Herodotus Persian War

Herodotus was an interesting historian. His way of displaying a historical event such as the Persian War is different from how I expect a modern day historian to write it. He does not try to focus only on the Persian war but he goes into detail some times of the lineage of the rulers of the city-states even though that serves little relevance to the actual war. The accounts of history I am used to reading are more focused on the bigger issue and the historians do not deviate on long trains of side thoughts such as Herodotus does. Herodotus style of writing had me confused because he often would start on one topic and in the next couple of sentences move on to another topic before coming back to his main point about a paragraph down. I had to

His timeline of the events in the war seemed accurate because they flowed in cause and effect fashion. I think his timeline is accurate because he had the ability to collect firsthand accounts of the Persian war since it did not end too long ago from when he wrote this piece on the war. However he leaves out details such as which contingents in the Ionian fleets were helpful and which were not as he says he “cannot relate for certain which Ionian contingents fought well and which fought ill; as reports are confused” (p. 349). Herodotus form of writing is confusing but it is enjoyable to read if you enjoy the extra trivial facts such as input from oracles and the lineage of power in the battling city-states.

To my understanding of the reading, the Persian war was a result of the tyrant of Miletus, Histiaeus, backstabbing king Darius of Persia. Histiaeus was supposed to conquer Sardinia and place them under the control of Persia but instead he planned of claiming Sardinia for himself. Histiaeus writes a

In the years that follow Persia grows its empire. Then king Darius decides to force the Ionians to settle their differences by sending his son-in-law Mardonius to suppress the tyrants and set up a democracy. Along with those objectives Mardonius also had another motive for his trip. King Darius instructed him to “subjugate as many Greek towns as he could” (p. 338). Herodotus shows a big difference between his beliefs and the beliefs of most modern day historians while describing Mardonius’ journey. Herodotus gives a report of a wreck in Athos and says that those who did not drown were eaten because “the sea in the neighbourhood of Athos is full of monsters” (p. 338). This is contrary to what I think a modern day historian would say happened in this ship wreck. According to Herodotus this wreck does not stop the Persians from subduing the Brygi,a Macedonian tribe that attacked the Persian fleets. This account exemplifies the brute strength of the Persian army because even after a loss they are able to overpower a tribe of people. The Persians are known for their organization so it was only right that they return back to Asia in order to regroup after losing so much during the shipwreck and battle with the Brygi. The Persians battle tactics appear to involve large fleets of ships. These fleets include