General ignorance of Western Africa His description of the chain of salt hills in the Sahara derived from doubtful information, collected at Thebes from a variety Attempt to identify the people and places on the modern map Narrative of Herodotus probably refers to the caravan route to- Station at Zuila twenty days' journey from Augila Intermediate station at Zala, supposed to be omitted by Hero- Explanation of the people's placing salt upon the soil Horns of kine perhaps bent forwards by artificial means Hunting of the Troglodyte black men in the mountains of Tibesti Story told by Herodotus of an expedition of five Nasamones to a large river flowing from west to east, and containing crocodiles, 572 II. Table of Herodotean weights, money, dry and liquid measures, and measurements of length IV. Voyage of Hanno, commander of the Carthaginians, round the parts of Libya which lie beyond the DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. Map of THE ANCIENT WORLD to illustrate Herodotus, to face title-page. Map of GREECE, MACEDONIA, THRACE, etc., to illustrate Herodotus, to be inserted between pages 26, 27. Plan of THE BATTLE OF PLATAEA, to face page 70. Plan of THERMOPYLAE, to face page 81. Plan of THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS, to face page 109. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. LIFE AND EDUCATION OF HERODOTUS. Birth of Herodotus (B. C. 484).- Contemporary state of Greece.Period of his travels.-Halicarnassus, its history.-Herodotus removes to Thurium. Extent of his travels.-His general information. Previous state of geographical science.-Homer, his notions of the universe (B. C. 900).-Extent of his geographical knowledge.-Hesiod (B. c. 750).— Aeschylus (B. c. 500).-Pindar.-Seylax of Caryanda. Hecataeus of Miletus. Conjectures of philosophers passed over by Herodotus.-Review of his old age. CHAP. I. HERODOTUS was born B. c. 484, at Halicarnassus, INTROD. a Dorian colony on the south-western coast of Asia Minor. Birth of B. C. 484. Contempo Greece. The half century prior to his birth had been the Herodotus, era of vast changes, political and social. The conquests of the early Persian kings had brought the rary state of whole world of civilization, with the solitary exception of European Greece, under the unity of a single sceptre. Hitherto the nations of the earth had been as jealous as China, as inhospitable as Japan. But now the feet of merchants were unfettered; and philosophic travellers obeyed their exploring instincts, and carried the light of truth into the regions of fable. Next came the invasions of Greece. Six years before the birth of Herodotus the generals of Darius were beaten back from Marathon. In the fifth year of his infancy, the river-draining millions of Xerxes entered Europe with sword and brand to massacre and to destroy. Then came the fearful conflict, the struggle for lives and homes, lands and deities; but disciplined heroism and desperate valour scattered the overwhelming armaments of Asia, B INTROD. and Thermopylae and Salamis became immortal СНАР. 1. Period of his travels. Halicarnassus, its history. names. The swell from that great storm was yet angry, Hellas was yet smarting from her scars, but exulting in her victories, when Herodotus wandered forth to see, to touch, and to explore. The story of the great contest was still ringing in his cars, still rife in men's mouths; but the exact date is uncertain.' The circumstances of his father and the character of his mother are totally unknown; and such faint glimmerings of light as can be thrown upon his life and education must be derived from general history and doubtful tradition.2 Halicarnassus was a small Asiatic state, originally belonging to the Hexapolis, or confederacy of six Dorian colonies, on the coast of Caria and the neighbouring islands. It never attained historical eminence, and shortly before the birth of Herodotus had forfeited its privilege as a member of the Hexapolis, for having set the common laws of the confederacy at defiance. Subsequently the government of Halicarnassus was united with that of the neighbouring islands of Cos, Calydna, and Nysirus, under the dependent sceptre of the celebrated Artemisia, who so faithfully served the cause of Xerxes, and attracted the open admiration of the historian.5 Whilst the Greeks were following up their brilliant successes by admitting the islands of the Aegean into their confederacy, the little Carian 1 One fact has been brought forward by Dr. Dahlmann, to throw some light upon the period of Herodotus's travels. Herodotus saw in Aegypt the skulls of those who were slain by Inarus the Libyan (iii. 12). The war in which Inarus was engaged lasted six years, viz. from B. c. 462 to 456. Now Herodotus was not likely to have entered Aegypt during this bloody period, and especially could not have reached Memphis, where the war raged for a considerable time. At the conclusion of the contest he must have been about twenty-eight, and we may therefore suppose him to be in Aegypt in his thirtieth year. Life of Herod. ch. ii. § 2. 2 For a more detailed account of the times of Herodotus, see Dahlmann, Life of Herod, chap. i. § 3; also an excellent article on the Philosophy of Herodotus, in Blackwood's Mag. Jan. 1842. 3 The Halicarnassians were colonists from the city of Troezene in Argolis (vii. 99). 4 i. 144. 5 vii. 99. |