CLGR 412
Herodotus Fall 2022
Division I
This is not the current course catalog

This course will focus on the reading in Greek of Herodotus’ Histories, his multivalent and deeply human account of how and why several hundred years of contact and conflict between the Greek city-states and non-Greek peoples to the east culminated in the Persian invasion of Greece. We will explore the ways in which his rich narrative style and intellectual landscape reflect the influence of Greek and near-eastern oral traditions, Ionian philosophical thought, Greek tragedy, and contemporary Athenian rhetoric and philosophy. We will also study his use of anthropological methods, ethnography, and geography in explaining human events. Among the many themes that permeate his work, we will pay special attention to the working of divine versus human justice, the mutability of human affairs, the nature of authority, the role of family, and the quest for wisdom.