Herodotus argues that Egypt’s antiquity, geography, and religious customs exceed Greek accounts, relying on priests and his own observations while distinguishing sources and noting fate and nemesis. The deck covers his reports on Psammetichos’s language experiment, Egyptian calendars and innovations, the land’s formation, and why he rejects Ionian definitions of Egypt.
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Chapter 1 · Question
What experiment did Psammetichos devise to determine the oldest people?
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Chapter 1 · Answer
Psammetichos took two newborn children of common people and gave them to a shepherd to raise in isolation, charging that no one speak in their presence. They were kept alone and fed goat's milk. After two years, the children uttered the word 'bekos.' Inquiry showed the Phrygians used 'bekos' for bread, so the Egyptians conceded the Phrygians were more ancient. Herodotus heard this from the priests of Hephaistos at Memphis.
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Section 14 cards
What experiment did Psammetichos devise to determine the oldest people?
Psammetichos took two newborn children of common people and gave them to a shepherd to raise in isolation, charging that no one speak in their presence. They were kept alone and fed goat's milk. After two years, the children uttered the word 'bekos.' Inquiry showed the Phrygians used 'bekos' for bread, so the Egyptians conceded the Phrygians were more ancient. Herodotus heard this from the priests of Hephaistos at Memphis.
Chapter 1
How does Herodotus's account of the Psammetichos experiment differ from the Hellenic version?
Herodotus reports that he heard the story from the priests of Hephaistos at Memphis: the children were raised in silence and spoke 'bekos.' He then notes that the Hellenes tell many other idle tales, including that Psammetichos cut out the tongues of certain women and had the children live with them. Herodotus presents the priests' version as his source and dismisses the Greek variant as idle tale.
Chapter 1
According to the Note, how did Herodotus distinguish his sources?
The Note states that however credulous Herodotus may seem to modern judgment, he takes care to keep separate what he knows by his own observation from what he inferred and from what he was told. He candidly acknowledges ignorance, and when versions differ he gives both. Thus a modern scientific historian, with other means of corroboration, can sometimes learn from Herodotus more than Herodotus himself knew.
Chapter 1
What does the Note say about Herodotus's beliefs in Fate and Nemesis?
The Note argues Herodotus had a philosophy of history, evident in his belief in Fate and Nemesis. Belief in Fate explains his frequent quoting of oracles and their fulfilment and references to things foreordained by Providence. Nemesis appears in disasters befalling men and nations whose towering prosperity awakens the gods' jealousy. The Persians' final overthrow, his main theme, is one conspicuous example of this force.
Chapter 1
Section 24 cards
According to the priests, how did the Egyptians' calendar surpass the Hellenes'?
The priests said the Egyptians were the first to discover the course of the year, dividing the seasons into twelve parts and learning this from the stars. Herodotus says they reckon more wisely than the Hellenes, who insert an intercalated month every other year, because the Egyptians count twelve months of thirty days each and add five days beyond number every year, completing the seasonal circle.
Chapter 2
What religious innovations did the priests credit to the Egyptians?
The priests said the Egyptians were the first to bring into use appellations for the twelve gods, which the Hellenes took up from them. They also said the Egyptians were first to assign altars, images, and temples to the gods and to engrave figures on stones. Herodotus notes they demonstrated by actual facts that most of these things had happened so.
Chapter 2
What did the priests say about Min and Egypt's early land?
The priests said Min was the first man to become king of Egypt, and that in his time all Egypt except the district of Thebes was a swamp, with no regions above water that now lie below the lake of Moiris. Herodotus thought they spoke well, since he argues the Egypt visited by Hellenes is land won by the Egyptians as an addition and a gift of the river.
Chapter 2
How does Herodotus measure and describe Egypt's land?
Herodotus measures Egypt's coast as sixty schoines, each schoine being sixty furlongs, giving 3,600 furlongs. He compares the sea-to-Heliopolis road to the Athens-to-Pisa road, then describes Egypt narrowing from Heliopolis between the Arabian and Libyan mountain ranges, and gives distances: Heliopolis to Thebes 4,860 furlongs, and Thebes to Elephantine 1,800.
