Introduction and Origins of the Persian-Greek Conflict
These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes,
in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what
men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of
the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due meed of glory;
and withal to put on record what were their grounds of feuds. According
to the Persians best informed in history, the Phoenicians began to
quarrel. This people, who had formerly dwelt on the shores of the
Erythraean Sea, having migrated to the Mediterranean and settled in
the parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure
on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt
and Assyria. They landed at many places on the coast, and among the
rest at Argos, which was then preeminent above all the states included
now under the common name of Hellas. Here they exposed their merchandise,
and traded with the natives for five or six days; at the end of which
time, when almost everything was sold, there came down to the beach
a number of women, and among them the daughter of the king, who was,
they say, agreeing in this with the Greeks, Io, the child of Inachus.
The women were standing by the stern of the ship intent upon their
purchases, when the Phoenicians, with a general shout, rushed upon
them. The greater part made their escape, but some were seized and
carried off. Io herself was among the captives. The Phoenicians put
the women on board their vessel, and set sail for Egypt. Thus did
Io pass into Egypt, according to the Persian story, which differs
widely from the Phoenician: and thus commenced, according to their
authors, the series of outrages.
At a later period, certain Greeks, with whose name they are unacquainted,
but who would probably be Cretans, made a landing at Tyre, on the
Phoenician coast, and bore off the king's daughter, Europe. In this
they only retaliated; but afterwards the Greeks, they say, were guilty
of a second violence. They manned a ship of war, and sailed to Aea,
a city of Colchis, on the river Phasis; from whence, after despatching
the rest of the business on which they had come, they carried off
Medea, the daughter of the king of the land. The monarch sent a herald
into Greece to demand reparation of the wrong, and the restitution
of his child; but the Greeks made answer that, having received no
reparation of the wrong done them in the seizure of Io the Argive,
they should give none in this instance.
In the next generation afterwards, according to the same authorities,
Alexander the son of Priam, bearing these events in mind, resolved
to procure himself a wife out of Greece by violence, fully persuaded,
that as the Greeks had not given satisfaction for their outrages,
so neither would he be forced to make any for his. Accordingly he
made prize of Helen; upon which the Greeks decided that, before resorting
to other measures, they would send envoys to reclaim the princess
and require reparation of the wrong. Their demands were met by a reference
to the violence which had been offered to Medea, and they were asked
with what face they could now require satisfaction, when they had
formerly rejected all demands for either reparation or restitution
addressed to them.
Hitherto the injuries on either side had been mere acts of common
violence; but in what followed the Persians consider that the Greeks
were greatly to blame, since before any attack had been made on Europe,
they led an army into Asia. Now as for the carrying off of women,
it is the deed, they say, of a rogue: but to make a stir about such
as are carried off, argues a man a fool. Men of sense care nothing
for such women, since it is plain that without their own consent they
would never be forced away. The Asiatics, when the Greeks ran off
with their women, never troubled themselves about the matter; but
the Greeks, for the sake of a single Lacedaemonian girl, collected
a vast armament, invaded Asia, and destroyed the kingdom of Priam.
Henceforth they ever looked upon the Greeks as their open enemies.
For Asia, with all the various tribes of barbarians that inhabit it,
is regarded by the Persians as their own; but Europe and the Greek
race they look on as distinct and separate.
Such is the account which the Persians give of these matters. They
trace to the attack upon Troy their ancient enmity towards the Greeks.
The Phoenicians, however, as regards Io, vary from the Persian statements.
They deny that they used any violence to remove her into Egypt; she
herself, they say, having formed an intimacy with the captain, while
his vessel lay at Argos, and perceiving herself to be with child,
of her own free will accompanied the Phoenicians on their leaving
the shore, to escape the shame of detection and the reproaches of
her parents. Whether this latter account be true, or whether the matter
happened otherwise, I shall not discuss further. I shall proceed at
once to point out the person who first within my own knowledge inflicted
injury on the Greeks, after which I shall go forward with my history,
describing equally the greater and the lesser cities. For the cities
which were formerly great have most of them become insignificant;
and such as are at present powerful, were weak in the olden time.
