The Histories By Herodotus Books 2 3 Cambyses

The Histories By Herodotus Books 2 -3: Cambyses

Cambyses and Psammetichus • Who reigned after Cyrus? • His son Cambyses took the throne. (2. 1) • What was then objective of Psammetichus’ experiment? • Psammetichus conducted an experiment to determine which race was the oldest. (2. 2) • Explain Psammetichus’ experiment. • His experiment consisted in taking two babies right from their birth and having them raised in seclusion by a shepherd who was forbidden to speak in their presence. Then he was to report their first words. (2. 2) • What did Psammetichus conclude from his experiment? Why? • The first word each child uttered was “becos” which is the Phrygian word for bread. Thus it was concluded that the Phrygians were the eldest race. (2. 22. 3)

The Nile • Explain the three theories that Herodotus offers for why the Nile behaves as it does. • The summer north winds cause the water to rise by checking the flow of the current towards the sea. (but often the wind doesn’t blow and there are other rivers in Syria and Libya that are not so affected. ) (2. 20) • The Nile flows from the Ocean, the (legendary) stream which encircles the world. (2. 21) • The water of the Nile comes from melting snow. (But it flows from Libya [he means Kenya] through Ethiopia, which are hotter climates into Egypt, so how can there be snow. ) (2. 21)

Herodotus’ explanation for the Nile’s behavior • Evaporation. • The sun, as it passes over, has the same effect as it does elsewhere in summer on its passage through the mid-heaven: namely, it draws the water towards itself and then thrusts it into those parts of the country still further inland, where it comes under the influence of the winds which scatter it and disperse it as vapor (rain). • When the rough winter weather is over, the sun resumes its normal course in mid-heaven, and from then on exercises an equal attraction upon all rivers. • In winter then all rivers but the Nile run in flood, because a great deal of rainwater is added to their volume. The Nile, on the other hand, behaves in the opposite way because it is subject to evaporation by the sun and has no rain to swell it, so it is much lower in winter. (2. 25)

Cats and Hippos • How do the Egyptians treat cats according to Herodotus? (2. 66) • If there is a fire in a house the people run in to save the cats rather than worry about the fire. • If a cat dies it’s owners shave their eyebrows. Dead cats are mummified. • What does the name “hippopotamus” mean? What is Herodotus’ description of a hippopotamus? (2. 71) • Hippopotamus means “river horse” (footnote 47, p. 639) from the Greek hippo (horse as in hippodrome – the oval for horse races) and potamus (river as in Mesopotamia – the land between the rivers). • Herodotus clearly has not seen a hippo as he describes a horse.

Medicine, Mummies, and Mosquitos • How is the practice of medicine conducted in Egypt? (2. 84) • The Egyptians split medicine up into separate parts, each doctor being responsible for the treatment of only one disease. (2. 84) • This is similar to modern medicine. It is specialization or division of labor. • Summarize the process of mummification. • Read this passage in 2. 86 -2. 88, p. 127 -128. • How do the Egyptians protect themselves from mosquitoes? (2. 95) • They have various methods. They sleep in raised structures (mosquitoes hover near the ground water) or they use mosquito nets.

Egyptian Priests’ account of the story of Helen (2. 113 -2. 115) • Paris was on his way home from Sparta with his stolen bride, Helen, when, somewhere in the Aegean Sea he met foul weather and was blown south to Egypt where he shipwrecked on the coast. • Some of his servants ran away to a nearby temple (of Hercules) where they could get refuge and told the local [governor] Thonis about the abduction of Helen and the treasure. Thonis informed Proteus, the ruler in Memphis. Proteus instructed Thonis to arrest Paris and send him to Proteus.

Proteus punishes Paris, but not with death (2. 115, 2. 118 -119) • He cannot punish a stranger who has been forced upon his shores by force of weather. • He does take away Paris’ ill-gotten gains. He keeps Helen and the treasure until the Greeks (the rightful owners) come for them. He gives Paris and his crew three days to leave or they will be treated as enemies. To continue the story …. The Greeks sent a strong force to Troy to recover Helen and the treasure which Paris had stolen. The Trojans swore that they had neither Helen not the treasure, but both were in Egypt. The Greeks didn’t believe the Trojans and laid siege to Troy nonetheless. When Troy fell neither Helen nor the treasure were found. Menelaus (king of Sparta) finally believed the story and sailed to Egypt where he recovered both.

