My grad-school historiography class had to read The Histories the other day. We all compared Herodotus to the historiographical equivalent of an old man in a rocking chair telling a giant, rambling story.
"And that children is how the Egyptians built the Pyramids" "I thought we were talking about the expansion of the Persian empire." "Ah yes, which reminds about the their attempts to conquer the Scythians, who as you may know live far to the north...." "God damnit, not again."
Like the time I caught the trireme over to Athenai, I needed a new heel for my sandal. To take the trireme cost a drachma, and in those days, drachme had pictures of gold-digging ants on them.
Watching this again. When Herodetus claims to only state what he hears and he draws conclusions, all I couldn think is :he is probably more of an anthropologist than historian
Yo watup, it’s ya boi, Herodotus, coming at ya with another video. And... just heard about that shit with the Spartans, and thought I’d drop my two cents. Like, I don’t know how else to put this, but real talk, Leonidas was always kind of a bitch. Don’t even get me started on Marathon, like, Marathon is a whole other video. But yeah. Anyways. And, so I was in Sparta the other day, and, by the way, I don’t know if you saw it but they got this new kind of bread shit there that’s really good. Great guy I know is in the bread making business and let me tell you that shit is something else. If you’re ever in the area be sure to check it out.
Mark Schwartz, PhD sums Herodotus up perfectly: "Herodotus is more like the world's first blogger than an objective historian... Nobody in their right mind believes everything he says is true."
Man, imagine hotboxing with Herodotus. The conversations would be so cool. I just have this feeling Herodotus was the most interesting man alive during his time.
He was sent out to a colony, so he must have been an adult, he can't however have been to old for that, so he was probably younger than 60. That already places him at 40±20 years of age. Now add to that, that he was noteworthy enough to be mentionable and that more or less eliminates at least 10 years from his earlier years, probably more. This way you roughly get 40 years of age.
@@mysticnovelbro It is called Overly Sarcastic Productions after all. Interpretation is not a skill exactly relevant to the job this channel is meant to provide. That's the experts and your job.
@@mysticnovelbro Except interpretation is something he did later this very video with the anecdote about Solon. He recognizes that the conversation was impossible, then either interpreted himself or used other historians interpretations without complaint, meaning he likely had a genuine complaint with the logic of the 40 years old interpretation.
@@Great_Olaf5 just putting this out there - no he didn't, and i don't appreciate people hitting me up over a year after the fact to lie and make excuses for OSP when he's already been outed for this multiple times
Bless Herodotus, he made the historical account equivalent of a lumpy pottery mug- not as deliberately structured as later works in the field of history would be, but he Made A Thing successfully and I am extremely proud of him. Also I relate SO hard to starting off with one specific writing project in mind and doing research in an attempt to contextualise it but falling down a research hole so deep I can't leave. How do I join the Herodotus fandom
I created a D&D character that kind of did that. A rogue con artist who decided to do a con as a cleric to swindle rich people out of the spare cash, but ended up doing more research than strictly nessisary for believability, and in the process of over researching, became a real cleric. Dual class character.
*Entire Greek Literary/Mythical/Religious Tradition* : -"Hey, watch out for hubris, it'll get ya!" *Every Greek Monarch/Statesman ever * -"Not me fam"-Proceeds to get got by hubris
It clashes with their high regard to hysterophemia, (if I wrote that correctly in english) that is to say their after-fame/legacy. I am sure if you told Pericles that he would die and Athens would be defeated, but his works and speech would still stand and be known around the world 2500 years later and if you told Alexander that he would die at 32 and his empire would collapse soon enough but he would be one of the most influential personalities in world history they both would be like: "Worth it."
Herodotus is that one friend who you originally invited over to help you with your history homework, but then mid-conversation, he WILDLY veers off into what his friend did that week. Or what he ate on his last trip. Or this cool story idea his sister had. The man is a tangent master.
3:28, small correction, Darius wasn't Cambyses' son. iirc he was a General within the Persian Military that overthrew Cambyses' Brother, Bardiya. He later changed the story to show that he was not a usurper to the Persian throne and claimed that Cambyses killed Bardiya and a pretender pretending to be Bardiya took the throne, after which Darius took the throne for himself in a coup. Edit: Bardiya was Cambyses' brother, not son.
In the Herodotus account, both the imposter and the real king are called Smerdis. Only Persian sources make the distinction between Bardiya and Gaumata, the imposter.
Herodotus is definitely my favorite ancient writer. Everything Blue says is true, but the stories AND the digressions, the whole thing is an absolute banger of a read!
@@davidlathrop9360 Golden Eagles maybe? They're quite large, very bold (even Honey Badgers are afraid of these things), and have top class flight speeds that rival the peregrine falcon.
5:09 - I suspect a bigger reason his peers didn't like him was because he didn't go full propaganda "Greece rules, everyone else drools!" so they minimized his contributions. Objective documentation wasn't exactly a priority back then (or even now ¬_¬). 8:44 - Don't hatchet your counts before they chicken.
