CLA232H1 Lecture : Herodotus
Document Summary
Initially, there was much exchange between persians and greeks, respect between the cultures. After the persian wars, however, the greeks perceived the persians as cartoonishly. Herodotus is not an athenian (though there is an athenian bias in his writing). We think he was half persian, half greek. While herodotus is culturally greek, and gives us a. Greek perspective of greek culture, he retains an outside perspective on greece (he lived in asia minor). Herodotus gives his story using greece as the yardstick for normalcy. He talks at length about egypt, for example, because the egyptians seem to have reversed the ordinary practices of mankind (meaning greeks). He examines other cultures reflexively; he shows that the persians see the greeks as wacky exactly as the greeks see the. Croesus learns the story of pisistratus: tyrant who used a bizarre trick to re-insert himself as the tyrant.