<p>This dissertation interrogates existing scholarly paradigms regarding aetiology in the Histories of Herodotus in order to open up new avenues to approach a complex and varied topic. Since aetiology has mostly been treated as the study of cause and effect in the Histories, this work expands the purview of aetiology to include Herodotus’ explanations of origins more generally. The overarching goal in examining the methodological principles of Herodotean aetiology is to show the extent to which they resonate across the Histories according to their initial development in the proem, especially in those places that seem to deviate from the work’s driving force (i.e. the Persian Wars). Though the focus is on correlating the principles espoused in the proem with their deployment in Herodotus’ ethnographies and other seemingly divergent portions of his work, the dissertation also demonstrates the influence of these principles on some of the more “historical” aspects of the Histories where the struggle between Greeks and barbarians is concerned. The upshot is to make a novel case not only for the programmatic significance of the proem, but also for the cohesion of Herodotean methodology from cover to cover, a perennial concern for scholars of Greek history and historiography.</p><p>Chapter One illustrates how the proem to the Histories (1.1.0-1.5.3) prefigures Herodotus’ engagement with aetiological discussions throughout the Histories. Chapter Two indicates how the reading of the proem laid out in Chapter One allows for Herodotus’ deployment of aetiology in the Egyptian logos (especially where the pharaoh Psammetichus’ investigation of the origins of Egyptian language, nature, and custom are concerned) to be viewed within the methodological continuum of the Histories at large. Chapter Three connects Herodotus’ programmatic interest in the origins of erga (i.e. “works” or “achievements” manifested as monuments and deeds of abstract and concrete sorts) with the patterns addressed in Chapters One and Two. Chapter Four examines aetiological narratives in the Scythian logos and argues through them that this logos is as integral to the Histories as the analogous Egyptian logos studied in Chapter Two. Chapter Five demonstrates how the aetiologies associated with the Greeks’ collaboration with the Persians (i.e. medism) in the lead-up to the battle of Thermopylae recapitulate programmatic patterns isolated in previous chapters and thereby extend the methodological continuum of the Histories beyond the “ethnographic” logoi to some of the most representative “historical” logoi of Herodotus’ work. Chapter Six concludes the dissertation and makes one final case for methodological cohesion by showing the inextricability of the end of the Histories from its beginning.</p> / Dissertation

O propósito desta dissertação é apresentar algumas idéias sobre o emprego das palavras relacionadas à visão no texto do Livro I das Histórias de Heródoto. O principal destaque é dado à relação entre ver e saber e as investigações de Heródoto. O segundo propósito, decorrente do primeiro, é verificar a importância dos oráculos no Livro I e buscar a relação (se existe) entre oráculos, sonhos, visões e a busca do conhecimento. / The purpose of this dissertation is to show some ideas about the use of words related to sight in the text of HerodotusHistories, Book I . The main focus is given to the existing relationship between seeing and knowing and Herodotus researches. The second purpose, built from the first one, is to evaluate the importance of oracles described in Book I and to seek the relationship of (if it exists) oracles, dreams, visions and the search for knowledge.

Essa tese tem por objetivo analisar as percepções gregas do Império Persa Aquemênida e outros impérios orientais enquanto entidades políticas, com ênfase sobre o olhar remoto de Heródoto. Em primeiro lugar, o autor resume o estado da pesquisa acadêmica sobre as Histórias de Heródoto e sobre as atitudes gregas em relação à Pérsia, num esforço de esclarecer a complexidade das relações greco-persas, que, de acordo com a pesquisa mais recente, não eram apenas hostis, mas repletas de receptividade. A seguir, o autor examina as ideias persa e assíria de império, bem como suas organizações imperiais concretas. Analisa-se demoradamente a iconografia real persa e conceitos políticos tais quais bumi- e xaça-, concluindo-se que estes poderiam veicular uma ideia inovadora de império, embora profundamente enraizada em tradições mesopotâmicas anteriores. Descreve-se a maneira como as fontes clássicas nomearam o império ao longo do tempo, com atenção particular à formulação de autores mais antigos como Heródoto, Ésquilo e Tucídides. O autor se esforça para explicar em cada caso o uso de hgemonía, arch e até mesmo pólis para designar o Império Persa. Por fim, o autor examina a terminologia de Heródoto usada para designar o Império Aquemênida e como ela demonstra uma estratégia de alusões e ressonâncias com implicações críticas quanto à política expansionista de Atenas. Propõe-se que Atenas incorporou as ideias persas de império, enquanto, paradoxalmente, denunciava sua violência e tirania internacional. Essa postura contraditória teve seus impactos sobre historiadores como Heródoto e Tucídides e é uma chave interpretativa instrutiva para as Histórias. / This thesis aims to analyze Greek perceptions of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and other Near Eastern empires taken as political entities, emphasizing the early look of Herodotus. The author first summarizes the state of scholarly research on Herodotus Histories and Greek attitudes towards Persia in an effort to clarify the complexity of Greco-Persian relations, which, according to the most recent research, were not only hostile, but also full of receptivity. The author examines next Assyrian and Persian ideas of empire and their concrete imperial organizations. One analyzes at length Persian royal iconography and political concepts such as bumi- and xaça-, concluding that these could convey an innovative idea of empire, albeit deeply rooted in older Mesopotamian traditions. One describes the way classical sources named the empire over time, with particular attention to the wording of early authors such as Herodotus, Aeschylus, and Thucydides. The author strives to explain in each case the use of hgemonía, arch, and even pólis to designate the Persian Empire. Finally, the author examines Herodotus terminology to name the Achaemenid Empire and how it conveys a strategy of allusions and resonances with critical overtones towards Athenian expansive policy. One proposes that Athens paradoxically incorporated Persian ideas of empire, while publicly denouncing Persian violence and international tyranny. This contradictory stance had its impacts over historians such as Herodotus and Thucydides and it is an instructive interpretative key to the Histories.

