Herodotus Book 7 Analysis and Outline
Herodotus Book 7 – Analysis and Outline
Xerxes' decision and preparation to invade Greece
The anger of Darius (king of Persia, 521-486 B.C.) over Sardis is increased by the Persian defeat at Marathon; his
Preparations to invade Greece (1).
The quarrel over succession by two of Darius' sons, Artabazanes and Xerxes (2).
Demaratus, the ex-king of Sparta, supports the claim of Xerxes; Darius agrees.
The opinion of Herodotus is that the influence of Xerxes' mother Atossa was critical (3)
The death of Darius during the revolt of Egypt against Persia; Xerxes becomes king (4).
Xerxes prepares to crush Egypt, ignore Greece; his cousin Mardonius advises him to punish the Greeks, and get revenge on
Athens for Marathon (5)
Motives of Mardonius: boredom and desire for power
The Persians are urged to invade by the Thessalian kings and the (now exiled) Pisistratids
Onomacritus the corrupt seer feeds Xerxes phoney oracles encouraging the invasion; Xerxes agrees (6)
The Egyptian revolt is crushed (7)
Xerxes addresses the council of Persian leaders, and states his reasons for invading Greece: revenge, gain, living up to the glorious Persian tradition
His hubristic dream of world domination.
A prize is offered to the general who produces the best troops (8)
The speech of Mardonius in support of invasion cites Greek weaknesses: racial inferiority of Greeks is shown by prior subjugation of Ionians; inability of Greeks to cooperate with each other; lack of strategic skill in choosing battle sites (9)
The speech of Xerxes' uncle Artabanus against invasion cites risks: Persian army could be cut off if the bridge over the Hellespont is destroyed; hastily planned schemes fail; Zeus punishes the too mighty; Greeks are wrongly characterized by Mardonius
Remarks on slander
Xerxes is urged to stay home even if the army goes; Mardonius is challenged to stake his sons' lives on the outcome (10)
The angry reply of Xerxes; his genealogy is recited; the Greeks will attack Persia unless they are destroyed (11)
Xerxes changes his mind, and decides not to invade
A dream tells him he should invade, but he ignores it
The change of plans is announced the next day (12-13)
The dream recurs, and threatens Xerxes with ruin unless he invades Greece (14)
Xerxes tells Artabanus about the dream, and asks him to sleep in his bed and see if he (Artabanus) gets the dream too (15)
Artabanus agrees, and tells Xerxes his moral philosophy; the true nature of dreams, which are not prophetic or divine, just mental images (16) Artabanus, in Xerxes' bed, has the same dream; he is converted by the dream and joins the war party (17-18)
Another dream portends world domination by Xerxes
Preparations for war begin and last four years (19)
The Expedition Begins
Vastness of Xerxes' expeditionary force; comparisons to great armies of the past
Rivers are drunk dry by his troops (20-21).
The canal by Mt Athos: location, engineering details, Xerxes' reasons for digging it (22-23)
Bridges and supply dumps (25).
En route from Cappadocia to Sardis, the army stops at Celaenae (26)
A wealthy Lydian, Pythius, offers Xerxes his entire fortune for the war effort
His generosity is rewarded (27-29)
The army journeys on to Sardis; the sights seen on the way are described (30-31)
Xerxes sends a message to Greece, demanding surrender (32)
The story of a rapist punished
The bridges over the Hellespont are begun, then ruined by a storm (33-34)
Xerxes punishes the waters of the Hellespont for destroying the bridges (35)
Details of the construction of the bridges (36)
A solar eclipse at the army's departure is favourably interpreted by the Magi (37)
Pythius asks Xerxes to allow his eldest son to stay home from the war (38)
Xerxes, furious, has the son chopped in half; advance of the army between the halves (39)
Marching order and equipment of the Persian army (40-41).
March of the army from Lydia north to Mt Ida; a storm kills many men (42)
Xerxes visits Troy, and makes sacrifices; there is superstitious panic among the troops (43)
Review of the troops and ships at Abydos; Phoenicians win the rowing contest (44).
