In Antiquity, books consisted of papyrus scrolls. Our division of the Histories in nine "books" goes back to an edition by scholars of the third century BCE, working in the great library of Alexandria. There are strong indications that this is not the original division; probably, Herodotus thought about his oeuvre as a collection of twenty-eight lectures. (On this matter: Silvana Cagnazzi, "Tavola dei 28 logoi di Erodoto" in Hermes 103 [1975], page 385-423. I have deviated from Cagnazzi's division on minor points.) First logos: the story of king Croesus (1.1-1.94) The Histories open with a prologue in which the author announces that he will describe the conflict between the Greek and the non-Greek peoples (= Persians) and will explain how they came into conflict. The man who was responsible for this, was king Croesus of Lydia, a country in the west of modern Turkey. He was the first to subject the Ionian Greeks (living in Asia). After some short stories about Croesus' court, Herodotus returns to his main theme: the conflict with Persia. Croesus is worried about the increasing power of his neighbors, and decides to attack them. First, he sends many very impressive presents to the oracle of Delphi; the god Apollo suggests him to ally himself with the most powerful Greek city-state, Sparta. The Spartans, however, are too late to offer help and the Persian king Cyrus captures the Lydian capital Sardes.

Croesus is taken prisoner, and placed on a pyre, but is miraculously saved by Apollo. Seeing that Croesus is divinely protected, Cyrus allows the former king to send an envoys to Delphi to ask the god if it is the habit of Greek gods to be so unappreciative. The god of Delphi replies that not even he can escape destiny; and even though he had been eager that the downfall of the Lydian monarchy occurred in the time of Croesus' sons rather than in his own, he had been unable to divert the course of Fate. This logos ends with a digression on Lydian customs. Lydia was well known for its gold; the wealth of Croesus, the first to mint gold, was proverbial. (A picture of one of these coins is added.) Consequently, this country in Western Turkey was a natural target of Cyrus' campaigns.

A cuneiform text from Babylon (year nine in the so-called Chronicle of Nabonidus) may enable us to assign a date to the end of the Lydian monarchy: 547 BCE. There is, however, a lacuna in the text. It merely says that Cyrus went north along the Tigris, defeated the Ly..., killed their king and took their capital. It is unclear whether this refers to Lydia (in which case Herodotus makes a mistake, since he thinks Croesus was spared) or to another, unknown kingdom (in which case Herodotus has ignored a campaign).

The Lydian kingdom was a great prize to win. Its river Pactolus carried gold, and the proverbially rich Croesus was the first to mint coins, which he used to pay mercenaries. Second logos: the rise of Cyrus (1.95-140) The next logos deals with Cyrus' rise to power. Herodotus starts his story with a brief account of the origin of the Median Empire. The Medes (in the west of modern Iran) were the first to shake off the yoke of the Assyrians, who used to rule all Asia. Herodotus mentions several Median kings and states that king Cyaxares "captured Nineveh and subdued the Assyrians, all except the territory belonging to Babylonia". Probably, the Medes were not a state (as Herodotus thinks) but a group of nomads, not really interested in city life. The true cause of the fall of the Assyrian Empire is unknown, but the fact that Babylonia had gained independence in 626 must have been a very important contributing factor. According to cuneiform texts, the Babylonian crown prince Nabu-kudurru-usur (the biblical Nebuchadnezzar) and the Median leader Umakishtar (Herodotus' Cyaxares) made an alliance in 614 BCE; even though Assyria obtained help from Egypt, the Babylonians and Medians destroyed Nineveh only two years later. (An eyewitness account can be found in the Bible: Nahum 2.1-10.) The Assyrian cities were occupied by the Babylonians, who advanced along the Mediterranean shores to punish Egypt; the Medes were content to take the Assyrian treasuries to their homeland. Herodotus' narrative can be reconciled with the cuneiform texts if we assume that his informers were Persians and/or Medes, and not Babylonians. Cyaxares' son Astyages is the next king of the Medes, and his daughter Mandane is married to a Persian named Cambyses, a "man he knew to be of good family and quiet habits". The Persians were subject to the Medes. A child is born: Cyrus. After some nightmares that predict the baby's future as lord of all Asia, Astyages decides to kill the child. Herodotus tells the fairy tale-like story of Cyrus' miraculous escape from danger; the boy grows up to become the bravest and most popular young man in Persia. Then, he receives a letter from a Median courtier named Harpagus, who has a grudge against Astyages and wants to remove him. When Cyrus revolts, Astyages foolishly makes Harpagus the commander of an army against the rebels; of course, the Median army defects to the Persians, and Astyages is imprisoned. From now on, Cyrus is the king of both Persia and the large Median empire. As we have seen, he added Lydia a few years later.

