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Herodotus: Egypt
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Herodotus ... wrote about the appearance of the priests. He noticed that the Egyptian priests had shaven heads, while priests from other lands kept their hair long. The Egyptians, in his opinion, were the most religious nation than any other he had known. The monuments that he witnessed also filled him with wonder. He even considered Egypt to have more monuments than any other country in the world. The Nile River was also a target for his writings, which were considered valuable. Before the beginning of Egyptology in the nineteenth century, Herodotus’ writings were the main source of information pertaining to Egypt.
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It is likely that these twenty-eight logoi originated in twenty-eight lectures, and that at one point Herodotus decided to collect them in one continuous text. Having decided to create one single text, he faced a serious problem. His logoi were about very dissimilar subjects -e.g., a description of Egypt, a logos about Scythian customs, and a narrative about the Persian diplomacy in the winter of 480/479- and it was likely that this collection of logoi would become a messy text. Herodotus has recognized this problem, and decided to group everything around one single theme: the expansion of the Persian Empire between 550 and 479. Lectures on topography and ethnography now became integrated chapters of a historical chronicle.
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The travels of Herodotus seem to have been chiefly accomplished between his twentieth and his thirty-seventh year (464-447 BC). It was probably in his early manhood that as a Persian subject he visited Susa and Babylon, taking advantage of the Persian system of posts which he describes in his fifth book. His residence in Egypt must, on the other hand, have been subsequent to 460 BC, since he saw the skulls of the Persians slain by Inarus in that year. Skulls are rarely visible on a battlefield for more than two or three seasons after the fight, and we may therefore presume that it was during the reign of Inarus (460-454 BC), when the Athenians had great authority in Egypt, that he visited the country, making himself known as a learned Greek, and therefore receiving favor and attention on the part of the Egyptians, who were so much beholden to his countrymen. On his return from Egypt, as he proceeded along the Syrian shore, he seems to have landed at Tyre, and from there to have gone to Thasos. His Scythian travels are thought to have taken place prior to 450 BC.
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At some time before 449 BC, Herodotus left the city and returned home. It was not long after that-- 446 at the latest-- that Herodotus set out on his third great expedition, this time to Egypt. While in the northern, delta region of the country, Herodotus spent his time with the Egyptian priests, who told the Greek of their history, culture, and science. He was intrigued with the differences between Greek and Egyptian priests,<28> the differences in climates and cultures and with the deep and rich history of the region.
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To Herodotus the teller of tales, these "world inverted" stories must have been among his greatest successes. Nothing was more funny to a Greek than to hear about Egypt, where women urinate standing. But Herodotus never presents it as if he is joking. Strange customs have his sincere interest, not his contempt. It is as if he wants to show how much diversity there can be in human culture: other cultures are not just a little bit dissimilar, they can be completely different.
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Discoveries made since the end of the 19th century have helped to rehabilitate Herodotus' reputation a great deal. The archaeological study of the now submerged ancient Egyptian city of Heraklion and the recovery of the so-called 'Naucratis stela' lends substantial credence to Herodotus' previously unsupported claim that Heraklion was founded under the Egyptian New Kingdom. [1]. Because of this recent increase in respect for his accuracy, as well as the quality and content of his observations, Herodotus is now recognized as a pioneer not only in history, but in ethnography and anthropology as well.
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