I shall therefore discourse equally of both, convinced that human
happiness never continues long in one stay.
in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what
men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of
the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due meed of glory;
and withal to put on record what were their grounds of feuds. According
to the Persians best informed in history, the Phoenicians began to
quarrel. This people, who had formerly dwelt on the shores of the
Erythraean Sea, having migrated to the Mediterranean and settled in
the parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure
on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt
and Assyria. They landed at many places on the coast, and among the
rest at Argos, which was then preeminent above all the states included
now under the common name of Hellas. Here they exposed their merchandise,
and traded with the natives for five or six days; at the end of which
time, when almost everything was sold, there came down to the beach
a number of women, and among them the daughter of the king, who was,
they say, agreeing in this with the Greeks, Io, the child of Inachus.
The women were standing by the stern of the ship intent upon their
purchases, when the Phoenicians, with a general shout, rushed upon
them. The greater part made their escape, but some were seized and
carried off. Io herself was among the captives. The Phoenicians put
the women on board their vessel, and set sail for Egypt. Thus did
Io pass into Egypt, according to the Persian story, which differs
widely from the Phoenician: and thus commenced, according to their
authors, the series of outrages.
At a later period, certain Greeks, with whose name they are unacquainted,
but who would probably be Cretans, made a landing at Tyre, on the
Phoenician coast, and bore off the king's daughter, Europe. In this
they only retaliated; but afterwards the Greeks, they say, were guilty
of a second violence. They manned a ship of war, and sailed to Aea,
a city of Colchis, on the river Phasis; from whence, after despatching
the rest of the business on which they had come, they carried off
Medea, the daughter of the king of the land. The monarch sent a herald
into Greece to demand reparation of the wrong, and the restitution
of his child; but the Greeks made answer that, having received no
reparation of the wrong done them in the seizure of Io the Argive,
they should give none in this instance.
In the next generation afterwards, according to the same authorities,
Alexander the son of Priam, bearing these events in mind, resolved
to procure himself a wife out of Greece by violence, fully persuaded,
that as the Greeks had not given satisfaction for their outrages,
so neither would he be forced to make any for his. Accordingly he
made prize of Helen; upon which the Greeks decided that, before resorting
to other measures, they would send envoys to reclaim the princess
and require reparation of the wrong. Their demands were met by a reference
to the violence which had been offered to Medea, and they were asked
with what face they could now require satisfaction, when they had
formerly rejected all demands for either reparation or restitution
addressed to them.
Hitherto the injuries on either side had been mere acts of common
violence; but in what followed the Persians consider that the Greeks
were greatly to blame, since before any attack had been made on Europe,
they led an army into Asia. Now as for the carrying off of women,
it is the deed, they say, of a rogue: but to make a stir about such
as are carried off, argues a man a fool. Men of sense care nothing
for such women, since it is plain that without their own consent they
would never be forced away. The Asiatics, when the Greeks ran off
with their women, never troubled themselves about the matter; but
the Greeks, for the sake of a single Lacedaemonian girl, collected
a vast armament, invaded Asia, and destroyed the kingdom of Priam.
Henceforth they ever looked upon the Greeks as their open enemies.
For Asia, with all the various tribes of barbarians that inhabit it,
is regarded by the Persians as their own; but Europe and the Greek
race they look on as distinct and separate.
Such is the account which the Persians give of these matters. They
trace to the attack upon Troy their ancient enmity towards the Greeks.
The Phoenicians, however, as regards Io, vary from the Persian statements.
They deny that they used any violence to remove her into Egypt; she
herself, they say, having formed an intimacy with the captain, while
his vessel lay at Argos, and perceiving herself to be with child,
of her own free will accompanied the Phoenicians on their leaving
the shore, to escape the shame of detection and the reproaches of
her parents. Whether this latter account be true, or whether the matter
happened otherwise, I shall not discuss further. I shall proceed at
once to point out the person who first within my own knowledge inflicted
injury on the Greeks, after which I shall go forward with my history,
describing equally the greater and the lesser cities. For the cities
which were formerly great have most of them become insignificant;
and such as are at present powerful, were weak in the olden time.
I shall therefore discourse equally of both, convinced that human
happiness never continues long in one stay.