herodotus' portrayal of the persians
context
herodotus was born in 484 BC in halicarnassus, part of the persian empire
he travelled around the ancient world, spending time in athens and ancient egypt as well as persia
the behaviour and characterisation of xerxes
the behaviour of persian troops in athens is offensive to the gods
"they plundered the temple and set fire to the acropolis"
the behaviour of xerxes at the hellespont is an example of him offending the gods
gives the water 300 lashes
once xerxes invades athens, he burns down the temple of the gods
herodotus has themistocles suggest that the defeat at salamis is divine justice for burning the temples
"a man who made no distinction between houses and temples"
characterisation and ungreek nature of the persians
xerxes describes the conquest of greece as vengeance
"there will be no city, nor race left to stand against us in battle, once these greeks are out of the way"
when the spartan commander enters the Persian tent after the battle of platea, he is taken aback by the riches and wealth of the Persians
herodotus explains xerxes' intentions for invading greece
" i have considered how best to match the accomplishments of my ancestors"
supernatural
there are dreams, visions and oracles throughout the description of the Persians
the greeks tend to succeed because they interpret the oracle correctly, whereas the Persians do not
Themistocles correctly interprets the oracle that the "wall of wood" is ships and the navy to defeat the Persians
narrative and literary devices
the introduction reminds the reader of epic poetry
"this is the account of the researches of herodotus of halicarnnassus"
includes an assessment of his sources, stating whether or not he believes it
use of speech to dramatise conversation between characters
uses the inner thoughts of characters, which is not reliable information