This logos ends with a description of several interesting Persian customs. We learn a little bit about their religion, about alcoholic beverages, about the way they greet people, about their dislike of lies, etcetera. Cuneiform texts indicate that Cyrus (Kurush) was in fact -like his father Kambûjiya- the king of Persia, which was subject to Media. After the elimination of Assyria, Babylonia had become a very powerful empire under its king Nebuchadnezzar, who had conquered the Phoenician cities in the west and had advanced as far as Jerusalem (the Jewish elite was deported to Babylonia in 587). The Medes had expanded their territories to the east to the Caspian Sea and to the north (where Cyaxares had fought an indecisive battle against Lydia in 585). It was inevitable that these empires would clash, and it seems that the Babylonian king Nabonidus (or Nabu-na'id, ruled 556-539) has invited Media's Persian subjects to revolt. The Chronicle of Nabonidus informs us that in 550 "the army of Ishtumegu revolted against him and in fetters they delivered him to Kurush" (year six).

Since Herodotus is unaware of the diplomatic schemes of the Babylonian king, we may assume that he was not using a Babylonian but a Persian source. This may be corroborated by the story of Mandane. On chronological grounds, it is extremely unlikely that Kurush was the son of Kambûjiya and a daughter of Astyages. The idea that the new king of Asia was the son of an alliance between a Persian nobleman and a Median princess may have been part of the official Persian propaganda.

Some of the customs Herodotus mentions can be corroborated and he seems well informed. However, he does not always understand what he is describing. The Persian religion was founded by a sage named Zarathustra, who had taught that there were only two gods, the wise lord Ahuramazda and the evil Ahriman. (Since only Ahuramazda was to be venerated, the exiled Jews in Babylonia considered Cyrus a monotheist like themselves.) All other gods were just angels or demons. The most remarkable aspect of this religion was the presence of an ethical message: no other pagan religion had postulated a dichotomy between good and evil, light and dark, truth and lies. (Hence the Persian dislike of lies.) Herodotus seems not to understand it completely. Remarkable is his description of the ritual intoxication by drinking haoma: he thinks that the Persians after making an important decision drink too much wine, make up their drunken minds and know that their decision was sound when they still see things the same way. (Before we conclude that Herodotus was stupid: it is possible that he knew Zaratushtra's theology very well, but hesitated to write it down. In his Egyptian logoi, he shows good knowledge of several sacred tales but refuses to be explicit. See below.) Third logos: affairs in Persia (1.141-216) Herodotus goes on to tell about Cyrus' adventures after his conquest of Media and Lydia. After his capture of Sardes (above), the Ionian cities that were subject to Croesus send embassies to prevent war, and the Spartans announce that they will support the Asian Greeks. At this point, Herodotus interrupts his narrative to digress on the towns of these Greek settlers in Asia. Cyrus ignores these embassies and returns to Media to defend the eastern provinces of his empire against the Scythians (below); Cyrus' friend Harpagus (above) makes quick work of the Ionian Greeks and the Lydians, who have revolted.

This Lydian revolt causes a short discussion between Cyrus and Croesus. Cyrus asks the former ruler of Lydia what to do. Croesus advises the great king to make sure that the Lydians forget how to fight and learn more peaceful arts. Soon, they will succumb to luxury and no longer be a threat. Cyrus recognizes that this is a sound advice.

Cyrus now rules a large kingdom, stretching from the Greek towns on the shores of the Aegean Sea. to the Persian Gulf in the south. Now he prepares to attack his former ally, king Labynetos of Babylonia. Herodotus gives a long description of its capital Babylon. Cyrus defeats the Babylonian troops and lays siege to their city; he is able to take it by directing the river Euphrates in another direction - when the water is shallow enough, his soldiers enter the city through the old water course. The Babylonians are surprised and surrender. (Click here for a translation of the story of Cyrus' campaign against Babylon.) After a digression on their customs, Herodotus describes Cyrus' campaign against the Massagetes, a nomadic tribe in modern Kazakhstan. Their queen Tomyris, however, defeats and kills Cyrus. This logos ends with a short appendix in which Herodotus informs us about the customs of the Massagetes. King Labynetos is identical with Nabonidus, but that's about all we can say for Herodotus' credibility. Cuneiform texts tell us the Babylonian side of the story: Nabonidus was afraid of the growing Persian power and spent much time finding allies in Arabia. Meanwhile, he was absent from Babylon, which its inhabitants did not appreciate. The Chronicle of Nabonidus (year seventeen) informs us that Cyrus defeated the Babylonian army in the neighborhood of modern Baghdad on October 10, 539 BCE; two days later, his commander-in-chief "Ugbaru" enters Babylon and captures Nabonidus. (His Persian name was Gaubaruva, a name usually translated into Greek as Gobryas.) Cyrus entered the city a few days later; his own story may be read over here. The event is well known from the Bible, because Cyrus allowed the exiled Jews to return home (see Ezra 1 and Isaiah 44-45).

Herodotus' description of the city is nonsensical. For example, he wants us to believe that the walls of Babylon are 100 meters high and 22 kilometres long; hundred bronze gates give access to the city. The great historian Edward Gibbon was one of the first to remark that Herodotus never set foot in the old city - causing a bitter polemic among the believers and skeptics which lasts until the present day. Probably, Gibbon was right and Herodotus had no access to Babylonian information.

Cyrus' violent death occurred in December 530. Book 2 Book 3 Book 4 Book 5 Book 6 Book 7 Book 8 Book 9