Xerxes and Artabanus meditate on human life; the central theme is the uncertainty of human success
(45-46)
Artabanus is worried about the future; Xerxes asks in what way his force is deficient (47-48)
Artabanus says Xerxes has two enemies: the land and the sea
The sea, because no harbour can shelter such a huge fleet; the land, because supply lines will be stretched too far (49)
Xerxes replies that great success requires great risks; his plans for supplying the army are described (50)
Artabanus advises Xerxes not to make the Ionian Greeks in his army fight the Ionian Greeks of the mainland (e.g. the Athenians) (51).
Xerxes disagrees, citing the loyalty of the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor in Darius' Scythian campaign (52)
Exhortations of Xerxes to the Persian commanders (53)
Ceremony at the crossing of the Hellespont; Xerxes (almost) apologizes to the waters (54)
The crossing of the Hellespont is described (55)
A local man impiously likens Xerxes to Zeus (56)
Bizarre omens at the crossing are ignored by Xerxes (57)
The army proceeds north into Thrace and halts at Doriscus
Doriscus is described (58-59)
The army is counted: the total is 1,700,000 men (60; but the figure is too high. Most historians think the real total was at the most 200,000 Cf 7.185-6)
Catalogue of Persian Forces
Descriptions of the contingents of the Persian army and allies, including commanders and types of armament (61-80)
61 Persians; 62 Medes; 63 Assyrians; 64 Bactrians and Sacae; 65 Indians; 66 Arians and Parthians; 67 Caspians, Sarangae and Pactyes; 68 Utians, etc.; 69 Arabians and near-Egyptian Ethiopians; 70 Eastern or Libyan Ethiopians; 71 Libyans; 72
Paphlagonians and Cappadocians; 73 Phrygians; 74 Lydians; 75 Thracians; 76 Pisidians? ; 77 Cabalians and Milians; 78 Moschians, etc.; 79 Marians, Colchians, etc.; 80 Red Sea islanders
Command levels by multiples of ten (81)
The high command is described (82)
The ten thousand Immortals (crack troops); Persian gold trappings, slaves, women, and food supplies (83)
Cavalry (84)
The Sagartian cavalry and their lasso use (85)
Other cavalry contingents; cavalry, chariots, and camels (86)
Total cavalry said to number 80,000 (87)
Cavalry commanders; the accident of Pharnuches (88)
Description of ships in the Persian navy, and armaments of the marines (89-98)
Total triremes (warships) said to number 12,07
89 - Phoenicians and Egyptians; 90 - Cyprians; 91 - Cilicians and Pamphylians; 92 - Lycians; 93 - Asiatic Dorians; 94 - Ionians; 95- Aeolians
The superiority of the Phoenician navy; Herodotus decision not to name the native commanders (96)
The admirals and other naval champions 3,000 smaller ships (98)
Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus; her wisdom and courage (99)
Xerxes reviews the troops on land and sea (100)
The voyage to Greece of Xerxes' army and fleet
Xerxes questions Demaratus, the ex-king of Sparta, on what to expect from the Greeks (101)
Demaratus' reply: Greece is poor, but brave and free; Spartans will fight to death even if vastly outnumbered (102)
A sceptical Xerxes doubts that Greeks will face his superior numbers (103)
Demaratus explains the Spartan military code: no retreat (104)
One Mascames is appointed governor of Doriscus; the army advances through Thrace (105)
How Mascames held Doriscus even after the Persians were defeated (106)
The story of Boges, another Persian governor who chose suicide (with his entire household) rather than be captured (107)
Progress through Thrace; rivers and lakes are drained dry (108-9)
The Thracian tribes who joined Xerxes; the Satrae, who resisted him, and their habitation (110-11)
The march continues through Thrace into Macedonia and up to the river Strymon (112-13)
Human sacrifice by inhumation at the City of Nine Ways (Amphipolis) (114).
The advance to Acanthus and the recruitment of locals (115-116)
The death of Artachaees the giant, a man of Acanthus and the chief engineer of the Athos canal; his elevation to cult status (117)
The difficulty and expense of feeding the army endured by the various cities on the route (118-19)
The witty remarks of Megacreon on this subject (120)
The army separates from the fleet at Acanthus because the fleet must sail around the fingers of Chalcidice (Mygdonia)
The division of the army into thirds (121)
The passage of the fleet through the canal at Athos and on to the rendezvous at Therma (122-23)
The passage of the army through Chalcidice; the fabulous attack of the lions on the camels (124-26)
Encampment of the army at Therma (127).
Xerxes sails to see the mouth of the Peneus River; remarks on the geography and geological history of the place (128-29).