Blue's excitement and love of history is great, and I'm glad I found this channel. I learn so much more now. I actually want to become an archeologist because of all the learning! So thanks!
I remember having a seminar on the greco-persian war and our lecturer was like: I have some good news and some bad news for you. The good news are that because there are basically no other authors on this topic we pretty much only need to read one book. The bad news are that we have to read Herodotus....
Since I happen to be quite early I would like to suggest a video on the Scythians. It's an ancient culture that I personally don't feel like gets enough credit despite being credited with the invention of the composite bow. Edit: hey look at that you even reference them in this one!
Herodotus describes them as winning against persia by just moving. Essential if your entire city is a wagon train you cant get conquered, hence the name for it being the Scythian Defense. (Run away waiting for a good counter attack) its better than i described
I've been a subscriber for like 3 years I just wanted to say congrats on the 1 million subs!! This channel deserves it so much. Thank you Blue and Red!!!
The idea of a dolphin helping a man struggling in the open ocean to get to land is one that's well known in most fishing cultures that have contact with dolphins. I doubt he rode the thing's back while playing the lyre, but I could definitely see it helping him to the nearest island or shore!
Herodotus first indented to write a travel guide; now it all makes sense. The Histories written by Herodotus feel like many travel logs and travel brochures compiled together.
These classes should be taught in school - I sort of care about the topics but I learn so much from the fast paced and witty commentary that I find myself going through the whole playlist because it is fun to learn - what a crazy idea. Thanks for doing these videos. You guys/girls are awesome
I think Herodotus might have had ADD, just based on the tangential structure of his writings, mostly because I have ADD and I definitely write in a similar manner when it comes to shifting back and forth between topics
King cambysis the mad was succeeded by his "brother" bardyia who ruled for several months before being overthrown and killed by king Darius who was an important local lord who claimed that bardyia was actually garmata an impostor however it is debated on whether or not he was imposter That's a pretty big glaring mistake
I was looking for this comment! I wouldn't say its a big mistake relative to the rest of the video (which is about Herodotus and not the politics of the Achaemenid empire) but it is a glaring one if you have learned a lot about that time period
@@Ben-ph4pe This is just one i caught the question is how many did i not catch and how much of this is incorrect information that's the problem it throws into question the entire validity of the video
@@shadymerchant1198 I mean he is just... summarizing a book. You can just read it if you want to find out how accurate this video is, and as someone who just read it for a history class I can say that Blue's slip up about Darius is the only error I see.
Egyptian historical accounts makes the entire story of the "mad" king Cambysis, which was written in giant text on a mountainside by darius, the guy who likely killed Cambysis and confesses to having killed Bardyia, excuse me, the shape shifting sorcerer Garmata in said giant inscription, rather suspect. One of Cambysis' supposed big oofs that got him the title of "mad king" was the killing of a sacred bull during an egyptian religious ceremony. The egyptian accounts, only readable since the translation of hieroglyphics, recounts him as having fulfilled his royal duties during the ceremony, not as having committed sacrilege by killing the bull. The Egyptians, taking both their religious ceremonies and the recording of anything important to them rather seriously, are unlikely to have failed in recording such a fuck up. Most likely either Cambysis died unexpectedly or Darius, Cambysis' cup bearer at the time of his death, murdered him and then went back home and led a group of nobles in a successful coup against Cambysis' brother. Then Darius made up the lie about Bardyia having been murdered in complete secrecy by Cambysis, more "proof" of his madness, and having been replaced by a shape shifting sorcerer, Garmata, while Cambysis was away with no one the wiser. A textbook example of a coup followed by the fabrication of circumstances that *obviously* means that it wasn't *really* a coup. Poor Darius was just doing the right thing. Honestly.
@@JakaVerdnik Plato made up Atlantis and Herodotus died while Plato was still a toddler, if not a fetus. There's no way Herodotus would have ever even heard about Atlantis.
Interesting thing with griffins, there's some theories that the idea was partially inspired by protoceratops fossils, which do look a lot like a lion/bird hybrid. They are often found in central asia, and particularly the Gobi, and some think that traders and prospectors connected them with the gold they were in search of. Though this theory does ignore the initial conception of the griffin in the Levant, I don't think its unreasonable to think that stories of bird-beasts guarding gold would have synchronized with the earlier griffin legends
This is great as I’m studying Herodotus in my first term at University. I will probably have contributed to half the views this video gets by the time the term is over so...yay? Cheers Blue for an incredibly insightful video as per usual; your history maker series has actually been *Chef’s kiss* so far!
