Herodotus: History and Narrative Form.

Maureen Harkin
October 3, 2005

Lecture Outline:

I. Introduction: Herodotus as storyteller
II. Predominance of stories of reversal:  peripeteia
                              The example of Croesus
                              “Look to the end” for meaning?
III. Importance of  non-plot elements: character, spectacle, “cul-de-sacs”

IV. Sources and genres: The (low) status of prose
                              The model of Homer
V.    The effects of prose narrative

Key Terms:

peripeteia      (= “sudden change”) reversal of fortune
psilos logos   naked language
narratology   theory of narrative and study of its structures

Key Passages:

1.
“When the Egyptian king Psammenitus had been beaten and captured by the Persian King Cambyses, Cambyses was bent on humbling his prisoner. He gave orders to place Psammenitus on the road along which the Persian triumphal procession was to pass. And he further arranged that the prisoner should see his daughter pass by as a maid going to the well with her pitcher. While all the Egyptians were lamenting and bewailing this spectacle, Psammenitus stood alone, mute and motionless, his eyes fixed on the ground; and when presently he saw his son, who was being taken along in the procession to be executed, he likewise remained unmoved. But when afterwards he recognized one of his servants, an old, impoverished man, in the ranks of the prisoners, he beat his fists against his head and gave all the signs of deepest mourning.

From this story it may be seen what the nature of true storytelling is. The value of information does not survive the moment in which it was new. It lives only at that moment; it has to surrender to it completely and explain itself to it without losing any time. A story is different. It does not expend itself. It preserves and concentrates its strength and is capable of releasing it even after a long time. Thus Montaigne referred to this Egyptian king and asked himself why he mourned only when he caught sight of his servant.  Montaigne answers, “Since he was already overfull of grief, it took only the smallest increase for it to burst through its dams.” Thus Montaigne. But one could also say: The king is not moved by the fate of those of royal blood, for it is his own fate. Or: We are moved by much on the stage that does not move us in real life; to the king, this servant is only an actor. Or: great grief is pent up and breaks forth only with relaxation [of  strength]. Seeing this servant was [such a] relaxation. Herodotus offers no explanations. His report is the direst. That is why this story from ancient Egypt is still capable after thousands of years of arousing astonishment and thoughtfulness. It resembles the seeds of grain which have lain for centuries in the chambers of the pyramids shut up air-tight and have retained their germinative power to this day.”    Benjamin, “The Storyteller,”  in Illuminations, p. 90.

2.
“‘Son of Cyrus,’ was the answer [of  Psammenitus to Cambyses], ‘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.”   Herodotus, Histories 3.14, p. 159.

3.
 “Most of those which were great once are small today; and those which used to be small were great in my own time … human prosperity never abides long in the same place.”  Herodotus, Histories, 1: 5, p. 5.

4.
“Whoever has the greatest number of the good things I have mentioned, and keeps them to the end, and dies a peaceful death, that man, Croesus, deserves in my opinion to be called happy. Look to the end, no matter what it is you are considering. Often enough God gives a man a glimpse of happiness, and then utterly ruins him.”   Herodotus, Histories, 1:32-33, pp.14-15.

5.
“Xerxes now decided to hold a review of his army. On a rise of ground nearby, a throne of white marble had already been specially prepared for his use by the people of Abydos; so the king took his seat upon it and, looking down over the shore, was able to see the whole of his army and navy at a single view. As he watched them he was seized with the desire to witness a rowing-match. The match took place and was won by the Phoenicians of Sidon, to the great delight of Xerxes, who was as pleased with the race as with his army. And when he saw the whole Hellespont hidden by ships, and all the beaches and plains of Abydos filled with men, he called himself happy – and the moment after burst into tears. Artabanus his uncle . . . was by his side; and when he saw how Xerxes wept, he said to him: ‘My Lord, surely there is a strange contradiction in what you do now and what you did a moment ago. Then you called yourself a happy man – and now you weep.’
           ‘I was thinking,’ Xerxes replied; ‘and it came into my mind how pitifully short human life is – for of all these thousands of men not one will be alive in a hundred years’ time.’”  Herodotus, Histories, 7:44-46, p. 390.

6.
“Ancient Greek psychology recognized two forces at the root of human emotional expression -- ethos, a man’s character as formed by inheritance, habit and self-discipline, and pathos, his spontaneous reaction to experiences in the external world.”     Pollitt, Art and Experience in Classical Greece, p. 43.

7.
“I have seen editions of The Histories with a sculpted portrait on the cover. Some statue found in a French museum. But I never imagine Herodotus this way. I see him more as one of those spare men of the desert who travel from oasis to oasis, trading legends as if it is the exchange of seeds, consuming everything without suspicion, piecing together a mirage. ‘This history of mine,’  Herodotus says, ‘has from the beginning sought out the supplementary to the main argument.’ What you find in him are cul-de-sacs within the sweep of history -- how people betray each other for the sake of nations, how people fall in love.”    Ondaatje, The English Patient, pp. 118-119.

8.
“Herodotus of Halicarnassus here displays his inquiry, so that human achievements may not become forgotten in time, and great and marvelous deeds --  some displayed by Greeks, some by barbarians --- may not be without their glory; and especially to show why the two peoples fought with each other.”   Herodotus, Histories, 1:1, p. 3.

9.
“The design of historical writing is not merely to entertain . . .  besides that it has in view the instruction of the reader. It sets before us the more interesting and important events of human life, points out the causes by which these events were brought about, and by this means points out to us by what manner and method we may produce similar good effects or avoid bad ones.”    Smith, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres, p. 89.

10.
“In this it [i.e. history and its influence on the reader] differs from a [Novel] the sole view of which is to entertain. This being the end, it is of no consequence whether the incidents narrated [in a novel] be true or false. A well-contrived Story may be as interesting and entertaining as any real one: the causes which brought about the several incidents that are narrated may all be very ingeniously contrived and well adapted to their severall [sic] ends, but still as the facts are not such as have realy (sic) existed , the end proposed by history will not be answered. The facts must be real, otherwise they will not assist us in our future conduct, by pointing out the means to avoid or produce any event.
            …Feigned Events and the causes contrived for them, as they did not exist, can not inform us of what happened in former times, nor of consequence assist us in a plan of future conduct.”     Smith, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres, p. 91.

11.
We are all after the same thing, whether we lie or speak the truth; our own advantage. Men lie when they think to profit by deception, and tell the truth for the same reason – to get something they want, and to be the better trusted for their honesty. It is only two roads to the same goal. Were there no question of advantage, the honest man would be as likely to lie as the liar is, and the liar would tell the truth as readily as the honest man.       Herodotus, Histories, 3: 72, pp. 183-4.

Sources

Aristotle, On The Art of Poetry, in Classical Literary Criticism.  Tr. by T.S. Dorsch. London: Penguin, 1965.
Walter Benjamin, “The Storyteller” in Illuminations. Ed. Hannah Arendt, Tr. Harry Zohn. Glasgow: Collins, 1979.
Jonathan Culler, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford; Oxford Univ. Press, 1997.
E.M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel. New York, Harcourt, 1927.
Frank Kermode, The Sense of An Ending. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1967.
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient. New York: Knopf, 1993.
Anthony Minghella, Director, The English Patient, 1996.
J. J.  Pollitt, Art and Experience in Classical Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1972.
James Romm, Herodotus. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1998.
Adam Smith, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1983. (1762-3)