The Histories: Herodotus
Background:
Herodotus (ca.485-425 b.c.e.) was born to a wealthy Greek family in Asia Minor. He lived through the wars between the Greeks and the Persians. He then published The Histories, a collection of the conflicts between the Persians and Greeks. Traveling in the Persian Empire, Egypt, Babylon, Sicily, and Italy, he recorded stories and myths relating to his impressions.
His observations/cultural differences are as follows:
Persians
Sacrifice
-Persians have no images of the gods and no temples or altars -- they see this as a sign of foolishness. Herodotus states this may be due to their "not believing the gods to have the same nature as human beings" (138).
-Instead, they practice climbing to the tops of the highest mountains to offer sacrifices to Zeus (god of the universe).
-They also "sacrifice the sun and moon to the earth to fire to water and to the winds.." (138).
-To present a sacrifice, "they bring the victim to a spot of ground that is pure from ritual pollution and there calls upon the name of the god for whom the sacrifice is meant"
-The one who presents the sacrifice cannot pray for blessings themselves but must pray for the welfare of the king as well as the whole Persian people.
-The sacrificer cuts the animal victim in pieces, boils the meat, and lays it out on the softest grass (clover).
Occasions
The Persians celebrate their birthdays the most and serve much more food on that day than usual. For example, "richer Persians have an ox, a horse, a camel, and an ass roasted whole for the meal; poorer people cook smaller kinds of cattle" (138). They eat a few main courses but lots of extra courses. He mentions, "For this reason, the Persians say that the Greeks leave a meal hungry because they have nothing worth mentioning served to them as an extra after the meats and that if the Greeks did have extra courses served, they would never stop eating" (139).
Social
A sign of equal status includes kissing one another on the lips instead of speaking.
A sign of people "little inferior to the other" - a kiss is given on the cheek.
The father away other people live means the less the Persians respect them. "They regard themselves as very greatly superior in all respects to the rest of humanity, believing that other peoples' excellence is proportional to how close they live to Persia"
-Fathers teach sons how to ride a horse, shoot arrows, and speak the truth (from the age of 5-20).
-Until they are 5, they are not allowed to come into the sight of their fathers. "They do this so that if the child dies young, the father will not be saddened at losing him" (138).
Clothing
They wear clothing like that of Medes, considering it superior to their own
In war - they wear Egyptian armor on their chests
Egyptians
Herodotus begins the section by speaking very positively about them. He says, "There is no country that possesses so many amazing things or has such a large number of buildings and monuments that defy description" (139). He also states that their climate, rivers, and people are reverse of what the rest of humanity does.
Social
"The women there participate in the markets and in trade, while the men sit at home weaving on a loom" (139).
-They eat their food out-of-doors in the streets but use the restroom inside their houses. "What is shameful but necessary should be done in private" (139).
-Only men can serve as priests
-They live with animals, instead of other places where people live separate from animals
-When writing or solving math, they move their hand from right to left instead of left to right (like the Greeks).
Religion
-In other countries, priests have long hair while in Egypt they have their heads shaved.
-In other places, it is customary to have hair be cut short when a relative passes away, but Egyptians grow out their beard and hair on their head.
Comments
Post a Comment