Chapter 2
Section 34 cards
What evidence does Herodotus give that Egypt was once a gulf of the sea?
Herodotus cites shells found on Egyptian mountains, a salt efflorescence eating away even the pyramids, and sand on only the mountain range above Memphis. He also notes Egypt's black, crumbly soil is mud and silt from Ethiopia, unlike Libya's reddish sandy soil or Arabia's and Syria's clayey rocky soil, and that Egypt juts further into the sea than adjoining land.
Chapter 3
What proof did the priests give Herodotus about the land's growth?
The priests said that in King Moiris's reign the river needed only eight cubits to water Egypt below Memphis, but fewer than nine hundred years later it required sixteen, or at least fifteen. Herodotus reasons that if the land keeps rising proportionally, Egyptians in the Delta will eventually face famine from the Nile failing to overflow their fields.
Chapter 3
How did the Ionians define Egypt, and why does Herodotus reject this?
The Ionians said only the Delta is Egypt, from the watch-tower of Perseus to the fish-curing houses of Pelusion, extending inland to Kercasoros where the Nile splits, assigning the rest to Libya and Arabia. Herodotus rejects this because the Delta is alluvial and recent, which would mean Egyptians originally had no land — contradicting their claim to be the oldest people.
Chapter 3
Why does Herodotus say Egyptians farm with less labor than other men?
Herodotus says Egyptians have no labor breaking furrows with a plough or hoeing. When the Nile rises and waters the fields, then recedes, each man sows his field and drives swine over it to tread the seed in; after harvest he threshes the corn using the swine as well. He notes they reap fruit with less labor than any other men, and less than other Egyptians.
Chapter 3
Section 44 cards
Why does Herodotus reject the Ionians' three-part division of the earth?
Herodotus argues the Ionians cannot reckon correctly, since the Egyptian Delta belongs to neither Asia nor Libya. The Nile splits and flows around the Delta, so the Delta would fall between the two continents. He concludes Egypt is all land inhabited by Egyptians, and that the true boundary between Asia and Libya is the border of Egypt.
Chapter 4
What did the Oracle of Ammon answer to the people of Marea and Apis?
The people of Marea and Apis, near Libya, claimed they were Libyans, not Egyptians, and wanted freedom to eat cows' flesh. The god refused, saying that land is Egypt which the Nile comes over and waters, and those are Egyptians who dwell below Elephantine and drink of that river. Herodotus says he heard this answer after forming his own opinion.
Chapter 4
What three Greek explanations for the Nile's summer flood does Herodotus reject?
He rejects the Etesian Winds theory, since the winds often fail yet the Nile still rises, and other rivers facing those winds are unaffected. He dismisses the Ocean theory as fable, saying he knows of no river Ocean and thinks a poet invented the name. He also rejects melting snow, since the Nile flows from hot lands and those regions are rainless and frostless.
Chapter 4
What evidence does Herodotus give against the Nile rising from melting snow?
He argues the Nile flows from Libya through Ethiopia, from hot regions to cooler ones. The winds there blow hot, the land is always rainless and frostless, and snow must be followed by rain within five days. The inhabitants are black from the heat, and kites, swallows, and wintering cranes stay there, none of which would happen if snow fell.
Chapter 4
Section 54 cards
What does Herodotus propose as the cause of the Nile's summer increase?
The author argues the Sun is the cause: in winter, stormy winds drive the Sun from its usual path to the upper parts of Libya, where clear, warm air and no cold winds let it draw up water and drive it away, which the winds scatter as rain. When winter moderates, the Sun returns to mid-heaven and draws equally from all rivers, but the Nile alone, having no rain, bears the burden alone in winter.
Chapter 5
What did the scribe of Athene at Sais claim about the Nile's sources?
