Participation in the amazing 'Herodotus Marathon'!

What an amazing experience (and experiment) was the Herodotus Marathon (description)! From May 31 to June 2, an international team of readers gave a non-stop reading of all nine volumes of Herodotus's Histories in various languages and translations online. Despite technical challenges, the team from St. Andrews University pulled it off. A huge thanks to the team there: Prof. Thomas Harrison, Euan Bowman, Edward Armstrong, and Marco Gay! I enjoyed hearing Herodotus in Japanese, Hebrew, Ukrainian, and even Bärndütsch (my wife's language)!

Here's my reading from Book 7, chapters 14–21 on Xerxes and Artabanus's experiences with a phantom appearing in dreams. Their interpretation was that Persia must attack Greek (especially Athens). If they do not take this course of action, Xerxes and Artabanus would be punished severely by the gods. The rest of the Histories depicts the consequences of this decision. 

Donning proudly my Herodotus Helpline T-shirt, I also read from the ending of Book 8, chapters 141–144, which portrays some passionate speeches given by Athenians, Spartans, and a representative of Mardonius, a major commander of the Persian army. The result: Athens and Sparta are not going to give up but fight for their freedom. Book 9 recounts the stunning victory of the Greeks against all odds. Persia is pushed back, away from the traditional lands of the Greeks...but does not disappear, as told by later historians.  

What do you do with your democracy? (Herodotus strikes again!)

Introduction

Democracy: the rule of the people; or the rule that is partially in the hands of the people. Some people are struggling for democracy right now. Some people live in a democracy but don’t fully appreciate it, because they haven’t lived under other forms of government. Others appreciate democracy but don’t know how to live it effectively.

 

This raises a few questions: what is the best form of government? Does it make any difference? Interestingly, these questions are actually quite ancient. 

 

In this video, we are going to consider a brilliant text from antiquity written by Herodotus, a Greek historian from fifth-century BCE. In this text Herodotus describes a group of Persians who are debating about three types of government: monarchy[1], oligarchy, and democracy. 

You can find the text here: Herodotus’s Histories, Book 3, chapters 80-86. 

Which one is the best for Persia? Which one did they choose? Why did it matter to Herodotus? And what does it matter to us? 

 

For more, please watch the video. 

Other important texts mentioned in the video: See especially Plato, Rep. 1.338e; Books 6 and 8, specifically VIII.1–VIII.5. 543a–550c. Timocracy; VIII.6–VIII.9. 550c–555b. Oligarchy; VIII.10–VIII.13. 555b–562a. Democracy; VIII.14–IX.3. 562a–576b. Tyranny.

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[1] Synonyms: autocracy = a system of government by one person with absolute power. Tyranny = cruel and oppressive government or rule.