I apologize this took so long to get out. Dealing with ailments, obligations, church stuff, work, etc. Plus, Book 7 was 239 sections (the longest book in the Histories).
Fortunately, Book 8 is about 140 sections and Book 9 is about 120 sections, so I will be able to read and take notes on those a lot quicker.
And then I will be able to finally move on to Euripides and go back to my once a week posts!
Without further ado…
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Xerxes and his barbarians attacked, but Leonidas and his Hellenes, knowing they were going to their deaths, advanced now much farther than before into the wider part of the pass. In all the previous days they had sallied out into the narrow way and fought there, guarding the defensive wall. Now, however, they joined battle outside the narrows and many of the barbarians fell, for the leaders of the companies beat everyone with whips from behind, urging them ever forward. Many of them were pushed into the sea and drowned; far more were trampled alive by each other, with no regard for who perished. Since the Hellenes knew that they must die at the hands of those who had come around the mountain, they displayed the greatest strength they had against the barbarians, fighting recklessly and desperately.
HERODOTUS, HISTORIES, 7.223; A. D. GODLEY TRANSLATION
Summary
Darius was furious that Athens won the battle at Marathon and was more determined than ever to conquer Greece. He ordered all his subjects to provide more men, equipment, horses, and ships. However, Darius died before he could have his revenge on Athens. He had reigned as Persia’s king for 36 years.
Xerxes, who was the eldest son of Darius through his wife Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, became the next king. He crushed a revolt in Egypt, which had started while Darius was alive, and then turned his sights on conquering Greece. He spent four years preparing for the invasion into Greece by both land and by sea. Xerxes had a bridge built across the Hellespont which took his entire army seven days and seven nights to cross over. Herodotus’ best guess is 1.7 million men made up Xerxes’ land army at the time they crossed the Hellespont into Europe. Xerxes’ navy was 1207 ships. As Xerxes passed through Europe to get to Greece, more and more nations submitted to Persia and provided men and provisions for the army and navy. After making his way through Europe, Xerxes’ army and navy was made up of over 2.6 million men.
Xerxes’ army and navy stopped at Therma where Xerxes could marvel at Mt. Olympus. He then subdued the Thessalians—who lived nearby—making them the first mainland Greeks the Persians subdued.
Meanwhile, many of the mainland Greeks, knowing the Persians were coming, held a conference and decided they would put their differences aside and unite against the foreign threat. The obvious leaders of the Greeks were the Spartans, who would take charge of their land army, and the Athenians, who would take charge of their navy. Sparta had the strongest warriors in all of Greece and Athens had already been preparing a navy due to a prophecy from Delphi. They then sent messengers to other Greeks in places like Argos, Sicily, and Crete, but negotiations broke down with all of them.
The Greeks got a huge break when Xerxes sent his navy from Therma to Magnesia and a terrible storm hit which destroyed about 400 ships. Furthermore, they decided on the perfect place to meet the Persians in combat: Thermopylae. Thermopylae was a narrow enough pass that it would both restrict the number of Persian warriors they would have to fight at one time and prevent the use of their cavalry.
The Persians showed up at Thermopylae, and seeing their incredible numbers, the Greeks almost decided to run away back to their cities to defend them. However, Leonidas, one of the newly appointed kings of Sparta, convinced them to stay.
Xerxes waited for four days to see if the Greeks would run away before his army. When they didn’t, he sent the Medes and Cissians into the pass. However, they fell before the Spartan led Greeks and retreated. Xerxes then sent his Immortals, an elite force of 10,000 handpicked warriors, but they didn’t fare any better. The next day, the Persian army did not do much better against the Greeks.
Finally, a traitorous Greek informed Xerxes that there was a secret path over the mountains they could use to ambush the Greeks. Xerxes used the pass, and Greeks who were stationed there informed everyone else what was going on. Seeing the Greeks demoralized, Leonidas told them they could return to their cities. The remaining 300 Spartans, however, would remain and fight to the last. Most of the Greeks departed, but some decided to fight and die with the Spartans.
The Spartans, with those who were left, then launched an all out attack on the Persians in front of them. When the Persians coming down the mountain path arrived, they retreated up a hill but were all taken down by missile weapons.