He claimed two pointed mountains, Crophi and Mophi, stood between Syene and Elephantine, and that fathomless springs of the Nile flowed from between them, half toward Egypt and the North Wind, half toward Ethiopia and the South Wind. He said King Psammetichos tested the depth with a rope of many thousand fathoms that found no bottom. Herodotus thought he was not speaking seriously.
Chapter 5
Who were the Asmach, and why did they settle in Ethiopia?
The Asmach, meaning 'those who stand on the left hand of the king,' were 240,000 Egyptian warriors who revolted after serving three years as outposts without relief under Psammetichos. They marched to Ethiopia; when the king entreated them not to desert their gods, children, and wives, one pointed to his privy member saying wherever that was, they would have children and wives. The Ethiopian king gave them land of his internal rivals.
Chapter 5
What route and obstacles did Herodotus describe between Elephantine and Meroe?
From Elephantine upstream, country slopes steeply and boats must be roped on both sides like an ox; a broken rope loses the vessel. The voyage is about four days, winding like the Maiander, twelve schoines. Then a level plain with the island Tachompso, a great lake, a forty-day land journey past rocks and reefs, then twelve days' sailing to Meroe, said to be the mother-city of the Ethiopians.
Chapter 5
Section 64 cards
How did Etearchos learn of the Nile's supposed western course and crocodiles?
Men of Kyrene told Herodotus that Etearchos, king of the Ammonians, reported a story from Nasamonian youths. Five sons of chiefs, sent by lot to explore the Libyan desert, were captured by small men and led through swamps to a black-skinned city with a great river flowing west to east, containing crocodiles. Etearchos conjectured this river was the Nile.
Chapter 6
Why does Herodotus think the Nile's sources remain unknown?
Herodotus argues the Nile's source cannot be reported because the part of Libya it flows through is uninhabited and desert, so no one can give an account of it. By contrast, the Ister (Danube) flows through inhabited land and is known from many reports. He reasons about the unknown from the visible, comparing the two rivers' lengths.
Chapter 6
How does Herodotus compare the Nile and the Ister?
Herodotus conjectures the Nile starts at a distance from its mouth equal to the Ister's, and that it passes through all of Libya, being of equal measure with the Ister. He notes the Ister begins with the Keltoi at Pyrene and empties into the Euxine at Istria, while the Nile's sources are unknown because its land is desert.
Chapter 6
What Egyptian customs does Herodotus list as opposite to other men's?
Herodotus says Egyptians reversed nearly all customs: women trade in markets while men weave at home; men carry loads on heads, women on shoulders; women urinate standing, men crouching; they eat in streets and relieve themselves indoors; priests shave; mourners grow hair; they eat maize rather than wheat or barley; men wear two garments, women one; and they write right to left, using sacred and common characters.
Chapter 6
Section 73 cards
How did Egyptian priests test an ox for ritual sacrifice?
A priest inspected the beast for any single black hair, which made it unclean. He examined it standing and lying down, drew out its tongue to check appointed signs, and checked the tail hairs for natural growth. If clean, he wrapped papyrus round the horns, sealed it with his signet-ring, and the animal was taken away. Sacrificing an unsealed beast carried the death penalty.
Chapter 7
What did Egyptians do with the head of a sacrificed beast?
After cutting the throat, they severed the head from the body and made many imprecations over it, praying that any evil about to befall the sacrificers or the land of Egypt might fall on that head instead. Those with a market and Greek traders sold it there; those without Greeks cast it into the river. No Egyptian eats the head of any animal.
Chapter 7
Which oxen could Egyptians sacrifice, and which were sacred to Isis?
All Egyptians sacrificed the clean males of the ox kind, both full-grown animals and calves. Females they might not sacrifice, for these were sacred to Isis, whose figure is a woman with cow's horns, like the Greek Io. All Egyptians revered cows far more than other cattle, and would not kiss a Greek on the mouth or use a Greek knife, spit, or cauldron.
