Herodotus: Introduction

210 Pages·1975·3.814 MB·English

by  Lloyd, A.B.

HERODOTUS
BOOK II
INTRODUCTION
ETUDES PRELIMINAIRES
AUX RELIGIONS ORIENTALES
DANS L'EMPIRE ROMAIN
PUBLIEES PAR
M. J. VERMASEREN
TOME QUARANTE-TROISIEME
ALAN B. LLOYD
HERODOTUS
BOOK II
INTRODUCTION
LEIDEN
E. J. BRILL
1975
ALAN B. LLOYD
HERODOTUS
BOOK II
INTRODUCTION
LEIDEN
E. J. BRILL
1975
ISBN 90 04 04179 6
900404181 8
Copyright 1975 by E. J. Brill, Leiden. Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
translated in any form, by print, photoprint. microfilm, microfiche
or any other means without written permission from the publisher
PRINTED IN BELGIUM
VIRO DOCTISSIMO
DEQUE HIS STUDIIS OPTIME MERITO
J. GWYN GRIFFITHS
MAGISTRO DISCIPULUS

CONTENTS
Preface IX
Abbreviations XIII
I. The Greeks in Egypt from the Bronze Age to the Time of
Herodotus 1
II. Herodotus' Travels in Egypt 61
III. Sources . 77
IV. Herodotus' Attitudes and Intellectual Affinities 141
V. Chronology. 171

PREFACE
Undertaking a commentary on Herodotus Book II is an act of hybris
but an act of hybris long overdue. The last substantial treatment was
that of Wiedemann published in 1890 but, excellent though it was,
so much water has flowed under the bridge since then both in Classics
and Egyptology that in many respects it has long been outdated. This
is all the more lamentable because for both disciplines Book II of
Herodotus' Histories is a text whose importance it would be difficult
to overestimate. Nowhere does Herodotus the man emerge so clearly.
Nowhere do we get so revealing a picture of the intellectual world ol
the early and mid Fifth Century B.C. Furthermore, it is the most
substantial early ethnographical ;\6yos which we possess and, therefore,
provides invaluable insight into the nature of this extremely important
and influential branch of Ionian science. It is also the most extensive
and most important of all classical accounts of Egypt and has a crucial
effect in orientating and conditioning all later responses to the land
of Egypt, be they Greek or Roman.
On the Egyptological side the value of the work is at least as great,
though sadly Egyptologists are all too ready at times to decry its im-
portance. It provides the first extant eyewitness account of Egypt
written by a European with very much the same interests as a modern
western scholar. We are, therefore, presented with a response to and
a description of what was actually there in the Fifth Century. Native
Egyptian texts and representations, on the other hand, though fre-
quently voluminous, are characterized by a degree of stereotyped
obsolescence which often makes them very dangerous evidence indeed
for the reconstruction of contemporary Egyptian life. Herodotus' in-
formation on matters ethnographicis, consequently, all the more precious.
On a host of problems he provides invaluable information - food,
clothing, ship-building, housing, burial customs etc. On the historical
side he supplies the basis of all our accounts of the history of the period
from the reign of Psammetichus I. What a sparse, threadbare narrative
we should have were it not for his forty chapters on the subject! In
some respects even more precious is the fact that he enables us to
x PREFACE
discern the very image of the past which was current amongst the
majority of Egyptians themselves. Such documents are not to be regarded
as peripheral to the Egyptologist's studies. Herodotus - and the same
holds true for Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and their fellows - constitutes
an indispensable part of our source material both for the study of the
physical context of Egyptian civilization and for divining and grasping
its intellectual and spiritual content. The latter, it must be admitted,
the Greeks often failed to understand, but their response itself is fre-
quently immensely instructive.
The study of a work of such range presents many problems and
demands not a few compromises. As far as methods and aims are
concerned, my basic intention has been to produce the sort of commen-
tary on Book II which I have always wanted myself i.e. a commentary
which concentrates on isolating the problems and attempting to give
some indication of where the solutions may lie. Consequently, I have
frequently dispensed with exhaustive bibliographies and detailed dis-
cussions of the views of other scholars, which often do little but confuse
the issues in question, and have confined myself to what I regarded
as essential to the fulfilment of this purpose. As for references, those
within the commentary will perhaps appear laconic compared with
those in the Introduction but considerations of space demanded that
they should be as brief as was consistent with clarity. Used with the
Bibliography which will appear in the third volume they should present
no difficulty.
In this attempt to satisfy a long felt need I have not been entirely
without assistance. I should like to express my thanks to Mr. Russell
Meiggs and Professor A. F. Shore who examined this work in an
earlier form as a D. Phil. thesis of the University of Oxford and whose
forthright criticism was of great value in removing the more crass
errors and misconceptions. Above all, however, thanks are due to two
scholars. It was with Professor J. Gwyn Griffiths of University College,
Swansea, that I first read Book II as a student and it was at his sugges-
tion that this study was undertaken. His advice and probably unequalled
experience of the material have been a constant source of encouragement
and stimulus. I also owe an incalculable debt to Mr. W. G. G. Forrest
of Wadham College, Oxford who supervised my work as a research
student over a period of some seven years. His influence on my thinking