INTROD. and Thermopylae and Salamis became immortal

CHAP. 1.

Period of his

travels.

Halicarnassus, its his

tory.

names.

The swell from that great storm was yet angry, Hellas was yet smarting from her scars, but exulting in her victories, when Herodotus wandered forth to see, to touch, and to explore. The story of the great contest was still ringing in his ears, still rife in men's mouths; but the exact date is uncertain.' The circumstances of his father and the character of his mother are totally unknown; and such faint glimmerings of light as can be thrown upon his life and education must be derived from general history and doubtful tradition.2

Halicarnassus was a small Asiatic state, originally belonging to the Hexapolis, or confederacy of six Dorian colonies, on the coast of Caria and the neighbouring islands. It never attained historical eminence, and shortly before the birth of Herodotus had forfeited its privilege as a member of the Hexapolis, for having set the common laws of the confederacy at defiance. Subsequently the government of Halicarnassus was united with that of the neighbouring islands of Cos, Calydna, and Nysirus, under the dependent sceptre of the celebrated Artemisia, who so faithfully served the cause of Xerxes, and attracted the open admiration of the historian.5 Whilst the Greeks were following up their brilliant successes by admitting the islands of the Aegean into their confederacy, the little Carian

1 One fact has been brought forward by Dr. Dahlmann, to throw some light upon the period of Herodotus's travels. Herodotus saw in Aegypt the skulls of those who were slain by Inarus the Libyan (iii. 12). The war in which Inarus was engaged lasted six years, viz. from B. c. 462 to 456. Now Herodotus was not likely to have entered Aegypt during this bloody period, and especially could not have reached Memphis, where the war raged for a considerable time. At the conclusion of the contest he must have been about twenty-eight, and we may therefore suppose him to be in Aegypt in his thirtieth year. Life of Herod. ch. ii. § 2. 2 For a more detailed account of the times of Herodotus, see Dahlmann, Life of Herod. chap. i. § 3; also an excellent article on the Philosophy of Herodotus, in Blackwood's Mag. Jan. 1842.

3 The Halicarnassians were colonists from the city of Troezene in Argolis (vii. 99).

4 i. 144.

5 vii. 99.

СНАР. І.

kingdom still adhered to Artemisia and her family, INTROD. and would not desert her son and successor, Pisindelis, even when Cimon the Athenian was frightening the whole coast of Asia Minor by his exploits.

removes to

in Italy.

Under this peaceful dependence on existing insti- Herodotus tutions, the boy grew into a young man; but having Thurium some time afterwards attracted the angry suspicions of Lygdamis, the son and successor of Pisindelis, he escaped to the island of Samos. Here, according to Suidas, he became acquainted with the Ionic dialect and wrote his history, but the latter fact has been ably disproved by Dahlmann. "Subsequently," says Suidas, "he returned to Halicarnassus and drove out the tyrant Lygdamis; but afterwards, seeing that he was disliked by his fellow-citizens, he accompanied the Athenians, who were going out as settlers to Thurium, as a volunteer. Here also he died, and lies buried in the market-place." 1

his travels.

Herodotus was born about B. c. 484, as already Extent of mentioned. He sailed to Thurium about B. c. 443, when about forty years of age; and he must have lived some time after B. c. 408,2 and perhaps have died about the age of eighty. His travels therefore

1 Suidas also adds, that some say Herodotus died at Pella in Macedonia. A disquisition on this point however would be quite out of place in the present work. With respect to Lucian's statement, that Herodotus when a young man recited his nine books before the assembled multitude at Olympia, the whole has been so triumphantly refuted by Dahlmann that we may consider the matter as finally settled. The statement indeed would probably never have been received as authentic, were it not so graceful and attractive, and above all so grateful to the feelings of every writer whether of poetry or prose. Few authors would not glow at the thought of being heard and appreciated by so vast an audience.

2 These three dates are thus obtained. First, Pamphila, a female writer, who in the time of the emperor Nero composed an historical work abounding in valuable information, mentions that Herodotus was exactly fifty-three years old at the commencement of the Peloponnesian war (B. C. 431): hence the date of his birth, B. C. 484. Secondly, the colony sailed to Thurium twelve years before this war, i. e. B. C. 443. Thirdly, Herodotus himself says, (i. 130,) "The Medes, whom Cyrus made subject to the Persians, subsequently engaged in a rebellion, and withdrew themselves from allegiance to Darius, but were conquered and again brought into subjection." This Darius was Darius Nothus, and this re-subjugation occurred, according to Xenophon, in the four and twentieth year of the Peloponnesian war: that is, in B. C. 408.

INTROD. were most probably undertaken in the first half of CHAP. I. his life, and his history written in his old age. The places which he visited may be nearly all distinguished from those which he merely knew by hearsay. Greece, her cities and her islands, and especially the scenes of her glorious victories over the Persian, were all explored by the ardent geographer. Xerxes' line of march from the Hellespont to Athens, together with the maritime regions of Thrace and Scythia as far as the mouth of the Dnieper, (or Borysthenes,) were all duly noted. He passed through Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and Syria, and reached the cities of Babylon and Susa; he also spent considerable time in Aegypt, and travelled southwards to Elephantine, and probably as far to the west as Cyrene. But no personal adventures are mentioned. His presence at this or that place is only incidentally alluded to by way of testimony, and though we may catalogue the places he visited, yet it is impossible to follow in the order of his movements.