Chapter 7
Section 84 cards
Why do Thebans refuse to sacrifice rams, and what annual exception do they make?
The Thebans hold rams sacred because Zeus showed himself to Heracles wearing a ram's fleece and head, so Zeus is depicted with a ram's face. Once a year, at the feast of Zeus, they flay and cut up a single ram, cover the image of Zeus with its skin, bring another image of Heracles, beat themselves in lamentation, and bury the ram in a sacred tomb.
Chapter 8
What evidence does Herodotus give that Heracles is an ancient Egyptian god, not Greek?
Herodotus argues the Egyptians did not borrow Heracles' name from the Hellenes but the reverse. He notes Amphitryon and Alcmene were of Egyptian descent, that Egyptians do not know Poseidon or the Dioscuroi, and that at Tyre the temple of Heracles was founded with the city, 2,300 years earlier, with another temple on Thasos built five generations before Heracles son of Amphitryon was born.
Chapter 8
Why does Herodotus reject the Greek tale that Egyptians tried to sacrifice Heracles?
The author argues the tale is foolish because Egyptian custom forbids sacrificing any beasts except swine, clean male oxen and calves, and geese, so they would not sacrifice humans. He also asks how Heracles, being one man, could slay many myriads. He concludes the Hellenes tell this story without knowledge of Egyptian nature and customs.
Chapter 8
Why do the Mendesians revere goats, and what single goat is specially honored?
The Mendesians count Pan among the eight gods and depict him with a goat's face and legs, though not supposing him really like that. They revere all goats, males more than females, and goatherds have greater honor than other herdsmen. One goat is especially reverenced, and when it dies there is great mourning throughout the Mendesian district; goat and Pan are both called Mendes in Egyptian.
Chapter 8
Section 94 cards
Why were Egyptian swineherds excluded from temples and intermarriage?
Herodotus reports that swineherds, though native Egyptians, could not enter any temple in Egypt, and no one would give a daughter to them in marriage or take a wife from among them; swineherds married only among themselves. This exclusion follows from the Egyptian view that the pig is an abominable animal, so that even touching one in passing required a man to dip himself and his garments in the river.
Chapter 9
To which gods alone did the Egyptians sacrifice swine, and when?
The Egyptians did not think it right to sacrifice swine to the other gods, but to the Moon and to Dionysos alone, at the same time and on the same full moon; they then ate the flesh. The priest burned the tail-end, spleen and caul covered with the paunch fat, and the rest was eaten only on that day of full moon, never after. The poor shaped pigs of dough, baked them, and offered those.
Chapter 9
What did Herodotus think Melampus contributed to Greek Dionysos worship?
Herodotus thinks Melampus son of Amytheon was not without knowledge of these rites but was acquainted with them. He says Melampus first set forth to the Hellenes the name of Dionysos, the manner of sacrifice, and the procession of the phallos, though he did not take in the whole; later wise men made it known more at large. Herodotus argues Melampus learned from Egypt and taught the Hellenes many things, changing a few points.
Chapter 9
According to Herodotus, where did the names of the gods come from?
Herodotus argues the naming of almost all the gods came to Hellas from Egypt, since he finds by inquiry that it came from the Barbarians and thinks Egypt most probable; he excepts Poseidon, the Dioscuroi, Hera, Hestia, Themis, the Charites and Nereids. Poseidon he says the Hellenes learned from the Libyans. The Pelasgians, who at first gave the gods no names, learned them from Egypt and were bidden by the Oracle at Dodona to use them.
Chapter 9
Section 104 cards
According to the Theban priests, how did the oracles of Libya and Hellas originate?
The priests of Theban Zeus told Herodotus that two temple women were carried off from Thebes by Phoenicians; one was sold into Libya and the other into Hellas, and these women first founded the prophetic seats among those nations. The priests said a great search had been made for the women without success, and the tale was heard afterwards.
Chapter 10
How does Herodotus explain the Dodonaean story of the two black doves?
