The Old and the Restless - The Egyptians and the Scythians in Herodotus' Histories by Robert J. Hagan

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pleasing or beautiful than their own; they incorporate such customs as Median dress and
Egyptian armor, and pederasty from the Greeks (1.135). Armed with their particular “love of
learning” particular to them (1.60), the Greeks decide which customs to adopt on an intellectual
basis. Herodotus’ recommendations and commendations are founded on their functional merits,
such as the supposedly more efficient Egyptian calendar (2.04). Solon imports a law to Athens
from the Egyptians because “it is a perfect law” (2.177).
With this evidence in hand, it would seem that the Greeks are better protected than most from
corruption from outside sources. Yet Herodotus does not allow us securely to believe in the
safety of the Greeks, and given the events taking place in the mid-fifth century, one cannot be
surprised. The Athenian Empire’s meteoric rise to power, and its subsequent measures to keep it
(e.g. the suppression of revolts in Naxos and Thasos) must have been unnerving for Herodotus
and anyone aware of Persian history. On top of the Athenian acropolis sat the Parthenon, a
temple to Athena but also a testament to Pericles’ extortion of the Delian League and Athenian
greed. Despite their intellectual customs, there were no sure signs that the Greeks would not be
corrupted beyond repair by their emergence as a top military power.
If the Histories had extended to record the Peloponnesian War, it would have indeed
showed that the Athenian and Spartan rivalry would bring about so much destruction that the
Greek cities would never regain their strength, leaving them prey to the machinations of the
Persians and the armies of the Macedonians. Of course, the Histories is a meditation on the
fortunes of nations, and like the happiness of men, the fortune of nations does not stay in the
same place forever. We see it visited upon many peoples throughout the Histories: we are
reminded of the glories of Egypt, now long past; the Scythians who in their isolation resist
change and in doing so remain static; the Persians and Lydians, who gain power and then lose it,