FINAL EXAM / Student Responses

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Why is Herodotus called the first true historian AND what makes his work so unique in the ancient world?

Herodotus is the first true historian because he was the first person to present his research, show different perspectives and stories, and overall was the first person to preserve historical events. he is unique because he highlights man actions instead of Gods. This is a Greek way of thinking.

 Herodotus was the first Historian because he based his writing out of real events and research. He is considered to be so unique because he writes for the remebrance of the glory of both the Greeks and the Persians, even though he is from Greece. He wants to tell both their stories farily and without discrimination. Most writers were biased towards their Polis or city, but Herodotus never even metions the city is he is from. Herodotus also does not mention the gods much, giving all the glory and praise to the men who experienced the events he writes about.

Herodotus is called the first true historian because he looks at history through research and inquiry, looking at both sides of every event and asking “what caused this?”. His work is so unique because he focuses on human action, not divine action, he looks at both sides of the story, using antithetical thinking to present why events occurred.

With you it rests Callimachus, either to bring Athens to slavery, or, by securing her freedom, to leave behind to all future generations a memory beyond even th egreatest of our ancestors. For never since the time that the Athenian became a people were they in so great a danger as now. If they bow their necks beneath the yoke of the Medes, the woes which they will have to suffer when given into the power of Hippias are already determined. If, on the other hand, they fight and win, Athens may rise to be the very first city in Greece.’

 In this speech recorded by Herodotus at the Battle of Marathon (490 BC) the Athenian general Miltiades presents his case for fighting the Persians to the solders outnumbered almost 3 to 1. Herodotus showed in this story of the Battle of Marathon that one persons decisions can influence a whole but, it takes the whole to change the outcome of something. The theme on display is that if they fight they can keep their freedom and evade the Persian tyranny.

 1) The context of this situation is that the Persians have landed their ships at Marathon [490BC], and Miltiades is delivering his speech as to why Athens should go to Marathon and fight, when the council is unsure if Athens should go fight or stay home. 2 and 3) Herodotus is giving the thematic element that one man has the power to change the course of history. He tells us that events unfold the way they do because of little decisions or actions taken by humans, not by gods. If not for the words of one man to convince the council’s vote, Athens would not have fought at Marathon, and the Greeks and Athens would likely have been destroyed. Instead, Athens managed a victory that sent the Persians rowing home.

The Athenian generals were split on whether to fight the advancing Persians, and the vote came down to the Polemarch, who was Callimachus. Militiades went to him and gave this speech, begging him to vote in favor of fighting the Persians. Herodotus aims to show the importance of a singular man on the course of history and society. The vote rests on the shoulders of one man, a vote that the future of Athens freedom depend on. If Callimachus makes the wrong decision, then history as we know it would not be the same.

Your Answer: This excerpt is from Plutarch’s book on Lycurgus written down around 100 AD. Plutarch was Greek but was alive during a time period when Greece was controlled by the Romans. Plutarch wished to convey to the Romans that the Greeks/Greece had value and there were lessons to be learned from in Greek history.

This passage is from the Life of Lycurgus. It was written c. 100. It was written by Plutarch, a diplomat in Rome who valued tradition and education. It was written during a time when Rome was near its peak, and the “blend of Greek and Roman culture” was reaching new heights. Plutarch loved the past and wanted to implement old ideas to help people behave and live during his own time. By writing this work, he wanted to show how the Spartans lived and the way it created a free and excellent society.

‘When Marduk heard the word of the gods his heart prompted him to devise a cunning plan. “I will create man to inhabit the earth, so that the service of the gods may be established and that their shrines may be built. But I will alter the ways of the gods and change their paths.”‘

1) Enuma Eus 2) c. 2000 BC 3) Babylonian Empire 4) During the Babylonian takeover of Mesopotamia c. 2000 5) The Babylonian author takes the Sumerian origin story the Enuma Elis and replaces it with the Enuma Eus, in which the author makes Marduk the main god and makes him to live in Babylon, putting the Babylonian empire at the center of the religious and political world and giving the Babylonians their cosmology, that they are made to serve the gods.

