went to Egypt, to Gaza and Tyre, to Babylon, to Scythia and throughout the northern
Aegean. In his addiction to travel (at a time when it was difficult and hazardous) and
in his insatiable curiosity about men and manners, he can be likened in spirit to the
Homeric Odysseus, and just as ‘many-minded’ Homer has respect for all his char-
acters regardless of whether they are Greek or non-Greek, so Herodotus transcends
his nationality in his tolerance, openness and sympathy, to the extent that he could
later be criticized for being over-fond of the foreign, philobarbaros. He admires
Egyptian achievements in medicine and philosophy, rightly regarding Egypt as the
teacher of Greece. He admires, too, the courage and honesty of the enemies of
Greece. The Persians are not simply seen as uncivilized hordes in the way that
westerners have often seen, for example, the Turks. On national customs and beliefs
he has the following instruction:
... if one were to order all mankind to choose the best set of rules in the world,
each group would, after due consideration, choose its own customs; each group
regards its own as being by far the best.... there is plenty of other evidence to
support the idea that this opinion of one’s own customs is universal, but here is
one instance. During Darius’ reign, he invited some Greeks who were present to
a conference, and asked them how much money it would take for them to be
prepared to eat the corpses of their fathers; they replied that they would not do
that for any amount of money. Next, Darius summoned some members of the
Indian tribe known as Collatiae, who eat their parents, and asked them in the
presence of the Greeks, with an interpreter present so that they could understand
what was being said, how much money it would take for them to be willing to
cremate their fathers’ corpses; they cried out in horror and told him not to say such
appalling things. So these practices have become enshrined as customs just as
they are, and I think Pindar was right to have said in his poem that custom is king
of all.
(3, 38)
There is a strong element of relativism here. If we are divided by custom, then in some
fundamental respects all men are equal: ‘Because I believe that everyone is equal in
terms of religious knowledge, I do not see any point in relating anything I was told
about the gods, except their names alone’ (2, 3).
It will follow from this that Herodotus does not write in the belief that the Greeks
are the chosen people of the gods whose victory is divinely ordained. Greek history,
recognizing a universal pattern of rise and fall, is not teleological on the Jewish
pattern. On the other hand, Herodotus does clearly believe that the gods do intervene
in human affairs. Recording the view of Egyptian priests that Helen and the treasure
at Sparta stolen by Paris had been removed to Egypt and that the Greeks did not
36 THE GREEKS