Xerxes remarks that he could have flooded Thessaly by damming up the Peneus, and compliments the Thessalians on their foresight in submitting to him (130)
Delays in Macedonia; the ambassadors sent to demand surrender return to Xerxes (131)
Reactions of the Greeks to Xerxes' Invasion
List of Greek states who medized (surrendered) includes Thessalians, Locrians, and almost all Boeotians; the other Greeks vow to punish them (132)
Why Xerxes sent no heralds to Athens or Sparta: Darius' heralds to them had been executed (133)
How the Spartans atoned for this impiety: two Spartans, Sperthias and Bulis, were sent to Persia to be executed (134)
Sperthias and Bulis lecture Hydarnes, the Persian governor of Ionia, about Greek freedom (135)
Their refusal to bow and worship Xerxes; his refusal to execute them (136)
How the curse was visited upon their sons in 430 B.C (137)
The lack of Greek unity in the face of the invasion (138)
The Athenians rather than the Spartans deserve the credit for saving Greek freedom (139)
The Delphic oracle to the Athenians seems to predict disaster (140)
A second more favourable oracle mentions the "wooden wall" (141)
Debate at Athens over whether "wooden wall" means the Acropolis or the ships (142)
Themistocles' correct interpretation of the oracle and its reference to Salamis. He convinces the Athenians to abandon Attica and prepare for a naval battle (143)
How Themistocles had previously persuaded the Athenians to build 200 warships for use against their local rival, Aegina (144)
Plans of the council of Greek states: to settle regional conflicts, spy on Persian forces, and get the help of Argos and Syracuse (145)
Three spies are caught by Xerxes, and then given complete freedom to inspect the army Xerxes' reasons for so doing
Anecdote of the grain-ships (146-47)
How the Argives were instructed by the oracle to stay out of the war; their condition for participating: 30 years' truce with Sparta, and joint command of the allied forces (148)
The Spartan reply: the truce is to be referred to their government; the Argive king may be a third general of equal rank with the two Spartan kings.
Argos refuses (149)
Another version of the Argive role: some say Argos had a prior mutual non-aggression pact with Xerxes on the basis of shared ancestry through Perseus & Andromeda. Evidence for this on the authority of Callias the Athenian (150-51)
Herodotus reserves judgement on the guilt of the Argives; remarks on his historical method, and why he sometimes includes unreliable information (152).
Greeks not at Salamis: Gelon of Syracuse, the Corcyraeans, and the Cretans
An embassy is sent to Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse
How his ancestors, beginning with Telines, became priests of the Earth Goddesses (153)
How Gelon began as a bodyguard to the dynast Hippocrates of Gela, who was engaged in conquering other cities of Sicily (154)
Death of Hippocrates
Gelon's coup in Gela, and his conquest of Syracuse in 485 B.C (155)
Gelon's brother Hieron is installed as tyrant in Gela Syracuse grows rapidly via incorporation of peoples from other cities (156)
The Greek envoys appeal to Gelon for help against Xerxes (157)
Gelon offers massive military aid, on one condition: that he be commander-in-chief (158)
In response to the objections of the Spartan envoy, Gelon offers to command only the navy (159-60)
The Athenian ambassador asserts Athenian command of the Panhellenic naval forces
Homer is cited in justification (161)
The envoys are dismissed by Gelon (162)
Gelon sends ships under Cadmus of Zancle to Delphi with treasure, prepared to surrender to Xerxes if the Persians win (163)
The family of Cadmus of Zancle, and his personal integrity (164)
A Sicilian version excuses Gelon because Sicily was being invaded at the time by Theron of Agrigentum, in coalition with Hamilcar the Carthaginian and his allies
The defeat of Hamilcar and Theron by Gelon coincides with Salamis?
The death of Hamilcar by self-immolation, and his rise to cult status (165-66)
Corcyra agrees to help the Greeks and puts out 60 ships, but they arrive at Salamis too late
The Corcyraeans allege weather problems, but Herodotus thinks they expected Persian victory and stayed away deliberately (167-68)
How the oracle advised the Cretans not to take part, including a riddling reference to Minos, the mythical king of Crete (169)
The oracle's reference to Minos is explained: The Cretans of old had reason to regret their first Panhellenic alliance, the one against Troy (170-71)