ARCHIVE - *Supplemental - Herodotus and Tragedy

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

This is a supplemental thread. This is not a no spoiler thread; here readers may post discussions related to the idea of Herodotus and Tragedy.

I am recommending the Cambridge Companion to Herodotus by Carolyn Dewald and John Marincola to help further this discussion. This is an excellent companion to anybody reading Herodotus and there is an essay in this addition which will aid in this discussion - specifically the one by Jasper Griffin on pages 46 - 59.

Please note:

This thread's discussion must be confined to this topic area. The entire book may be discussed here if it is focused on this thread's topic. Off Topic discussions should be relegated to the Off Topic Cafe.

For those readers who do not want to read any spoilers; participate only on the weekly threads located at the top of the group board. As everyone is aware, the book/section threads are the official "no spoiler threads" and if discussion veers off course or into portions not yet discussed in the book, then one needs to mark it and note that the text that is to follow is a Potential Spoiler.

These supplemental threads do not have this same rule; so if you are reading HERODOTUS for the first time, you might want to remain on the weekly BOOK/SECTION threads until you are much further along and not visit the supplemental threads.

Of course, the approach the reader takes is left up to them and we are providing both options.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

I thought it was interesting what Jasper said on page 47:

He mentioned first that like other tragic poets; Herodotus starts with the myths.

"Occasionally Herodotus shows signs of a very different attitude, dismissing the people of myth as simply different, or as beyond the reach of proper knowledge, but more usually his attitude seems to be one of acceptance. They were part of reality."

It is obvious that to Herodotus the myths were part of his reality. In fact, many writers and classicists thought that he was the most Homeric and I have to agree. Griffin also points out how Herodotus was a friend of Sophocles and that Sophocles addressed Herodotus in a poem around 445-440 BCE (a fragment of which survives). Griffin feels that Sophocles as a tragedian drew upon the historian and not in reverse.

Was Herodotus writing a history or a tragedy or both?