Download Historical sources on the Persian Wars

Historical sources on the Persian Wars
Herodotus
Herodotus (c.484–425 BC) was a Greek historian who lived in the 5thcentury BC. He was the
first historian known to treat history as a method of investigation, by collecting his materials
systematically and critically, and then arranging them into a narrative. The Histories is the
only work he is known to have produced. It is a record of the origins of the Greco-Persian
Wars. He is the primary, and often the only, source for events in the Greek world and the
Persian Empire in the two centuries leading up to his own day.
Unfortunately, there are problems with Herodotus’ history. In the first place, it is
unavoidably biased towards the Greeks. Secondly, it is also biased towards Athens,
downplaying the role some other Greek states played in the defeat of the Persians. Thirdly,
his account of what happened is more reliable than his reasons for why things happened
(for example, he attributes the Persian defeat to the fact that they were decadent,
overconfident and had never heard of Sparta). Finally, some of his facts are very
questionable (for example, he exaggerates the number of troops taking part in battles, and
appears to get some of the details of the battles themselves wrong).
Thucydides
Thucydides (c. 460 – c. 400 BC) was a Greek historian, political philosopher and general who
lived in the 5th century BC. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5thcentury war
between Sparta and Athens (431 to 404 BC). He began writing it at the outset of the war,
but his account ends in 411, suggesting he died before it could be completed. Thucydides
also provides a brief account of the Persian Wars. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of
‘scientific history’ because of his strict standards of evidence-gathering and his analysis of
cause and effect without reference to intervention by the gods. His work is regarded as far
more reliable than that of Herodotus.
Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus (or Diodorus of Sicily) was a Greek historian who lived in the 1st century BC.
He is known for writing the Bibliotheca Historica, a history of the world to 60 BC. Much of
this work survives, including the section on the Persian Wars. Diodorus used the works of
earlier historians to compile his own history. The main historian he used for the Persian
Wars and their aftermath was Ephorus, whose books have not survived. (Ephorus lived at
the time of Alexander the Great – the middle of the 4th century BC).
Plutarch
Plutarch (c. AD 46 – 120) was a Greek Historian who lived at the height of the Roman
Empire. He is best known for his political biographies, called Parallel Lives. The nine Greek
biographies form The Rise and Fall of Athens. While some of these have not survived, those
of Themistocles and Aristides have. Plutarch is also an important source on the history of
Sparta, although his work is not entirely reliable.
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek playwright, who fought at the
Battle of Salamis.The earliest of his plays to survive is The Persians, performed in 472 BC and
based on experiences in Aeschylus's own life, particularly the Battle of Salamis. The Persian
King Xerxes appears as a major character in the play.
Simonides of Ceos
Simonides of Ceos (c. 556 – 468 BC) was a Greek poet who lived at the time of the Persian
Wars. He wrote poems about the Battles of Marathon, Artemisium, Salamis and Plataea.
Only bits of his poetry survive, but his work was used by later historians to write about the
period.
Aristotle
Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and scientist who wrote The Constitution
of Athens. There is some suggestion that the book was actually written by his students, but
it still contains useful information about the Athenian political system.
Persian sources
There are also Persian sources, but these mostly date from the Muslim period, 1,000 years
after the wars with Greece. These sources are also biased, as the Muslim authors were
antagonistic towards the ancient Persian religion (Zoroastrianism).