O objetivo desta dissertação é investigar o fragmento III.80-82 das Histórias, no qual Heródoto narra um debate entre três nobres persas, ocorrido em 522 a.C.. O que estava em discussão era a melhor forma de governo a ser adotada pela Pérsia após a morte do usurpador Smérdis. No chamado debate persa, Otanes propôs a adoção de uma constituição democrática, Megabizo sugeriu a instituição de uma oligarquia, e Dario, por fim, defendeu a manutenção da monarquia a ideia que venceu o debate. Nossa proposta é analisar a construção de um pensamento político nas Histórias, com o suporte da filosofia política, de modo a demonstrar que o autor pode ser classificado como um pensador político não-sistemático. Além disso, esse estudo demonstra a possibilidade da leitura do documento indicar a existência de seis formas de governo, sendo três constituições boas, e suas três versões degeneradas. / The objective of this study is investigate about the fragment III.80-82 of Herodotus Histories, in which the author describes a debate between three noble Persians, in 522 B.C.. They have been discussing the best form of government to be adopted in Persia after the death of Smérdis the usurper. In the Persian debate, Otanes proposed a democratic constitution, Megabyzus suggested an oligarchy, and after then Darius defended the maintenance of the monarchy the idea such win the debate. Our goal is to analyze the construction of a political thought in Histories, with the support of political philosophy, to show the author can be considered as a political thinking non-systematized. Besides, this work demonstrates a possibility to understand the document like a scheme of the six forms of government, with three good constitutions, and another three its bad versions.

Essa tese tem por objetivo analisar as percepções gregas do Império Persa Aquemênida e outros impérios orientais enquanto entidades políticas, com ênfase sobre o olhar remoto de Heródoto. Em primeiro lugar, o autor resume o estado da pesquisa acadêmica sobre as Histórias de Heródoto e sobre as atitudes gregas em relação à Pérsia, num esforço de esclarecer a complexidade das relações greco-persas, que, de acordo com a pesquisa mais recente, não eram apenas hostis, mas repletas de receptividade. A seguir, o autor examina as ideias persa e assíria de império, bem como suas organizações imperiais concretas. Analisa-se demoradamente a iconografia real persa e conceitos políticos tais quais bumi- e xaça-, concluindo-se que estes poderiam veicular uma ideia inovadora de império, embora profundamente enraizada em tradições mesopotâmicas anteriores. Descreve-se a maneira como as fontes clássicas nomearam o império ao longo do tempo, com atenção particular à formulação de autores mais antigos como Heródoto, Ésquilo e Tucídides. O autor se esforça para explicar em cada caso o uso de hgemonía, arch e até mesmo pólis para designar o Império Persa. Por fim, o autor examina a terminologia de Heródoto usada para designar o Império Aquemênida e como ela demonstra uma estratégia de alusões e ressonâncias com implicações críticas quanto à política expansionista de Atenas. Propõe-se que Atenas incorporou as ideias persas de império, enquanto, paradoxalmente, denunciava sua violência e tirania internacional. Essa postura contraditória teve seus impactos sobre historiadores como Heródoto e Tucídides e é uma chave interpretativa instrutiva para as Histórias. / This thesis aims to analyze Greek perceptions of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and other Near Eastern empires taken as political entities, emphasizing the early look of Herodotus. The author first summarizes the state of scholarly research on Herodotus Histories and Greek attitudes towards Persia in an effort to clarify the complexity of Greco-Persian relations, which, according to the most recent research, were not only hostile, but also full of receptivity. The author examines next Assyrian and Persian ideas of empire and their concrete imperial organizations. One analyzes at length Persian royal iconography and political concepts such as bumi- and xaça-, concluding that these could convey an innovative idea of empire, albeit deeply rooted in older Mesopotamian traditions. One describes the way classical sources named the empire over time, with particular attention to the wording of early authors such as Herodotus, Aeschylus, and Thucydides. The author strives to explain in each case the use of hgemonía, arch, and even pólis to designate the Persian Empire. Finally, the author examines Herodotus terminology to name the Achaemenid Empire and how it conveys a strategy of allusions and resonances with critical overtones towards Athenian expansive policy. One proposes that Athens paradoxically incorporated Persian ideas of empire, while publicly denouncing Persian violence and international tyranny. This contradictory stance had its impacts over historians such as Herodotus and Thucydides and it is an instructive interpretative key to the Histories.