The author argues the 'doves' were really the captive women: called doves because as barbarians they seemed to utter birdlike speech, and black because the woman was Egyptian. Once she learned Greek she 'spoke with human voice' and established the oracle, reporting her sister had been sold into Libya by the same Phoenicians.
Chapter 10
Which Egyptian festivals does Herodotus list, and which is the greatest?
The Egyptians hold assemblies often, most zealously at Bubastis for Artemis, then Busiris for Isis, Sais for Athene, Heliopolis for the Sun, Buto for Leto, and Papremis for Ares. At Bubastis they sail with rattles, flutes and singing, jeering at cities along the way; more grape wine is consumed there than in all the rest of the year.
Chapter 10
What happens at the festival of Ares at Papremis, and what reason do the people give?
Priests with wooden clubs guard the temple entrance and try to block the image's wheeled shrine from entering, while over a thousand men under a vow strike them in the god's defense; heads are broken, and Herodotus thinks many die, though Egyptians say none do. They say Ares, raised away from his mother, was barred by her attendants and forced his way in.
Chapter 10
Section 114 cards
What religious rule did Egyptians follow regarding temples and women?
The Egyptians were the first to make it a religious point not to lie with women in temples, nor to enter a temple after leaving a woman without first bathing. Herodotus notes that almost all other men except Egyptians and Hellenes do so freely, arguing beasts couple in temples too, so the gods must not object. The author rejects this defense.
Chapter 11
What penalties apply for killing sacred animals in Egypt?
Persons are appointed, men and women, to feed each kind of sacred beast, their office hereditary. If anyone kills a sacred animal willingly, the penalty is death; if unwillingly, the penalty is set by the priests. But whoever kills an ibis or a hawk must die whether willing or not.
Chapter 11
How do Egyptians mourn a dead cat versus a dead dog?
In a house where a cat died naturally, all dwellers shave only their eyebrows; where a dog died, they shave their whole body and head. Dead cats are carried to sacred buildings in Bubastis, embalmed and buried; dogs are buried in sacred tombs in each people's own city, and ichneumons likewise.
Chapter 11
What unusual physical traits does Herodotus attribute to the crocodile?
The crocodile eats nothing during the four most wintry months, lays and hatches eggs on land, and grows from an egg little larger than a goose's to as much as seventeen cubits. It has pig-like eyes, grows no tongue, moves the upper jaw rather than the lower, has unpierceable scales, and is blind in water but keen-sighted in air.
Chapter 11
Section 123 cards
Why do Egyptians honour the ibis, according to Herodotus?
Herodotus reports that winged serpents fly from Arabia toward Egypt at the beginning of spring, and ibises meet them at the entrance to the country and kill them rather than let them pass. On account of this deed, the Arabians say, the ibis came to be greatly honoured by the Egyptians, and the Egyptians themselves agree that this is why they honour these birds. Herodotus describes the black ibis as deep black with crane-like legs and a very curved beak.
Chapter 12
How did Egyptians at carousals use the wooden corpse figure, and what did the host say?
At entertainments of the rich, after eating, a man carries round a wooden figure of a dead body in a coffin, painted and carved as lifelike as possible and measuring about a cubit or two cubits each way. He shows it to each person drinking together and says: 'When thou lookest upon this, drink and be merry, for thou shalt be such as this when thou art dead.' Herodotus says this is what they do at their carousals.
Chapter 12
What does Herodotus say about Egyptian health practices and their causes?
Herodotus says the Egyptians purge for three successive days each month, hunting health with emetics and clysters, believing all diseases come from the food men eat. He states the Egyptians are the most healthy of all men next after the Libyans, in his opinion because the seasons do not change, since changes of things, especially seasons, most produce disease in men. He also notes they eat bread from maize called kyllestis and drink barley wine, having no vines.
Chapter 12
Section 133 cards
How did Egyptians view the connection between portents and future events?