What Herodotus believes about Helen and why (2. 120) • Herodotus is inclined to believe the Egyptian account because had Helen really been in Troy, she would have been handed over to the Greeks with or without Paris’ consent. • Paris was the younger son of King Priam of Troy. It is inconceivable that Priam would risk his family and city for the whims of his younger son, Paris, who was not heir to the throne (Hector was). Paris should have simply been spanked and sent to his room. • The fact is they did not have Helen and the treasure to give up because they never got them, and were telling the truth to the Greeks, who wrongly attacked them.

Cambyses attacks Egypt • Why did Cambyses attack Egypt? (3. 1) • Amasis, the Egyptian king, sent the previous king’s daughter to Cambyses, instead of his own, for marriage. This enraged Cambyses when he found out. • What happened to all the wine jars that were shipped to Egypt? (3. 7) • The local officials collected all the wine jars and sent them to Memphis where they were filled with water and then sent on to be stored in the Syrian desert to supply water for the transiting Persian army. • How did the Arabian king help Cambyses? (3. 9) • The Arabian king filled camel-skins with water, loaded them on all his live camels, and conveyed them to the desert to await the arrival of Cambyses’ troops.

Tough Egyptians • According to Herodotus, why do Egyptians have harder heads than Persians? (3. 12) • Egyptians shave their heads from childhood so that the bone of the skull is hardened by the sun. • What tragedy finally brought king Psammenitus to tears? (3. 14) • Nothing that Cambyses tried to humiliate him brought the Egyptian king to tears until an old man who had once been the king’s friend was marched by him with the other captives. King Psammenitus said “my own suffering was too great for tears, but I could not but weep for the trouble of a friend who has fallen from great wealth and good fortune and been reduced to beggary on the threshold of old age. ” [mutability of fortune]

Cambyses character • What did the Persians normally do with captured kingdoms? • The Persians normally turned conquered kingdoms into vassal states. [3. 15] • After Cambyses conquered Egypt he left Memphis for what city? • He went on to Sais. [3. 16] • Why was it an unholy thing for Cambyses to order Amasis’ body to be burnt? • It was unholy for both Persians and Egyptians. • The Persians believe that fire is a god and never burn their dead. Burning a body would be giving a man’s dead body to a god, which is wrong. • The Egyptians believe fire to be a living animal which devours whatever it gets. It is against Egyptian custom to allow dead bodies to be eaten by animals. [3. 16]

Cambyses looks beyond Egypt • Describe three separate military campaigns that Cambyses planned next. [3. 17] • Against the Carthaginians (on the coast of north Africa near modern Tunis, Tunisia) • Against the Ammonians (modern Libya) • Against the long-lived Ethiopians (not modern Ethiopia, rather the legendary people of Kush, in southeastern Libya) • How did the Carthaginians escape Persian domination? • Carthage was a colony of Phoenicia (founded C. 800 B. C. ). The Persian fleet was manned by Phoenicians (the major naval power in the eastern Mediterranean). • The Phoenicians refused to sail since a close bond still connected them with Carthage. Without the Phoenicians, the remainder of the Persian fleet was too weak to undertake the campaign so the campaign was cancelled. • Cambyses did not punish the Phoenicians because the Phoenicians had joined him of their own free will and his whole naval power was dependent on them (remember, Persia herself is a land power). [3. 19]

Ethiopian king rebukes Cambyses’ spies • He knows they are spies and tells them they are liars and their king (Cambyses) is unjust. Had Cambyses any respect for what is right, he would not have coveted any other kingdom than his own, nor made slaves of a people who have done him no wrong. • He then gives them a powerful bow for Cambyses with the advice that when the Persians can draw the bow easily, then they can raise an army strong enough to attack Ethiopia. • He also mocks the gifts from Cambyses. He notes that the scarlet robe was dyed, and thus a cheat, pretending to be what it was not. Thinking that the gold chains were meant to bind men, he notes that the gold is weak and the Ethiopian chains were stronger. With respect to the myrrh being used as a perfume, he repeated his remarks about the scarlet robe. He only admired the Persian wine. [3. 22]

The Ethiopian Expedition • Cambyses was so angered by the report of his spies that he launched the expedition against Ethiopia without providing for supplies or considering the distance involved. • Before traveling 1/5 of the distance their provisions gave out and the men were reduced to eating their pack-animals. Still Cambyses continued. His men ate grass, then resorted to cannibalism. • This was finally too much for Cambyses, he abandoned the expedition, and returned to Thebes with a much smaller army. [3. 25]