I respect this guy for putting down all he was told, even if he didn’t believe it. Gives valuable insight into the beliefs of the everyday citizens in the areas he visited, recording their folklore to be preserved. Nice
You know it's funny I have been subscribed for 5 years now and the only reason I found this channel is because I forgot to study for my English exam on mecbeth and thanks to this channel I have read so many book I never even knew existed and ever time a video drops I watch almost instantly and then search for the original story's and I love history and mythology more then I ever thought I could do thank u
OH some paleontologists have attributed the griffins and cyclopes to ancient fossils of triceratops(or in this case a distant cousin to the triceratops) and elephant skulls found in the region! Triceratops because if the bone from their shield like trills on their face broke seemed like wings and the rest of a triceratops then looks like a quadruped with a bird beak face! and elephant skulls were thought to have been primarily mistaken for cyclops skulls. The traders in the area were thought to have seen the bones while traveling and thought of those mythical creatures because of it. Of coarse not much evidence historically confirms this other than the existence of the bones found near the roads and areas these stories are said to have come from!
THIS VIDEO COULD NOT COME AT A BETTER TIME I’m a history major and one of our required courses is Historian’s craft which is basically the history of History and I’m taking it this semester and we just talked about Herodotus.
Oh god (Zeus?) I *love* this series!! Looking forward to my favorite Thucydides (the first "scientist" historian), and Xenophon (the most badass historian).
Um, actually.....you rock thank you for the very interesting history. The times I always am drawn to. Also, big shout-out for using maps and giving the dates, making it way easier to consume and comprehend. You make it fun to do history!
This posted around the same time I got into a car accident. I'm home now, with crutches, a sprained ankle, burned hands, and a bruised pride. This is the first thing I saw when I got home. Thanks for giving me something to take my mind off of what just happened.
I love how it all ties together. History originated from Greek "inquiry", but then look at it as "his-story" and remember that Herodotus was more or less a story teller.
Looking it up briefly, the distance between Marathon and Athens is little under 25 miles and was only extended to 26.2 miles to accommodate the British Royal family when marathons were still becoming a thing in 1908
Keep in mind this is ancient times so impersonators especially rich ones would likely be able to convince everyone of their identity so Solon may have just been some guy who convinced everyone that he was Solon and since the guy clearly didn't fact check any of the things he wrote he could have written about someone impersonating Solon which would have made it possible for the king to meet Solon the impersonator who happened to be a pretty smart dude
Herodotus is so fun. being able to read the anecdotes told by people long ago is a real treasure to behold, regardless of the legitimacy. it provides a lot of fun and unique insight into, you know, what you'd hear chatting up a traveler at the bar who came from somewhere you've never visited. good shit. but yeah structural nightmare I remember lifting the book up in college and being like ohhh god this is a lot.
Gryphon stories originated from the Gobi desert, I believe (fossils of Protoceratops, a beaked dinosaur with a vaguely lion-like body, commonly found with gold-rich caves), so if there are claims of a turf war between gryphons and cyclopes in Central Europe that *could* be more evidence of trade and cultural exchange across the Eurasian steppe even in the 4-500s BC
Herodotus should be a RU-vidr. One week it’s a travel vlog where he checks out the local cuisine, the next week he gives his hot take on the current Spartan drama, and the next vid it’s just him telling an embarrassing anecdote about why he doesn’t drink fig-liquor anymore. Low-key just retelling the whole book but in “Yo watup, it’s ya boi Herodotus coming at ya with another video...” format.
On the runner from Marathon, there was a movie that involved a courier running on screen to deliver a message to the King. The courier is supposed to speak in his native language and when the extra asks what they want him to say the director tells him he doesn't care so long as it's dramatic. So the movie is sent all over the world and subtitled into many languages. When the movie finally shows in the country where the extra lived all the people laughed at the scene and when someone from the production company finally asks why they are all laughing a theater owner tells him that the couriers is dramatically gasping "I'm not getting paid enough for this!"
Actually, dolphins are known to assist people in open ocean and protect them from sharks. So, it may not be as far fetched of a myth as it initially sounds
One aspect I'm surprised you missed was Herodotos making the point on climate/geography affects mood, mood affects culture, culture affects politics, politics affects diplomacy, and together politics and diplomacy affect history. Which means Herodotos would probably have a thing or two to say about what climate change might do to future history.
You should do history of Prussia with its roots in the Teutonic order and the pruss people who lived there before that maybe you could make it a 2 parter with the german empire
10:20 "Introduction and notes by Paul Cartledge" So, fun story: I have an academic link to Paul Cartledge. One of my lecturers at university had previously been one of Cartledge's tutorial students at Cambridge. If we think of academia in terms of generations, he's my grandfather
Herodotus was not the first historian or even Greek historian - that title goes to Hecataeus of Miletus (550 BCE - 476 BCE). He was also a geographer and improved on the map of Anaximander (610 BCE - 546 BCE) who also lived in Miletus, the first writer to mention the Greco-Persian Wars and the first writer to mention the Celtic and Illyrian peoples. He did trust Homer (8th century BCE) as a genuine historical source though.
Initial travelogue nature of initial Herodotus' work is noticeable as his only mention of my now-country was in that there was a lot of good fishing spots in it.
