Herodotus in Context: Ethnography, Science and the Art of Persuasion

by Rosalind Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780521012416
• ISBN10: 0521012414
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-12
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book examines the Histories of Herodotus within the context of the intellectual climate of the mid to late fifth century BC. Herodotus is read widely for his accounts of archaic Greek history but his descriptions of Egypt, Scythia and Libya are equally fascinating. Rosalind Thomas concentrates on the latter, along with Herodotus' accounts of the wonders of nature and his methods of convincing his audiences, seeing these as part of the world of scientific inquiry and controversy more familiar from the natural philosophers and medical works of the time.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Medicine and the ethnography of health

3. Dividing the world: Europe, Asia, Greeks and barbarians

4. Nomos is king: nomos, environment and ethnic character in Herodotus

5. 'Wonders' and the natural world: natural philosophy and historie

6. Argument and the language of proof

7. Polemic and persuasion

8. Performance, competitive display and apodeixis

9. Epilogue

Appendix. Beavers and female ailments.