The Egyptians, according to Herodotus, observed and recorded what followed each portent, and when a similar event occurred later they expected a similar outcome. He says they discovered portents more than any other people. Their divination was assigned not to men but to specific gods, with oracles of Heracles, Apollo, Athene, Artemis, Ares, Zeus, and above all Leto at Buto.
Chapter 13
What were the three methods of embalming described?
The most costly method removed the brain through the nostrils and cut open the side to remove the belly contents, cleansing with palm-wine and spices, filling with myrrh and cassia, then covering in natron for seventy days before wrapping in linen. The middle method injected cedar oil through the breech without cutting. The cheapest cleansed the belly with a purge and kept the body seventy days.
Chapter 13
Why were wives of rank and beautiful women embalmed later?
Herodotus says the wives of men of rank, and women very beautiful or of greater regard, were not handed to the embalmers at once but on the third or fourth day after death. The stated reason was to prevent the embalmers from abusing the corpses, since one was reportedly caught doing so to a woman lately dead and was informed on by a fellow-craftsman.
Chapter 13
Section 144 cards
How do fenland Egyptians use the lotos plant for food?
They cut the lotos with a sickle, dry it in the sun, pound the poppy-head-like center, and bake it into loaves. Its root is also edible, round like an apple and rather sweet. A second river lily produces wasp-comb-like vessels containing many edible olive-stone-sized seeds, eaten fresh or dried.
Chapter 14
How does Herodotus describe fish breeding in the Nile and lakes?
Shoals swim toward the sea, males leading and shedding milt, which females swallow and are impregnated by. Returning full of young, females lead and shed eggs, which males swallow; surviving grains become fish. Fish caught going out are rubbed on the left of the head, those returning on the right, because they hug the same bank.
Chapter 14
How do fenland Egyptians protect themselves from gnats at night?
Those above the fenland sleep in towers, since wind keeps gnats from flying high. Fenland dwellers instead hang a casting net around the bed and creep under it; gnats bite through a rolled garment or linen sheet but do not even attempt to bite through the net.
Chapter 14
How are Egyptian cargo boats (baris) built and moved downstream?
They are built of thorny acacia cut into two-cubit pieces arranged like bricks, fastened with long bolts, with cross-pieces on top, papyrus-caulked seams, one steering-oar through the bottom, acacia mast and papyrus sails. They sail up only with a fresh wind, else are towed; downstream a tamarisk crate floats ahead and a bored stone drags behind.
Chapter 14
Section 154 cards
How does Herodotus say Nile floodwaters change travel routes in Egypt?
When the Nile floods, the plain becomes a sea and only cities rise above the water like Aegean islands. People then sail over the middle of the plain rather than the river channels. For example, the voyage from Naucratis to Memphis passes close by the pyramids, whereas the usual route goes by the point of the Delta and Kercasoros.
Chapter 15
What does Herodotus say about his sources from this point onward?
Herodotus states that up to this point his own observation, judgment, and inquiry vouch for what he has said. From here on, he says he will tell the history of Egypt according to what he has heard, adding also something of what he has himself seen. This marks a shift from firsthand inquiry to reported tradition.
Chapter 15
How did Min, the first king of Egypt, alter the Nile and found Memphis?
The priests said Min banked off the site of Memphis from the river, which had flowed by the sandy range on the Libyan side. He built embankments to bend the stream about a hundred furlongs above Memphis, drying the old channel and routing the river between the mountains. He founded Memphis on the reclaimed land, dug a lake on the north and west, and built the temple of Hephaistos.
Chapter 15
What story do the priests tell about Queen Nitocris?
Nitocris, the one woman among 330 kings listed on the papyrus roll, sought vengeance for her brother, whom the Egyptians had slain before giving her the kingdom. She built a large underground chamber, invited those she knew had the largest part in the murder to a banquet, and let the river in on them through a secret conduit. Then she threw herself into a room full of embers to escape vengeance.
Chapter 15
Section 164 cards
How did Sesostris mark lands that resisted him versus those that surrendered easily?
