their bases with steps and is not at all mistaken in these calculations. But when he needs to determine the height by eye, he makes significant mistakes. This applies to all those countries where he has visited, and to those very many places where he has not been, since he relies on the stories of travelers, Greeks and barbarians whom he met in one tavern or another...
Herodotus began his “around the world” journey from Babylonia, where he saw the great city of Babylon. Its walls, he says, are square-shaped. He indicates the length of one of the sides of the square - according to this figure, the length of the entire perimeter would be eighty-five kilometers. The figure is greatly exaggerated. The perimeter of the walls of Babylon barely reached twenty kilometers. Herodotus, however, mentions that in his time the city walls were demolished by Darius. Ruins of masonry remained. Herodotus was interested in how it was made. It was explained to him that the wall was made of brick, and every thirty rows of bricks a layer of woven reed was placed in the mountain resin that held them together. Traces of this reed, imprinted in mountain resin, are still visible in the ruins of the Babylonian wall.
Herodotus describes Babylon as a very large city. It was the largest city he had seen, and the most grandiose in the ancient world of that era. He talks about straight streets intersecting at right angles. He admires houses with three and four floors, unprecedented in his country. He knows about the two parallel walls built by Nebuchadnezzar. The total thickness of these long walls reached thirty meters. Here, for the only time, Herodotus downplayed the actual dimensions, calling the figure twenty-five meters. He gives the city a hundred gates, and here he is mistaken, it is only in legends that cities have a hundred gates. He, however, could not count them himself, because the wall was half demolished, as he himself mentions.
Having studied Babylon, Herodotus went to Persia. Since the purpose of his trip was to collect accurate information about the long Greco-Persian wars, he visited the places where these wars took place in order to obtain on the spot all the details he needed. Herodotus begins this part of his history with a description of the customs of the Persians. They, unlike other peoples, did not give their gods a human form, did not erect either temples or altars in their honor, content with performing religious rites on the tops of the mountains.
Next, Herodotus speaks about the life and morals of the Persians. They have an aversion to meat, a love of fruit, and a passion for wine; they show interest in foreign customs, love pleasure, value military valor, take raising children seriously, respect the right to life of everyone, even a slave; they hate lies and debts, and they despise lepers. The disease of leprosy serves as proof for them that “the unfortunate person has sinned against the Sun.”
Herodotus owns the first description of Scythia and the peoples inhabiting it that has come down to us, compiled partly from personal observations, but mainly from inquiries from knowledgeable persons among the local Greek colonists (there is no evidence that Herodotus visited the Crimean, and especially the Azov cities ). Herodotus begins his characterization of the Scythian rivers with the Istra, which "flows through all of Europe, beginning in the land of the Celts." He considers the Ister to be the greatest river known, and always full of water, summer and winter. After the Istra, the largest river is the Borysthenes. Herodotus correctly points out that it flows from the north, but says nothing about the Dnieper rapids, therefore, does not know about them. “Near the sea, the Borysthenes is already a powerful river. Here it is joined by the Gipanis [Southern Bug], which flows into the same [Dnieper] estuary.”(The Black Sea Greeks also called Kuban hypanis.)
The forest region of Hylaea adjoined the left bank of the lower Borysthenes. Before her lived the Scythian farmers, behind her lived the Scythian nomads, who occupied the territory to the east for 10 days' journey to the Guerra (Konskaya) River. Behind it, according to Herodotus, lay the lands of the most powerful Scythian tribe - the royal ones. In the south, their territory reached the Crimea, and in the east - the Tanais (Don) River, flowing from the north "from the big lake" and flowing" into an even bigger lake" Meotida (Sea of Azov); Herodotus also knows the main tributary of the Don - Sirgis (Seversky Donets). The Don ended the country inhabited by the Scythians. Beyond the Don lived, according to Herodotus, the Sauromatians (Sarmatians), whose language, as has now been proven, was related to the Scythians: both belonged to the North Iranian language group. The Sarmatians occupied the steppe, starting from the mouth of the Don, towards the north.
The traveler conveys many myths about the origin of the Scythian people; in these myths, a large role is given to Hercules. He ends his description of Scythia with a story about the marriages of Scythians with warlike women from the Amazon tribe, which, in his opinion, can explain the Scythian custom that a girl cannot get married until she kills an enemy.
What Herodotus describes especially vividly is the great ingenuity of the Scythians in everything that relates to the ability to repel invasions. This ingenuity lies in the ability to retreat before attackers, in the ability to not allow oneself to be overtaken when this is undesirable, in luring the enemy deep into the vast plains until the moment when it is possible to engage him in battle. The Scythians in this tactic were greatly favored not only by the natural conditions of the country - a vast plain, densely overgrown with grass, but also by the deep rivers crossing it, which represented excellent lines of resistance. Herodotus lists these rivers and some of their tributaries from the Danube to the Don.