While the Persians won the battle, Xerxes was shaken by how much damage the Spartans caused. If that was the result of just 300 Spartans, what could the thousands more, still in Sparta, accomplish? Xerxes was advised by an exiled Spartan king to send his navy to Cythera, an island close to Sparta who hated the Spartans, to serve as the perfect place to launch an attack. If Xerxes can defeat Sparta, he could conquer all of Greece. However, one of Xerxes’ advisors told him the advice was ridiculous. Even though the Spartan king had accurately warned Xerxes about the might and prowess of the Spartans, Xerxes listened to his advisor instead.
Build a Wooden Wall to Save Greece?
As far as I know, there are two prophecies from Delphi which are better known than the rest.
One, which is probably the most well known, concerned the philosopher Socrates. Delphi said that Socrates was the wisest man in Athens. The story goes that Socrates thought that couldn’t be the case, that there had to be wiser men than him, and sought to prove the oracle wrong. That was when he started going around Athens having discussions with people. In the end, the oracle was proven correct. Socrates was the wisest man in Athens because he knew he knew nothing and devoted his life to seeking knowledge and wisdom.
The other well known prophecy, which is not as popularly known as the one concerning Socrates, is here in Herodotus’ Histories. When Athens inquired Delphi about what they could do concerning the Persians who were making their way to Greece, the oracle gave them the famous “wall of wood” prophecy:
“Vainly does Pallas strive to appease great Zeus of Olympus; Words of entreaty are vain, and so too cunning counsels of wisdom. Nevertheless I will speak to you again of strength adamantine. All will be taken and lost that the sacred border of Cecrops holds in keeping today, and the dales divine of Cithaeron; Yet a wood-built wall will by Zeus all-seeing be granted to the Trito-born, a stronghold for you and your children…”
Herodotus, Histories, Book 7.141; A. D. Godley translation
The Athenians scratched their heads as to what the oracle could mean. Two opinions emerged:
They needed to bolster the Acropolis because it will be saved from the Persian’s attack (the Acropolis used to be surrounded by a thorny hedge which was interpreted as the wall of wood).
They needed to build and equip a navy (wall of wood = ships).
In the end, the second opinion won out. This ended up being the correct choice because it was the Greek navy, led by the Athenians, that contributed greatly to their victory over the Persians.
The Famous Scene From the Movie
If you’ve seen the movie The 300, one of the famous scenes is when a Persian messenger goes to Greece and asks whether they will surrender to Persia. The Spartans respond by kicking the messenger into a pit.
Well, that is actually a scene from the Histories, Book 7.133-36. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the movie, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t paint the full picture.
Messengers had actually been sent to both Athens and Sparta, but it was when Darius had been king. Here’s Herodotus:
“When Darius had previously sent men with the same purpose, those who made the request were cast at the one city into the Pit [where criminals were condemned to death] and the other into a well, and bidden to obtain their earth and water for the king from these locations.”
Herodotus, Histories, Book 7.133; A. D. Godley translation
For context: gifts of earth and water to the Persian king meant that city was totally surrendering to Persia.
This story was Herodotus’ explanation for why Xerxes, when he became king, did not send messengers to Athens and Sparta asking for their surrender when he sent messengers to many other Greek cities.
Herodotus then goes on to explain that the Spartans believed they were being divinely punished for their actions against the Persian messengers sent to them. Two Spartans volunteered to go before Xerxes and face punishment for what they did. However, when the two went before Xerxes, he treated them well, refused to execute them, and sent them back. Unlike the Spartans, Xerxes was going to treat messengers the way they’re supposed to be treated according to custom.
The movie used the scene to show how fearless and tenacious the Spartans were. However, Herodotus used the story to show how courageous the Spartans were in making atonement for their actions, as well as how devoted they were to their beliefs and laws.
The Famous Line From the Movie
They say that he made the following speech before they joined battle with the Medes: he had learned from a Trachinian that there were so many of the barbarians that when they shot their missiles, the sun was hidden by the multitude of their arrows. He was not at all disturbed by this and made light of the multitude of the Medes, saying that their Trachinian foreigner brought them good news. If the Medes hid the sun, they could fight them in the shade instead of in the sun. This saying and others like it, they claim, Dieneces the Lacedaemonian left behind as a memorial. (7.226)
Herodotus, Histories, Book 7.226; A. D. Godley translation
That’s right. The famous “We will fight in the shade” line from The 300 did not come from some clever Hollywood writer, but was lifted right from Herodotus.
