Study Questions: Herodotus Histories 2-4

(Blanco/Roberts Edition)

Book 2: Herodotus' Histories

0. How did the Egyptian king Psammetichus discover who the world's most ancient people were? What sources for this story did Herodotus consult? (75)

1. What did the Greeks learn from the Egyptians about religion and the gods? Why does Herodotus believe his sources? (75-76)

2. Why does Herodotus call Egypt ":a gift from the river"? What fact proves this? (76)

3.Why does Herodotus mention the road from Athens to Pisa? How long is this road? (76)

4. Why does Herodotus believe that Egypt was once a gulf? (77-78)

5. What is the Ionian theory with which Herodotus disagrees? What are his arguments? (79-80)

6. What three ancient theories about the flooding of the Nile does Herodotus mention, and what does he think of these? (80-81)

7. What did Herodotus learn about the source of the Nile?

8. What reason does Herodotus offer for including so much information about Egypt in his Histories? (85)

9. What are six Egyptian customs which Herodotus describes?

10. What does Herodotus say about circumcision, and about the habits of Egyptian priests? ((86)

11. Why will "no Egyptian man or woman...ever kiss a Greek man on the mouth, or use a Greek's knife or fork or kettle"?

12. How does Egyptian reverence for bovines relate to what the Persian king Cambyses does to Apis in book 3 (see summary on page 108, and the death of Cambyses on page 111)

13. What international research did Herodotus do to show that Heracles is an ancient god? (88-89)

14. What "foolish" tale do the Greeks tell that Herodotus says cannot be true? Why can it not be true? (89)

15. What did Egyptians think of pigs? What examples does Herodotus cite to show this?

16. How do the Egyptians worship Dionysus? What was Melampus' role in Dionysiac religion? (90-91)

17. How does Herodotus think that the Greeks got their names for the gods? (91)

18. Where did the Athenians -- according to Herodotus -- get the habit of making statues of Hermes with an erect penis? (91)

19. When does Herodotus think that Hesiod and Homer lived, and what does he say their contributions to Greek knowledge were? (92)

20. How does Herodotus describe the Egyptian origin of the oracle of Zeus at Dodona (in northwestern Greece)? (92-93)

21. What two religious sexual taboos do the Greeks and Egyptians share? (94-95)

22. What do Egyptians do when their cats and dogs die? (95)

23. How do Egyptians honor their sacred crocodiles? (96)

24. What does Herodotus tell us about winged snakes? (97)

25. How do the Egyptians embalm their dead? (99-100)

26. How do Egyptians protect themselves from mosquitoes, and how is one of these methods related to the English word "canopy?" (Look it up!) (102)

27. What did Proteus the king of Egypt have to do with Paris (Alexander) and the Trojan War? What evidence does Herodotus give about Homer's knowledge of this story? (103-105)

28. Why, according to Herodotus, did Menelaus go to Egypt after the Trojan War, and what act of impiety did he commit there? (106)

29. Why does Herodotus agree with the Egyptian priests' version of the Helen story? (106)

Book 3: Herodotus' Histories

30. What story did Herodotus tell (in book 3) that proved that Pindar was right when he said that custom was "king of everything"? (108)

31. What advice did Amasis give to Polycrates, and why? What did Amasis learn from Polycrates' subsequent letter? (108-110)

32. How did a dream cause the Persian king Cambyses to kill his brother? (110-112)

33. How did the Persian king Cambyses die? How was his death his own fault? (111-112)

34. How was the false Smerdis discovered as being the Magus, and not the son of Cyrus? (113-114)

35. What does "Magophonia" mean, and why is it celebrated? What happens on this day in Persia? (115-117)

36. What are Otanes' arguments for setting up a Democracy in Persia? (117-118)

37. What are Megabyzus' arguments in favor of setting up an Oligarchy in Persia? (118)

38. What are Darius' arguments in favor of continuing a monarchy in Persia? (1180119)

39. How did the conspirators decide who would get the throne of Persia? Do you think this was a reasonable method? Why or why not? (119)

40. How did horse sex help Darius win the throne of Persia (two stories), and how did Darius publicly commemorate this event? (119-120)

41. What does Herodotus say about Indian customs? What does he say about their men's semen?

42. How do the Indians get most of their gold, according to Herodotus? (120-122)

Book 4: Herodotus' Histories

43. How does Herodotus tell us that he knows that Libya (= Africa) is surrounded completely by water? (123-125)

44. How did Darius the Persian king attempt to find out whether the Indus river flows into the sea? (125-126)

45. What does Herodotus mean when he writes: "The nature of Europe is not clearly understood by anybody"? (126)

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