The Nile, with its mystery of periodic fertilizing floods, with the mystery of its unknown sources, is a miracle for a Greek who knows only his rivers, swollen after spring thunderstorms and drying up in the summer.
Herodotus undoubtedly circumnavigated the entire western shores of the Black Sea from the mouth of the Dniester to the Bosporus and probably most of the coast of the Balkan Peninsula (except the Adriatic), covering a total of about 3,000 kilometers. But it is unknown when and how he traveled. He knows the southern coast of Pashaeli (the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara) quite well, and gives a correct description of the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Hellespont. He traveled around the northern and western coasts of the Aegean Sea and provided information about the Gallipoli Peninsula. To the north of it, beyond the “Black” (Saros) Gulf, lies the coast of Thrace - "a vast plain,<...>along which the great river Gebr [Maritsa] flows."
Herodotus circumnavigated the Chalkidiki peninsula with its three protrusions: Athos (Agion Oros), Sithonia and Kasandra. Tracing the path of the Persian fleet, he visited the gulfs of Singitikos, Kasandra and Thermaikos, into which Heidor (Helikos), Aksii (Vardar) and Aliakmon flow; off the western coast of the Thermaikos Gulf, he noted three mountain ranges: Pieria, Olympus and Osa. Herodotus examined the Aegean coast south of Osa and explored Euboea - "a big rich island, no smaller than Cyprus." He described the shore along the Evvoikos Strait, "where the tides ebb and flow all day long", and climbed the Parnassus massif, "...the top (of which)... represents a convenient shelter for a large detachment...". He walked around three gulfs of the Peloponnese and reported on its two southern ridges. But Herodotus says very little about the western coast of the Balkan Peninsula, where the Persians did not reach.
So, Herodotus gave the first cursory but correct indications that have reached us on the topography of the Peloponnese and the eastern coast of the Balkan Peninsula. He did not touch upon its internal areas: information about them, very meager, was obtained through surveys.
Herodotus' travels also covered North-East Africa: he visited Cyrene, and in 448 or 447 BC. climbed the Nile to the island of Elephantine. His description of this part of the continent - a mixture of survey information and personal impressions - is the first characteristic of the relief and hydrography of Ancient Egypt and the territories to the west of it. He correctly points out that up to 30° N. latitude. Egypt is located in a lowland rich in water. To the north, the country narrows: from the east it is limited by the “Arabian Mountains” (Herodotus’s “Arabian Mountains” is the Arabian Desert located in Africa. Along the coast of the Red Sea stretches the Etbay ridge, divided into a number of peaked massifs), which "stretch continuously from north to south" for 900 kilometers, and from the west - rocky and "deeply buried mountains in shifting sand"(Herodotus quotes Homer here: the sands of the northern part of the Libyan Desert form dunes up to 300 meters high). The eastern part of Libya, inhabited by nomads, - "low and sandy" to Lake Tritonida (Shott Jerid); the western part, occupied by farmers, "mountainous [and] wooded"(Atlas Mountains). Using information from Egyptian priests, he gives the first description of the Sahara: south of the low-lying coast between Egypt and Gibraltar lies a hilly sandy desert.
Of all the countries he saw, Egypt, of course, most fully embodied the combination of history and geography that he wanted to see as authentic and at the same time wonderful. Herodotus seeks to unravel the double mystery of the sources and floods of the Nile. He tried to gather reliable information, but learned very little. Interpreting this news, he gives the upper Nile a latitudinal flow direction, i.e., he transfers information about the Niger River to the Nile, confident that every large river with crocodiles is the Nile. Herodotus was the first to give brief reliable information about Kush - the country "long-lasting Ethiopians"(ancient kingdom of Sudan).
In Egypt there are many strange and sacred animals that arouse Herodotus' curiosity. He loves writing descriptions of animals. The famous description of the crocodile: “The customs of crocodiles are as follows: this four-legged amphibian animal does not eat anything during the harshest four winter months; it lays and hatches its eggs on land, spends most of the day on land, and lives the whole night in the river, because water is warmer than in the open air during dew. This is the only animal known to us that from very small becomes very large. Indeed, the eggs of a crocodile are only slightly larger than those of a goose, a newborn is the size of an egg, and with age it increases to seventeen cubits and even larger. It has pig's eyes, large teeth and fangs corresponding to the size of the whole body. This is the only animal that does not have a tongue. The crocodile does not move its lower jaw, and of all animals it is the only one that lowers the upper jaw onto the lower one; its claws are strong, and the skin is scaly, impenetrable on the back. In the water he is blind, but in the open air he has acute vision. Since he usually lives in the water, his mouth is always full of leeches. All birds and animals avoid the crocodile; He lives in harmony with one plover, because he uses her services, namely: when a crocodile comes out of the water onto land, he opens his mouth - almost always towards the west wind, the plover enters his mouth and devours leeches. This gives the crocodile pleasure and does not harm the plover."
