The Arms of Morpheus

Chapter 2

'So, what we have here are two conflicting opinions. In the blue corner we have Herodotus as a fanciful storyteller, as Thucydides or Plutarch would have him known. A so-called father of lies, full of his own self-importance. And in the red corner we see him as a true visionary; someone with the foresight to understand the importance of cataloguing some of mans greatest achievements. One of the biggest advocates of the latter opinion was Cicero, who gave him the tag the father of history. So, this is a real heavyweight tussle of the ancients. Herodotus and Cicero versus Thucydides and Plutarch. I don't know about you guys, but that is one tag match I would love to see on WWE.'

The group of students laughed, giving them a welcome break from the intensity of the lecture.

'Now, what we need to ask ourselves, is why? Why the big divide?'

Amelia scanned the room full of adolescents looking for someone with a potential answer. 'Any theories?'

Silence. She would have to select a victim.

Hoping for a meaningful debate, she chose one of her better students; a senior prefect.

'David?'

A thin framed, pale young man with too many freckles and luminous red hair, swallowed before reluctantly offering his answer.

'Well, I suppose there are those who looked at the maths and decided that he was not the most reliable narrator after all.'

'Go on.'

'Well, The Histories of Herodotus claim to tell the story of four Persian kings', the young man consulted his textbook, 'from Cyrus in 557 bce to Xerxes in 479 bce. We know that Herodotus was born around 484 bce, so with the exception of a few years, all of the eye witness accounts that he claims to have witnessed actually happened before he was born. I suppose this made some of his contemporaries feel he had invented it all.'

'A very astute observation, but not necessarily true. Remember, The Histories is also known as The Inquires. Herodotus did not claim to have witnessed all of the events he chronicled first hand, but rather to have spoken with those who had witnessed them or had first hand accounts of them. If we look at the opening line to Logo 1, his first chapter, he states that –', Amelia put her spectacles on and, picking up her book, recited the first sentence:

"These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done."

She put the book down and looked at her students.

'The key word for me there is researches. He is not telling us that he can personally vouch for these stories, but simply that it is widely claimed to be true. Anybody else have any ideas?'

Feeling slightly braver than she had earlier; a young girl offered her opinion.

'Maybe there were some that felt he was also a bit arrogant. After all, he divided his work into nine separate books that he decided to name after the nine muses. Quite a pompous thing to do, relating his own work with the Greek Goddesses of literature and poetry.'

Amelia laughed.

'Indeed it would have been, but before we assassinate poor old Herodotus, let's look at the facts here. First of all, he wrote this piece of work in twenty eight lectures that he called 'logos' or collectively 'logoi.' During his lifetime, the work remained in this format. It was the editors of Alexandria who decided to re-divide his work into the nine categories. So, the muses were basically a marketing ploy on behalf of the Alexandrian authorities to sell more copies of his work. It seems the wheels of commerce were operational in ancient times too.'