According to the priests, Sesostris set up pillars in subdued lands inscribed with his name, his country, and how he conquered them by his power. For cities taken without fighting or with ease, he inscribed similar words but added a drawing of a woman's hidden parts, signifying the people were cowards and effeminate.
Chapter 16
What evidence does Herodotus give that the Colchians are Egyptian in origin?
Herodotus argues the Colchians are evidently Egyptian, noting they are dark-skinned with curly hair (which alone proves nothing), but more importantly that Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians alone practiced circumcision from the first. He also cites their shared flax-working, manner of living, and language, and reports Egyptians believed the Colchians were part of Sesostris's army.
Chapter 16
How did Sesostris escape his brother's burning house, according to the priests?
The priests said his brother, left in charge of Egypt, invited Sesostris and his sons to a feast at Daphnai and set the house on fire. Sesostris's wife advised him to lay two of his six sons across the flames as a bridge; he did so, two sons burned to death, and the rest escaped safely with their father.
Chapter 16
Why does Herodotus think geometry arose in Egypt?
Herodotus says the king distributed equal square plots of land to all Egyptians and levied annual rent; when the river washed away part of a plot, the man reported it and the king sent men to measure how much was lost so the rent could be reduced proportionally. Herodotus thinks geometry was thus discovered and later came to Hellas.
Chapter 16
Section 174 cards
Why did King Pheros become blind, according to the priests?
The priests told Herodotus that when the Nile flooded to an unprecedented eighteen cubits and a wind raised waves, Pheros in presumptuous folly threw a spear into the eddies. Immediately he contracted a disease of the eyes and went blind, remaining so for ten years until an oracle at Buto set the terms of his cure.
Chapter 17
How was Pheros cured, and what did he do to the women he tested?
The oracle at Buto said he would see again if he washed his eyes with water from a woman who had known only her own husband. He tried his wife, then all women in turn; on regaining sight he burned all the tested women except the one who cured him, along with the city now called Erythrabolos, and took that woman as his wife.
Chapter 17
Why does Herodotus conjecture that the temple of the 'foreign Aphrodite' honors Helen?
Herodotus says he conjectures this partly because he heard the tale that Helen stayed with Proteus, and especially because this temple alone adds the word 'foreign' to Aphrodite's name, unlike the other temples of Aphrodite there. He presents it as his own inference, not established fact.
Chapter 17
What did Proteus decide in the case of Alexander and Helen?
Proteus, after hearing the suppliants' accusation, said he would not slay a stranger driven to his land by winds, though he condemned Alexander's impiety to his host. He kept Helen and the wealth for Menelaos to reclaim, and ordered Alexander and his crew to leave his land within three days or be treated as enemies.
Chapter 17
Section 184 cards
What does Herodotus claim the Egyptian priests told him about Helen during the Trojan War?
The priests said Helen never reached Troy: after the rape, the Teucrians insisted both Helen and the stolen wealth were in Egypt with King Proteus. The Greeks besieged and took the city anyway, found no Helen, then believed the tale and sent Menelaos to Proteus, who returned Helen unhurt along with his wealth.
Chapter 18
How does Herodotus use Homer's own verses to argue Homer knew of Helen's stay in Egypt?
Herodotus supposes Homer heard the story but rejected it as unsuitable for his poem. He cites the Iliad's mention of Alexander wandering to Sidon in Phenicia, the Odyssey's Egyptian drugs of Polydamna, and Menelaos telling Telemachos the gods stayed him in Egypt, arguing these show Homer knew of the wanderings to Egypt.
Chapter 18
Why does Herodotus argue the Cyprian Epic was not written by Homer?
He says the Cyprian Epic states Alexander reached Ilion on the third day after leaving Sparta with Helen, enjoying a gently-blowing wind and smooth sea, whereas the Iliad says he wandered from his course while bringing her. This contradiction, Herodotus argues, most clearly shows the Cyprian Epic was written by some other man.