In exotic fauna, he is interested partly in the strangeness of the appearance and behavior of animals, but even more in the nature of the connections that have arisen between humans and animals. This relationship is much closer in Egypt than in Greece, and imposes unusual obligations on a person. Herodotus ponders the "contract" concluded by the Egyptian with the cat, the ibis and the crocodile, and his research allows him to make astonishing discoveries not about the animal, but about man.
The traveler takes extraordinary pleasure in collecting information about strange rites. His picture of Egypt, however wonderful or incomplete it may be, is nevertheless generally confirmed by modern historians, or, in any case, considered plausible by them.
Listing the peoples living in Libya, Herodotus mentions the shepherd tribes wandering along the coast of Africa, and also names the Ammonians, who live in the interior of the country, in places abounding in wild beasts. The Ammonians built the famous temple of Zeus of Ammon, the ruins of which were discovered in the northeast of the Libyan Desert, five hundred kilometers from the city of Cairo. He also describes in detail the customs and morals of the Libyans and reports what animals are found in this country: snakes of terrible size, lions, elephants, horned donkeys (probably rhinoceroses), baboon monkeys - “headless animals with eyes on their chests”, foxes , hyenas, porcupines, wild sheep, panthers, etc.
According to Herodotus, Libya is inhabited by two peoples: Libyans and Ethiopians. But did he really travel through this country? Historians doubt this. Most likely, he wrote down many of the details from the words of the Egyptians. But there is no doubt that he really sailed to the city of Tyre, in Phenicia, since here he gives quite accurate descriptions. In addition, Herodotus collected information from which he compiled a brief description of Syria and Palestine.
Returning as a young man to his homeland, Halicarnassus, the famous traveler took part in the popular movement against the tyrant Lygdamis and contributed to his overthrow. In 444 BC, Herodotus attended the Panathenaic festivals and read excerpts from the description of his travels there, causing general delight. At the end of his life, he retired to Italy, to Turium, where he died around 425 BC, leaving behind him the fame of a famous traveler and an even more famous historian.
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From the book Formula for Success. Leader's Handbook for Reaching the Top author Kondrashov Anatoly PavlovichHERODOTUS Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c. 484 - c. 425 BC) is an ancient Greek historian, awarded by Cicero the honorary name Father of History. * * * A truly courageous person must show timidity at the time when he decides on something, must weigh all the coincidences
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From the book 100 Great Travelers [with illustrations] author Muromov IgorHerodotus (c. 484–425 BC) Ancient Greek historian, called the “father of history.” One of the first scientific travelers. To write his famous “History” he traveled to all the famous countries of his time: Greece, Southern Italy, Asia Minor, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia,
From the book I Explore the World. Mountains author Suprunenko Pavel PavlovichDid Herodotus ascend Parnassus? This mountain range, needless to say, deserves attention. Although outwardly he does not seem to stand out with any advantages. Not the highest, but not very low on the scale of Greece. (By today's standards, 2457 m above sea level.) Like most mountains in
From the book The best thoughts and sayings of the ancients in one volume author Dushenko Konstantin VasilievichHerodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c. 485 – c. 425 BC), “the father of history,” as Cicero called him. Lived in Athens for a long time; was part of Pericles' entourage. He traveled a lot, collecting material for his “History”. Until a person dies, refrain from calling him blessed, but it is better
From the book Big Dictionary of Quotes and Catchphrases author Dushenko Konstantin VasilievichHERODOTUS (between 490 and 480 - ca. 425 BC), ancient Greek historian 204 Man is just a play of chance. "History", I, 32; hereinafter per. G. Stratanovsky? Herodotus, p. 20 205 Even God cannot avoid what is predetermined by Fate. "History", I, 91? Herodotus, p. 40 Simonides of Keos (c. 556
From the book World History in sayings and quotes author Dushenko Konstantin VasilievichHERODOTUS of Halicarnassus (c. 485 - c. 425 BC), ancient Greek historian49Herodotus of Halicarnassus collected and wrote down this information so that past events would not fall into oblivion over time and the great and amazing deeds of both Hellenes and barbarians would not remain V