The Ammonian Expedition • This force was detached from his army at Thebes while on his way to Ethiopia. It reached as far as the town of Oasis, about seven days across the desert, after which it was never heard from again. • An Ammonian account states that a great sand storm buried the entire army [3. 26]

Cambyses’ Insults the Egyptians • To the Egyptians the Apis was the most sacred of animals, a bull-deity worshipped as a fertility god in the region of Memphis. • Cambyses was enraged (that happens a lot) because the festival was celebrated after his return with his defeated army from the Ethiopian expedition. • Cambyses ordered the Apis be brought to him and when it arrived he drew his dagger to strike it in its belly but missed and struck its thigh. • He then mocked the Apis as a poor example of a god. He ordered the Egyptian priests to be whipped anyone else caught celebrating the festival to be executed. The Apis died of its wounds. [3. 28 -29]

Cambyses’ other outrages • Cambyses ordered the murder of his brother Smerdis after dreaming that his brother would kill him and usurp his throne. (He sends his most trusted Persian friend, Prexaspes back to Susa to do the deed. ) • Cambyses then murders his sister who was also his wife, a marriage which was contrary to even Persian custom. [3. 30 -31]

The Royal Judges • The royal judges are specially chosen men, who hold office either for life or until they are found guilty of some misconduct. • Their duties are to determine law suits (disputes between people and between the people and the government) and to interpret the ancient laws of the land. All points of disputes are referred to them. • [Note: the selection, term and duties and very much like our Supreme Court. Also note how political the judges can be, as now. They rule that Cambyses can marry his sister because, while there was no law that permitted it, there was clearly a law that said the king could do whatever he wanted (the ultimate ‘elastic clause. ’)] [3. 31]

“too fond of wine? ” • Cambyses responds with rage, again, to Prexaspes’ comment that the Persians thought he was “too fond of wine. ” • He takes a bow and aims an arrow at Prexaspes’ son, stating that if he shoots him through the heart he will prove the Persians wrong, but if he misses, the Persians are right. • He then shoots Prexaspes’ son through the heart and states that he is clearly sane, for a madman could not shoot so straight. [3. 35]

Cambyses orders 12 noble Persians be buried alive • Croesus the conquered king of Lydia was the wise advisor to Cyrus and then Cambyses after Cyrus’ death. • He advised Cambyses not to “always act on the passionate impulse of youth. Check and control yourself. There is wisdom in forethought, and a sensible man looks to the future. ” • He warns Cambyses that if he continues to kill Persians, and particularly children, arbitrarily, then the Persians will rise in revolt. • Cambyses gets mad (naturally) at Croesus and reaches for his bow to shoot him, but Croesus quickly runs away. Cambyses sent his servants to chase and kill Croesus but when they catch him they wait, knowing the Cambyses frequently changed his mood. In fact Cambyses does later miss Croesus and his servants produce him, but Cambyses still has his servants executed for not carrying out the order to kill Croesus. [3. 36]

“Custom, the king of all” –the poet Pindar • Herodotus says that everyone believes their own native customs, and the religion they are brought up in, to be the best. Therefore no one but a madman would mock their own customs and beliefs. • He recounts a story of Darius, the third king of Persia, who contrasted the Greek and Indian customs regarding treatment of their dead relatives. The Greeks buried or burned their dead. The Indians ate their dead (according to Herodotus). Each was appalled by the practice of the other. • Footnote 16, p. 646

Discussion Points • Some interpret the comment to show that Herodotus is a cultural relativist, but this is contrary to points Herodotus makes throughout The Histories concerning the absoluteness of human nature. • Pindar seems to be implying that custom, like habit, can be a tyrant. This is a separate issue than relativism. • It is important to distinguish that the Greeks had different words for custom, which could be relative, and nature (meaning natural law) which some Greeks viewed as absolute (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle for a few). • It was universally against nature to murder, but what is done with the dead varies by custom, even today. • Finally, the Greeks like most ancients were polytheists. Polytheism is by its nature relative and tolerant. Monotheism, conversely, tends to be

Rebellion against Cambyses • Who rose in rebellion against Cambyses while he was in Egypt? • Two brothers (Patizeithes and the ‘false’ Smerdis), who belonged to the caste of the magi, rose in rebellion back in Persia. [3. 61] • How did they (those in rebellion) seize throne? • Aware that Cambyses’ brother Smerdis was dead, but that his death was concealed from all but a few Persians, one of the Magus who resembled Smerdis, and according to Herodotus had the same name, impersonated Smerdis – thus the ‘false’ Smerdis. • The ‘false’ Smerdis then took the throne and issued a proclamation that the army was to take its orders from him, not Cambyses. [3. 61 -62]

