then, through overconfidence, inevitably overextend themselves and suffer retribution, is clearly related to
the conventional piety, according to which individuals are liable to divine retribution for behavior
inappropriate to mere mortals.
Instances of divine retribution are not uncommon in Herodotus’ history, but Herodotus (like some
investigators even today) seems to have had no difficulty allowing some events to be explained both by
natural causes and by divine intervention. So, for example, before Xerxes’ troops cross over into Europe,
Herodotus puts into the mouth of one of Xerxes’ advisers a lucid appraisal of the dangers that so large a
force is likely to face: The land and the sea, he tells Xerxes, will become our enemies; there are not
enough harbors in Greece to accommodate so large a fleet, leaving many vessels unprotected from the
elements; and the land is too poor to supply provisions for an army of this vast size. Later, Herodotus
records that on two occasions storms arose, of the sort that are quite common in the Aegean at just that
time of year, wrecking several of the Persian ships. In one instance, Herodotus explicitly attributes the
destruction to divine activity, saying that it was intended “to make the Persian fleet equal in size to the
Greek.” In the other instance, he hints at divine agency by telling us that the winds that brought the storm
came from the direction of the Hellespont; Xerxes had earlier whipped and insulted the Hellespont for
causing the failure of his first attempt at bridging it. To Herodotus, there is no incompatibility between a
“natural” and a divine explanation. The Greeks of the fifth century BC did not in fact have a concept that
corresponds to our notion of “nature.” When Xerxes bridges the Hellespont and cuts a canal through the
peninsula at Mount Athos, he is violating what we might perhaps regard as the natural order of things, by
making dry land appear where formerly there was water and vice versa. For Herodotus, as for Aeschylus
before him, these actions are those of a man who behaves as only a god is entitled to act. To punish him,
therefore, rests with the gods, who take offense or, as Herodotus likes to put it, are jealous of their own
prerogative.
“You are aware that it is always at the largest buildings and the tallest trees that the god hurls his
lightning-bolts. That is because the god has a tendency to deflate everything that is overgrown. And
so, even a huge army can be wiped out by a small one. How can that be? Well, whenever the god,
being indignant, inflicts panic or hurls a thunderbolt, it suffers a humiliating defeat. The god does not
allow anyone but himself to feel self-important.” (Herodotus, 7.10e, a Persian adviser warning
Xerxes of the dangers of attacking Greece)For Herodotus, naturally, the gods are a universal force. But he recognizes that different peoples worship
the gods in different ways and call them by different names. Indeed, he is well aware, probably as a result
of his extensive travels, that in general the customs of one people differ considerably from those of other
peoples. A surprisingly large proportion of Herodotus’ narrative is taken up with a detailed description of
the customs of the Persians, the Ethiopians, the Scythians, and a host of other nations. In addition, he
provides us with accounts of the physical characteristics of several of these peoples and with details of
the topography and climate of the lands that they inhabit. In fact, the entire second book of his nine-book
work is givenover to an extended treatment of the history and ethnography of Egypt and the Egyptians. In
part, this fascination with foreign nations and their customs is a product of Herodotus’ boundless
inquisitiveness and his passion for sharing with his reader the many curious bits of information that he has
amassed. There is also a deeper, more programmatic reason for his inclusion of this type of material in a
work of history. We have seen that Herodotus’ primary concern is to understand the causes of historical
events, and he recognizes that such things as the natural landscape and traditional patterns of behavior
often determine the way events turn out. So, for example, Herodotus’ narrative makes it clear that the
failure of the Persian King Darius to annex the territory of the Scythians is largely a result of the