This passage is from the 6th tablet of Enuma Elis. This edition of the story dates back to the early Babylonian Period (c.2000 BC), but it is understood that story originally come from the Sumerians. (c.3500 BC) The author of this story is not known, but we can assume it comes from a Babylonian priest or scribe. It was originally written as a story to help the Sumerians understand the origin of the universe (cosmogony) and their place in it (cosmology). However, it was adapted by the Babylonians to put their god in the center of the story, and therefore make their city and the home of Marduk, Babylon, the most important city in the area.

‘HE who falls among the champions and loses his sweet life, so blessing with honor his polis, his father, and his people, with wounds in his chest, where the spear that he faced buried itself straight through the breastplate. Such a man is lamented alike by the young and the old, and all his polis goes into mouning and grieves the loss. His shining glory is never forgotten, his name is remembered, and he becomes an immortal though he lies dead under the ground.’

1) The Citizen Soldier 2) c. 650 BC 3) Tyrtaeus 4) This was written during the Second Messenian war, during which Sparta battled Argos and faced a rebellion of Helots. The second Messenian war was the first time that the phalanx was used as the formation of Spartan soldiers since its invention at the Battle of Hysiae, about 20 years earlier. 5) Tyrtaeus is explaining to Spartans or the citizen soldier that to die fighting in a phalanx is the most honorable and memorable way to die, giving you the most kleos and glory. He is encouraging Spartans to make fighting in the phalanx their main goal in combat training and glorifying the phalanx so that it will be used in the future.

This passage is from ‘The Citizen Soldier’. It was written in c. 650 BC. The author is Tyrtaeus. It was written in the middle of The Second Messenian War, a war in which the Spartans almost lost their polis and their way of life due to a helot revolt and an invasion. By telling young men of the “immortal” glory (kleos) that dying bravely in battle would bring to your family and polis, he aimed to inspire young Spartans to fight bravely and defend Sparta’s way of life from the grave threat that was facing them.

This excerpt is from the Citizen Soldier by Tyrtaeus from about 650 BC. At this time, Sparta was fighting in the 2nd Messenian War against Argos and the helots, which were Spartan slaves. The Spartans almost lost the 2nd Messenian War. Tyrtaeus attempted to inspire Spartans to fight as hoplite soldiers in the Citizen Soldier. He tried to convince people to fight by saying that no matter who you are, you must fight to be a man, and death in battle is the way to earn the greatest kleos, or glory.

‘Rage — goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls, great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion, feasts for the dogs and birds, and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.’

1) The Iliad 2) c. 800 BC 3) Homer 4) At the end of the Dark Ages following the Collapse of Civilization, at the start of the new Greek civilization 5) Homer wishes to show the commonalities and common history of the Greeks in order to unify and connect them in their new civilization.

This passage is from the Iliad. It was written by Homer, but had been passed down through oral storytelling for hundreds of years before Homer wrote it down. Homer wrote it around 800 BC, during a time when Greece was emerging from the Dark Ages after the collapse of Bronze Age Civilization, and when writing was appearing more commonly in Greece. Homer wrote it down partly to entertain, but also has a guidebook to Greek morals and ideas.

This excerpt is from the Iliad, which was written by Homer, a Greek, around 800 BC. The Iliad was chanted and passed on for many years before Homer wrote it down. Greece was one of the many major civilizations that collapsed around 1177 BC. Following this collapse, Greece entered the Dark Ages from 1200 BC to 800 BC. After the Greek Dark Age, Greece began to advance greatly. As cities and writing reappeared, Greece established new ways of thinking and living and writing became more expressive. The Iliad is about a battle at Troy where many Greeks came together to retrieve Helen, who was taken from her husband Menelaus. Homer wrote the Iliad to preserve the collective kleos, or glory, of all of the Greeks during the battle. Homer also teaches about the human condition and what it means to be human.

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