The Reality of Empire
In the beginning of Book 7, Xerxes said this about the Persian empire:
“As I learn from our elders, we have never yet remained at peace ever since Cyrus deposed Astyages and we won this sovereignty from the Medes. It is the will of heaven; and we ourselves win advantage by our many enterprises.”
Herodotus, Histories, Book 7.8; A. D. Godley translation
I think Xerxes says something very important about empire:
It always needs to be in conflict (never remain at peace).
It needs to be devoted to a purpose higher than itself (the will of heaven).
It needs to be of benefit to its subjects (win advantage by many enterprises).
America has lost #2 and #3, which has been making #1 very difficult to do. Compare the American public’s response to the second Iraq War in the early 2000s with its current response to the Ukraine and Israel conflicts. It’s obvious a number of our leaders want America to be involved in those battles—and are finding out, to their chagrin, that their usual emotionally charged calls for actions and shaming tactics are no longer working. A good chunk of the public doesn’t want to defend another country’s borders when their own borders are crumbling. They don’t want to be sent to fight and die by a nation that demonizes them. They don’t care what turmoil another country is going through when there is a great deal of turmoil going on in their own neighborhoods.
It’s a good time to remind everyone that America is a crumbling empire. The question is: what are we going to do about it? How are we going to mitigate the suffering?
The Benefits of Opposing Opinions
Xerxes was being pressured by one of his advisors to go after Greece sooner rather than later. This was because that advisor had a grudge against the Greeks. However, another advisor decided to provide a contrary opinion and started his speech off with:
“O king, if opposite opinions are not uttered, it is impossible for someone to choose the better; the one which has been spoken must be followed. If they are spoken, the better can be found; just as the purity of gold cannot be determined by itself, but when gold is compared with gold by rubbing, we then determine the better.”
Herodotus, Histories, Book 7.10; A. D. Godley translation
Xerxes gets angry at Artabanus for this advice—going so far as to say that he was only sparing Artabanus because they’re related (Artabanus was his uncle). To Xerxes’ credit, though, after he had time to think, he realized that maybe his uncle had sound advice after all and was going to change his mind. However, according to Herodotus, Xerxes was visited by a divine being in his dreams warning him not to change his mind, but make preparations to go after Greece as soon as possible.
Throughout Book 7, Xerxes had a habit of not listening to advisors even though they had more experience than him. Artabanus had advised his brother Darius not to get involved with the Scythians. However, Darius didn’t listen and it ended in a disastrous campaign. Artabanus learned from this and was trying to warn Xerxes, but Xerxes wouldn’t listen.
However, the biggest example was when Xerxes refused to listen to the exiled Spartan king Demaratus when he told Xerxes that the Spartans were capable warriors and would never surrender. The Battle of Thermopylae proved Demaratus was not blowing smoke. However, despite Demaratus being vindicated, Xerxes continued to not listen to his advice—and this became disastrous for him.
Anyway, back to Artabanus’ statement. If an opinion is left unspoken, then how can the best decision be reached? Just because an opinion is spoken and bolstered with arguments, facts, statistics, etc., it doesn’t need to be automatically followed. It could still be a bad opinion. However, no one would know it was a bad opinion if it wasn’t presented and then compared with the other opinions and their arguments.
Wise Words or Disastrous Advice?
“If you wanted to take everything equally into account on every occasion that happens, you would never do anything; it is better to do everything boldly and suffer half of what you dread than to fear all chances and so never suffer anything.”
“Those who have the will to act most often win the rewards, not those who hesitate and take account of all chances.”
“Great successes are not won except by great risks.”
Herodotus, Histories, Book 7.50; A. D. Godley translation
Xerxes said it was this attitude that built the Persian empire.
On the one hand, I can see where Xerxes is coming from. If you sit around all day planning, and that’s all you do, then what good is your planning? If you sit around all day diagnosing problems, and that’s all you do, what good are your diagnoses? So on, and so forth.
On the other hand: if you were with me on my journey through the plays of Aeschylus, or you’ve read The Persians, we already know how Xerxes’ campaign against the Greeks is going to go. Xerxes took a big risk—and it ended in disaster.