This dissertation considers Aeschylus’ Persae and portions of Herodotus’ Histories as attempts to shape memories of the Greco-Persian Wars by invocation of material evidence at very different moments in the fifth century BCE. Given the literary and archaeological nature of our surviving Greek evidence, this consideration is a necessary part of the larger project towards which I work: a history of Persian interactions with Greek sanctuaries during the Greco-Persian Wars. Greek archaeological evidence offers one set of comparative perspectives on these interactions. I attempt to place Aeschylus and Herodotus in dialogue with this evidence in chapters two and three. Herodotus, unlike Aeschylus, depicts respectful Achaemenid behavior at Greek sanctuaries during the Greco-Persian Wars. To contextualize this depiction, I examine earlier sources from the western Achaemenid Empire in chapter four. In so doing, I build on methodology demonstrated in the introductory chapter to consider a second set of comparative perspectives. Close reading of Herodotus in parallel to these sources provides a basis for fully examining types of behavior which have often been explained away in previous scholarship on the historian. Notably, Herodotus’ depiction, unlike our surviving earlier sources from the western Achaemenid Empire, often considers how such behavior relates to more violent aspects of conquest, and as such provides a contrast to these surviving earlier sources. I suggest that this contrast—Herodotus’ depiction of both sacrilege and respectful behavior—can be understood in his historical moment. And yet this suggestion is but a beginning.

O objetivo desta dissertação é investigar o fragmento III.80-82 das Histórias, no qual Heródoto narra um debate entre três nobres persas, ocorrido em 522 a.C.. O que estava em discussão era a melhor forma de governo a ser adotada pela Pérsia após a morte do usurpador Smérdis. No chamado debate persa, Otanes propôs a adoção de uma constituição democrática, Megabizo sugeriu a instituição de uma oligarquia, e Dario, por fim, defendeu a manutenção da monarquia a ideia que venceu o debate. Nossa proposta é analisar a construção de um pensamento político nas Histórias, com o suporte da filosofia política, de modo a demonstrar que o autor pode ser classificado como um pensador político não-sistemático. Além disso, esse estudo demonstra a possibilidade da leitura do documento indicar a existência de seis formas de governo, sendo três constituições boas, e suas três versões degeneradas. / The objective of this study is investigate about the fragment III.80-82 of Herodotus Histories, in which the author describes a debate between three noble Persians, in 522 B.C.. They have been discussing the best form of government to be adopted in Persia after the death of Smérdis the usurper. In the Persian debate, Otanes proposed a democratic constitution, Megabyzus suggested an oligarchy, and after then Darius defended the maintenance of the monarchy the idea such win the debate. Our goal is to analyze the construction of a political thought in Histories, with the support of political philosophy, to show the author can be considered as a political thinking non-systematized. Besides, this work demonstrates a possibility to understand the document like a scheme of the six forms of government, with three good constitutions, and another three its bad versions.

This thesis argues that sanctuaries of the gods played a significant role in the political life of the Greek polis in the archaic and classical periods, and that the politics of the period cannot be understood fully without consideration of religion. It uses the text of Herodotos as a source of evidence about the history and perceptions of the period, but also makes use of other literary and archaeological evidence, so that the resulting models may be considered generally useful for the study of the period. Ch. 1 lays out the background to the subject; ch. 2 is an analysis of the activities related to sanctuaries described by Herodotos; ch. 3 examines sanctuaries as the meeting places of federations of Greek states, as well as investigating the nature of sanctuaries as areas of bounded space, showing that political meetings were frequently, if not always, held in sanctuaries, and that this was perceived as allowing some divine influence on decisions; ch. 4 investigates the dedications made at sanctuaries by foreigners, as part of a diplomatic process, showing that they provided a means of access to the polis as well as the god; ch. 5 compares the dedication of booty at sanctuaries with the construction of the battlefield trophy; ch. 6 argues that Herodotos portrays divine intervention as always happening through sanctuaries; ch. 7 argues that Herodotos' frequent mentions of Delphi are a sign of its importance in Greek history, not his own interest; ch. 8 draws some of these ideas together and suggests some general explanations for the importance of sanctuaries, as providing symbolic control of access to the polis, and bestowing authority on decisions taken by assemblies. Finally it suggests that Herodotos's inclusion of religious matters in his histories increases his importance as a source and an historian.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Lille III, 1976. / Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (p. 683-726).

O propósito desta dissertação é apresentar algumas idéias sobre o emprego das palavras relacionadas à visão no texto do Livro I das Histórias de Heródoto. O principal destaque é dado à relação entre ver e saber e as investigações de Heródoto. O segundo propósito, decorrente do primeiro, é verificar a importância dos oráculos no Livro I e buscar a relação (se existe) entre oráculos, sonhos, visões e a busca do conhecimento. / The purpose of this dissertation is to show some ideas about the use of words related to sight in the text of HerodotusHistories, Book I . The main focus is given to the existing relationship between seeing and knowing and Herodotus researches. The second purpose, built from the first one, is to evaluate the importance of oracles described in Book I and to seek the relationship of (if it exists) oracles, dreams, visions and the search for knowledge.