His general

It is difficult to ascertain the extent of geograinformation. phical knowledge possessed by the Greeks when Herodotus commenced his researches, but it is evident that he himself was but little acquainted with the discoveries of others. His knowledge of the universe was the result not of extensive reading, but of personal experience; and indeed the scarcity of books prevented contemporary authors generally from taking advantage of each other's labours. According to the standard of the age, however, Herodotus was a highly educated man. He was thoroughly acquainted with the poems of Homer,' and also cites the works of Hesiod, Aristeas,* Archilochus, Alcacus, Sappho,' Solon, Aesop," Simonides,10 Pindar," Phrynicus,12 and Aeschylus. But Hecataeus is the only prose writer whom he quotes by name, and the most searching investigation can 1 See Appendix I., on the Travels of Herodotus. 2 Cf. Mure, Lang. and Lit. of Greece, Book iv. 3 ii. 53, 117; iv. 32. 4 iv. 14. 5 i. 12. 10 v. 102; vii. 228.

5

6

8

v. 113.

9 ii. 134.

13 ii. 156.

14 ii. 143; vi. 137.

8

ch. iv. § 7.

13

6 V. 95. 11 iii. 38.

7 ii. 135. 12 vi. 21.

find no certain traces of a familiarity with the works INTROD. of other logographers. If Herodotus had really CHAP. 1. studied those of Hellanicus, we should have had some further notices of the Heraeum between Mycenae and Argos, and of the Carnea at Sparta. If he had read those of Xanthus, he surely would have made some reference to that writer's theory concerning the earth's surface in Asia Minor, and the Lydian volcanoes. Of Charon and Dionysius of Miletus nothing can be said; for there is as much reason for believing that he had never seen their works, as there is for believing that he had studied them or borrowed from them. The voyage of Hanno along the western coast of Africa was totally unknown to him; and indeed of the Phoenician geographers generally he makes no mention whatever.3

state of

It may perhaps prove interesting and desirable to Previous take a brief glance at the ancient notions of the uni- geographiverse, and at the state of geographical knowledge prior to the time of Herodotus.

cal science.

notions of

B. C. 900.

In the Homeric cosmography the earth is repre- Homer, his sented under the form of an immense disc or circular the uniplain, surrounded on all sides by the river "Ocean." verse. The solid vault of the firmament was composed of metal, and rested upon the circumference of this disc; and beneath the disc was the corresponding vault of Tartarus; whilst at the extremity of the ocean lay the Elysian plain, "where, under a serene sky, the favourites of Zeus, exempt from the common

1 Dahlmann, ch. vi.; Müller, Lit. of Greece, ch. xviii.; Mure, vol. iv. 2 See Appendix IV.

3 An important question relative to the geographical knowledge possessed by the Phoenicians has been mooted by the late Dr. Brehmer of Lubeck. That able scholar maintained that the geographical work of Ptolemy, together with the accompanying charts usually attributed to a certain Agathodaemon, who is said to have lived at Alexandria in the fifth century, were in reality derived from Phoenician or Tyrian sources. In other words, that Ptolemy, or, more properly speaking, his predecessor, Marinus of Tyre, who lived but a short time before him, and whose work he only corrected, must have founded his geographical descriptions and maps on an ancient Tyrian atlas, representing in several plates or tables the whole world as known to the Tyrians. The chief arguments of Dr. Brehmer may be found in Appendix XII., "On the sources of Ptolemy's Geography," in Heeren's Asiat. Nations, vol. ii. Professor Heeren has to some extent replied to them, though not always conclusively.

INTROD. lot of mortals, enjoyed eternal felicity." Under the CHAP. I. Vault of the firmament rolled the sun and stars in

Extent of

phical

chariots borne by the clouds: down in the vault of Tartarus were the abodes of the dead, or caverns of Hades, and the residence of the Titans, the enemies of the gods, all alike impenetrable to the breath of the gale, or the light of heaven. One great difficulty was in after-times overcome by an extravagant invention. The sun appeared to rise from the eastern ocean, and after performing his journey through the firmament seemed to sink in the western waves. Accordingly it was supposed that, on descending in the west, he was received in a vessel of gold, fabricated by Hephaestus, which conveyed him rapidly by the north towards the east in time to re-commence his daily journey. The sea divided the terrestrial disc into two portions. The northern continent was afterwards named Europe; the southern was called Asia, but subsequently divided into Asia and Libya. The Greeks probably considered Greece as situated near the centre of the disc; but Homer has not disclosed to us whether he himself believed this theory.

The real geographical knowledge of the Greeks his geogra- in the time of Homer may be fairly stated as not exknowledge. tending beyond Greece, Aegypt, Asia Minor, and the islands. The regions east and south of these limits were clouded by legend; those on the north and west were the pure creations of fancy. We may regard those regions as legendary which were known by the dim light of old traditions, handed down

1 In Greece the poet knew the names of all the various states, and of Crete, Cyprus, and the isles of the Aegean. He was partially acquainted with Macedonia, and had some knowledge of Thrace, including the nations of the Mysi and Cicones. We even read of a Scythian nation, the Hippomolgi, who lived on milk and were the most just of mankind. In Asia Minor he knew the Trojans, Maeones, and Carians, on the western coast; the Lycians and Solymi on the south; the Phrygians in the interior; the Caucones, Enetae, and Paphlagonians, on the north; and the Halizonians, Amazones, and Arimi or Arimaei, on the east. He also knew Phoenicia, with the Sidonians and their chief town Sidon, and Aegypt as far as Thebes. The Nile he calls the river Aegyptus, and makes Pharos one day's sail from its mouth; but he neither knew that the Mediterranean and Red Seas were separated by the isthmus of Suez, nor that the Nile fell into the sea through seven channels.