Cambyses dies; Buto’s prophecy fulfilled • After Cambyses heard about the revolt he was enraged. It appeared that the prophecy that ‘Smerdis’ would sit on the throne was fulfilled and that Cambyses had his brother murdered for no reason. • He leapt upon his horse, meaning to march to Susa with all speed, but in his haste, the cap fell off his sword sheath, exposing the blade, which pierced his thigh just in the spot where he had previously struck Apis, the sacred Egyptian bull. • Cambyses was in the town of Ecbatana, Syria. Thus he believed the prophecy from the oracle at Buto that he would die in Ecbatana, though he had thought that meant the capital of Media. [3. 64 -65]

Who did the Persians that were with Cambyses at his death believe was on the Throne? • Before dying Cambyses confessed to the leading Persians with him that he had his brother murdered and that the two Magi brothers had seized power. • However, after his death those Persians did not believe his story. Instead they believed that his true brother Smerdis was in fact on the throne and that Cambyses had made up the story to turn Persia against his brother. • Also, Prexaspes, who had committed the murder for Cambyses, vehemently denied that Smerdis was dead, knowing that he might be held accountable now that Cambyses was dead. [3. 65 -66]

“False” Smerdis briefly rules • What did Smerdis do during his rule to win the hearts of all the Asiatics under his rule? [3. 67] • He gave every nation underneath Persia a three year remission (reduction) in taxes and military service. • How did Otanes figure out that Smerdis was an imposter? [3. 69 -70] • He asked his daughter, who was one of Smerdis’ wives, to feel if he had ears. Smerdis the Magus had no ears (Cyrus had punished him by having his ears cut off).

Conspirators plan to retake throne • How many conspirators were there to retake throne? Name them. • There were seven conspirators: Otanes and Intaphrenes, Gobryas and Megabyzus, Aspathines and Hydarnes, and Darius. [3. 70] • What action does Darius advise? • Darius advises to act promptly. [3. 71] • What action does Otanes advise? • Otanes advises prudence; add to their numbers. [3. 71] • What does Darius say about honesty versus telling lies? • [3. 72 p. 203]

Smerdis revealed as an imposter • Who revealed the true state of affairs (that Smerdis was an imposter) and what did he do upon revealing this fact? • Prexaspes [3. 75] • What omen convinced the conspirators to act after they hesitated upon hearing the news about Prexaspes? • Omen – Seven pairs of hawks chasing two pairs of vultures. [3. 76] • What festival is celebrated in Persia to mark the overthrow of the imposter king by the conspirators? • The festival is the Magophonia, or Killing of the Magi. [3. 79]

The Constitutional Debate • Otanes recommended the establishment of popular government, or “equality under the law. ” • He criticized monarchy as conducive to both the envy and pride of the ruler, both with undesirable consequences. It is neither pleasant nor good. • “Rule by many” is the fairest means of government. Magistrates are appointed by lot and are held responsible for their actions, and policies are publicly debated. • Megabyzes spoke in support of oligarchy, or the rule by a few. • The “best men will produce the best policy. ” • He agreed with Otanes’ criticism of monarchy, however, he said that ‘democracy’ is just as bad, because the mob is stupid and aggressive. Democracy may be fine for Persia’s enemies, but Persia should entrust power to the chosen few.

And the selected form of government is • Monarchy • Darius supported monarchy, or the rule by one. • He agreed with Megabyzes about the evils of ‘democracy, ’ but added that oligarchy had similar evils. • Oligarchy leads to personal feuds, and ‘democracy, ’ to factionalism; both of these lead to civil wars and the restoration of monarchy. • Monarchy has the advantages of secrecy and tight control. The Persians should stick to ancestral custom and choose a king.

Otanes’ response to the decision … and the winner is • “It is clear that the king will have to be one of [us]. I will not compete … for I have no wish to rule – or to be ruled either. I withdraw … on one condition: that neither myself, nor any of my descendants, shall be forced to submit to [your] rule. ” • His is the only free family in Persia, submitting to the king only as they choose, while not disobeying any Persian laws. • Darius • He whose horse neighed first after the sun was up should have throne. Darius’ horse neighed first (due to trickery).