A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

HERODOTUS. HERODOTUS. 433
from the first two of the passages here referred to in fact scarcely necessary on account of the numerit is even doubtful whether Herodotus called him- ous Greek settlers in Egypt, as well as on account
self a Thurian or a Halicarnassian.. There are of that large class of persons who made it their
lastly some passages in the work itself which must business to act as interpreters between the Egypsuggest to every unbiassed reader the idea that the tians and Greeks; and it appears that Herodotus
-author wrote somewhere in the south of Italy. was accompanied by one of those interpreters. He
(See, e. g. iv. 15, 99, iii. 131, 137, 138, v. 44. &c. travelled to the south of Egypt as far as Elephanvi. 21, 127). tine, everywhere forming connections with the
Having thus established the time and place at priests, and gathering information upon the early
which Herodotus must have written his work, we history of the country and its relations to Greece.
shall proceed to examine the preparations he made He saw with his own eyes all the wonders of
for it, and which must have occupied a considerable Egypt, and the accuracy of his observations and
period of his life. The most important part of descriptions still excites the astonishment of trathese preparations consisted in his travels through vellers in that country. The time at which he
Greece and foreign countries, for the purpose of visited Egypt may be determined with tolerable
making himself acquainted with the world and accuracy. He was there shortly after the defeat
with man, and his customs and manners. We of Inarus by the Persian general Megabyzus,
may safely believe that these preparations occupied which happened in B. c. 456; for he saw the battle
the time from his twentieth or twenty-fifth year field still covered with the bones and skulls of the
until he settled at Rhegium. His work, however, slain (iii. 12.), so that his visit to Egypt may be
is not an account of travels, but the mature fruit ascribed to about B. c. 450. From Egypt he apof his vast personal experience by land and by sea pears to have made excursions to the east into
and of his unwearied inquiries which he made Arabia, and to the west into Libya, at least as far
every where. He in fact no where mentions his as Cyrene, which is well known to him. (ii. 96.)
travels and adventures except for the purpose of It is not impossible that he may have even visited
establishing the truth of what he says, and he is so Carthage, at least he speaks of information which
free from the ordinary vanity of travellers, that he had received from Carthaginians (iv. 43, 195,
instead of acting a prominent part in his work, he 196), though it may be also that he conversed with
very seldom appears at all in it. Hence it is im- individual Carthaginians whom he met on his trapossible for us to give anything' like an accurate vels. From Egypt he crossed over by sea to Tyre,
chronological succession of his travels. The minute and visited Palaestine; that he saw the rivers
account which Larcher has made up, is little more Euphrates and Tigris and the city of Babylon, is
than a fiction, and is devoid of all foundation. In quite certain (i. 178, &c., 193). From thence he
Greece Proper and on the coasts of Asia Minor seems to have travelled northward, for he saw the
there is scarcely any place of importance, with town of Ecbatana which reminded him of Athens
which he is not perfectly familiar from his own ob- (i. 98). There can be little doubt that he visited
servation, and where he did not make inquiries Susa also, but we cannot trace him further into the
respecting this or that particular point; we may interior of Asia. His desire to increase his knowmention more especially the oracular places such as ledge by travelling does not appear to have subDodona and Delphi. In many places of Greece, sided even in his old age, for it would seem that
such as Samos, Athens, Corinth and Thebes, he during his residence at Thurii he visited several of
seems to have made a rather long stay. The the Greek settlements in southern Italy and Sicily,
places where the great battles had been fought be- though his knowledge of the west of Europe was
tween the Greeks and barbarians, as Marathon, very limited, for he strangely calls Sardinia the
Thermopylae,. Salamis, and Plataeae, were well greatest of all islands (i. 170, v. 106, vi. 2).
known to him, and on the whole route which From what he had collected and seen during his
Xerxes and his army took on their march from the travels, Herodotus was led to form his peculiar'
Hellespont to Athens, there was probably not a views about the earth, its form, climates, and inplace which he had not seen with his own eyes. habitants; but for discussions on this topic we must
He also visited most of the Greek islands, not only refer the reader to some of the works mentioned at
in the Aegean, but even those in the west of the end of this article. Notwithstanding all the
Greece, such as Zacynthus. As for his travels in wonders and charms of foreign countries, the beauforeign countries, we know that he sailed through ties of his own native land and its free institutions
the Hellespont, the Propontis, and crossed the appear never to have been effaced from his mind.
Euxine in both directions; with the Palus Maeotis A second source from which Herodotus drew
he was but imperfectly acquainted, for he asserts his information was the literature of his country,
that it is only a little smaller than the Euxine. especially the poetical portion, for prose had not
He further visited Thrace (ii. 103) and Scythia yet been cultivated very extensively. With the
(iv. 76, 81). The interior of Asia Minor, espe- poems of Homer and Hesiod he was perfectly
cially Lydia, is well known to him, and so is also familiar, though he attributed less historical imPhoenicia. He visited Tyre for the special pur- portance to them than might have been expected.
pose of obtaining information respecting the wor- He placed them about 400 years before his own
ship of Heracles; previous to this he had been in time, and makes the paradoxical assertion, that
Egypt, for it was in Egypt that his curiosity re- they had made the theogony of the Greeks, which
specting Heracles had been excited. What Hero- cannot mean anything else than that those poets,
dotus has done for the history of Egypt, surpasses and more especially Hesiod, collected the numerous
in importance every thing that was written in an- local traditions about the gods, and arranged them
cient times upon that country, although his account in a certain order and system, which afterwards
of it forms only an episode in his work. There is became established in Greece as national traditions.
no reason for supposing that he made himself ac- He was also acquainted with the poetry of Alcaeus,
quainted with the- Egyptian language, which was Sappho, Simonides, Aeschylus, and Pindar. He
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