That was because, as I mentioned above, he didn’t temper his risk taking with the sound advice and observations some of his advisors were giving him. How differently would Xerxes’ campaign have gone if he had followed his ambitions, but listened to Demaratus and sent a portion of his navy to an island that was near Sparta? That, at least, would be ambitious risk taking tempered with an advisor’s first hand knowledge of Sparta and its weaknesses.
There’s blindly taking risks. And then there’s taking risks after doing a little bit of homework and listening to experienced people.
Free, But Not Wholly Free
“They are free, yet not wholly free: law is their master, whom they fear much more than your men fear you. They do whatever it bids; and its bidding is always the same, that they must never flee from the battle before any multitude of men, but must abide at their post and there conquer or die.”
Herodotus, Histories, Book 7.104; A. D. Godley translation
“Your advice to us, Hydarnes, is not completely sound; one half of it rests on knowledge, but the other on ignorance. You know well how to be a slave, but you, who have never tasted freedom, do not know whether it is sweet or not. Were you to taste of it, not with spears you would counsel us to fight for it, no, but with axes.”
Herodotus, Histories, Book 7.135; A. D. Godley translation
Those are the words of two different Spartans. Their idea of freedom may seem strange to us, but not when you realized they didn’t believe in popular sovereignty. That’s a more modern idea.
With the way things are going in our society, we might have to return to the old idea of freedom. A freedom that’s defined not by the fact that you should be able to do whatever you want (“as long as it doesn’t affect you”) and you have a “voice” in everything, but rather a freedom defined by adherence to a tradition that structures your life, reduces uncertainty about your role in society, and clearly defines right from wrong.
The Cost of Greatness
The invader of Hellas was not a god but a human being, and there was not, and never would be, any mortal on whom some amount of evil was not bestowed at birth, with the greatest men receiving the largest share. The one marching against them was certain to fall from pride, since he was a mortal.
Herodotus, Histories, Book 7.203; A. D. Godley translation
Herodotus here touches on an observation I made a long time ago—either when I was writing about the Iliad or the Odyssey.
The greater the man, the larger share of toil he endures in life.
Heracles was the strongest man ever. He was haunted all his life by the goddess Hera, driven insane and killed his family, forced to perform his famous labors (impossible tasks for the average person), and once he finally completed those, he was accidentally killed by his wife. Of course, he brought some of the suffering upon himself because he let his power get to his head, but much of it was not due to his actions.
Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world. She had to endure kidnappings and being sought after by countless men for her hand in marriage. She ended up being married to a guy who was indecisive and easy to manipulate. Later, she either ran off with a pretty boy prince (or was kidnapped by him, depending on the tradition), and this resulted in a ten year bloody war.
Odysseus was a very wise and clever man. He ended up having to be separated from his home and family for twenty years. When he finally got home, he had to fight off over 100 suitors trying to marry his wife.
Achilles was a very powerful warrior. He was doomed to die young.
Agamemnon was the commander of the army that went against Troy and a capable warrior. He was murdered by his wife and her lover before he had a chance to truly enjoy his victory.
Similar to this, the Greeks believed that the gods would intentionally humble, or even destroy, a person who reached a certain level of greatness. Only the gods get to be great. Only the gods get to exist in comfort and without suffering.
What is with this association of greatness with toil? As if there has to be some balance between the two. We still kind of have that mentality today. Someone experiences a lot of positive things and then thinks: “What’s the catch? This isn’t going to last forever. Something is going to happen to ruin it all.”
I wonder if part of the reason hardship falls after a lot of good things happen to a person, is because they got complacent? Things start going good for that person, so they stop working, or stop their good habits, or stop improving. As a result, they experience a reversal—only that reversal is worse than it normally would have been because of the amount of progress that person had made.
Or, perhaps, hardship falls on greater people because greater people are more exposed to potential hardship. A person who owns a business will go through more hardship than someone who simply has a job. A person who loses a child will go through more hardship than someone who doesn’t have children. A person who is in a position of leadership will go through more hardship than someone who just takes orders.
The business owner, the parent, and the leader open themselves up to more potential for happiness, fulfillment, security, comfort, etc. However, those are more things in those people’s lives that can face disaster.
Maybe this is why complacency is so appealing?
That's all for the Histories, Book 7.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos Anodos
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Thumbnail: The Battle of Thermopylae by Massimo Taparelli d’Azeglio, 1823. Public domain.