Herodotus: Histories Book V

Travelogues of Difference

“…He seized two children from local families and sacrificed them.'' 123 In sum, from these accounts we can see that Herodotus uses the figuration of inversion yet does not necessarily fall into othering the Egyptian's difference. On the contrary, as we have seen, the Egyptians are praised as intelligent, religious, and moral.…”

“…Of course, when Herodotus is speaking of ''everywhere'' or ''everyone'' he is referring to a specific type of ''universal'' self; that is a Hellenic self-understanding/representation. 117 This universalization of a specific self is a classical example of a way to ''mask the procedure of inversion, to erase its trademark'' rather than a way to equate the Hellenes and ''everyone else.'' 118 Herodotus then goes on in listing a series of cultural practices that are the exact opposite of the Hellenes', such as the fact that ''whereas everyone else weaves by pushing the weft upwards, the Egyptians push it downwards,'' that ''[s]ons do not have to look after their parents if they do not want to, but daughters must even if they are reluctant,'' that ''priests have long hair, but in Egypt they shave their heads,'' or that ''[o]ther people, unless they have been influenced by the Egyptians, leave their genitals in their natural state, but the Egyptians practice circumcision.''…”

“…124 This alternative story about the Trojan war, an account in opposition to Homer's which is taken for granted by Thucydides for instance, 125 is therefore evaluated as a reliable and plausible version whereas Homer's is relegated to the specific need of an epic as a genre. 126 In another instance where the Greeks' lo´goi are decentered, Herodotus makes a great case of the Hellenic import of Egyptian religious life, indeed the ''very knowledge of the gods and many religious rituals central to Greek cult practice'' are thought by him to be borrowed from the Egyptians. 127 Herodotus, for instance, traces back Dionysus cult in Greece from an Egyptian origin but states, more generally, that ''[t]he names of almost all the gods also came to Greece from Egypt.…”

Synoecism and religious interface in Demetrias (Thessaly)*

“…It is generally agreed that the poleis located around the harbor of the inlet were, at least from the sixth century, subjects to the Thessali ans, 27 whereas there was no community belonging to the Magnesians before the middle of the fourth century. 28 Herodotus mentions that Iolkos was already under the control of the Thessalians who offered it to the Athenian tyrant Hippias, 29 while other sources acknowledge Pagasai as the port of Pherai. 30 However, in the fourth century, Pseudo Skylax included Iolkos among the Magnesian poleis; 31 it certainly enjoyed at that time a polis status, since along with Pagasai, they struck coins bearing the ethnics Ι ΛΚΙ Ν and ΠΑΓΑΣΑΙ Ν respectively.…”

Provinces inscriptions of Ancient Egyptian Votive Cubits نقوش الأقالیم على الذراع (وحدة قیاس الأطوال) النذرى المصرى القدیم

“…The word itrw was also used for 'month.' (70) A measure Herodotus (71) named as 'schoenus' was identical to the itrw; (72) the term that used during the Ptolemaic Period. (73) He mentioned that schoenus was 60 stadia make up one itrw; "schoenus, which is an Egyptian measure, is of sixty stades."…”