Chapter 18
What impious deed does Herodotus say Menelaos committed in Egypt, and why does Herodotus himself accept the Egyptian version of Helen?
Detained by contrary winds, Menelaos seized two native children and sacrificed them; discovered, he was abhorred and fled to Libya. Herodotus agrees with the Egyptian story, reasoning that Priam and Hector would never risk Troy's ruin for Helen, and that the Greeks disbelieved the truth because divine power purposed the Trojans' destruction.
Chapter 18
Section 194 cards
What did Rhampsinitos build as a memorial, and what did he store in it?
Herodotus reports that Rhampsinitos left as a memorial the west-facing gateway to the temple of Hephaistos, with two statues of twenty-five cubits in front, called Summer and Winter. He also amassed great silver wealth, which no later king could surpass, and built a stone chamber to store it safely.
Chapter 19
How did the builder arrange the treasury wall for his sons?
The builder set one stone so it could be removed easily by two men or even one. On his deathbed he told his two sons how he had contrived it, gave them the measurements, and said that if they paid heed they would be stewards of the king's treasury. After he died they came by night and carried off great quantities of the wealth.
Chapter 19
Why did the trapped thief have his brother cut off his head?
Caught in the king's trap, the thief called his brother and told him to enter quickly and cut off his head, for fear that if he were seen and recognized he might bring about his brother's destruction too. The brother agreed, did so, replaced the stone, and went home bearing the head. The king then hung the headless body on the wall and set guards to watch it.
Chapter 19
How did the surviving son recover his brother's body from the guards?
He loaded asses with wine skins, loosened the cords near the guards, and cried out as if distressed. The guards collected the spilling wine; he gave them skins, joined their drinking, and got them drunk. At night he took down the body, shaved the right cheeks of the sleeping guards in mockery, and drove home, fulfilling his mother's demand.
Chapter 19
Section 204 cards
What does Herodotus say about his own method of reporting Egyptian tales?
Herodotus states that anyone may accept the Egyptian tales who finds them credible, but that throughout his whole history he writes by hearsay what is reported by the people in each place. He thus presents the story of Rhampsinitos playing dice with Demeter and the blindfolded priest led by wolves as reported tradition, not as his own verified account.
Chapter 20
What doctrine does Herodotus credit the Egyptians with first reporting?
Herodotus says the Egyptians were the first to report that the soul of man is immortal: when the body dies the soul enters another creature then coming to birth, and after passing through all creatures of land, sea, and air it enters a human body again, completing the round in three thousand years. He adds that certain Hellenes later adopted this doctrine as if it were their own invention.
Chapter 20
How did Cheops treat Egypt and use labor for his building projects?
Herodotus reports that after Rhampsinitos, Cheops brought Egypt to every kind of evil: he shut the temples and stopped sacrifices, then compelled all Egyptians to work for him. Laborers hauled stones from Arabian quarries to the Nile and on to the Libyan mountains, working a hundred thousand men at a time in three-month shifts. Ten years went to the causeway and twenty to the pyramid itself.
Chapter 20
What does the inscription on the pyramid record, and what does Herodotus infer from it?
Herodotus says the pyramid declares in Egyptian writing how much was spent on radishes, onions, and leeks for the workmen; as he remembers the interpreter reading it, the sum was one thousand six hundred talents of silver. He then reasons that if so much went on vegetables alone, far more must have gone on iron tools, bread, and clothing for the workmen.
Chapter 20
Section 214 cards
How did Chephren's pyramid differ from Cheops's, according to Herodotus?
Herodotus says Chephren's pyramid was forty feet lower in size than Cheops's and built close to it on the same hill, about a hundred feet high. It lacked underground chambers and a Nile-fed channel; instead its first course was Ethiopian stone of divers colours. Herodotus notes he measured the pyramids himself. Chephren reigned fifty-six years, Cheops fifty.
Chapter 21
Why did the Egyptians reportedly dislike naming Cheops and Chephren?
Herodotus reports the Egyptians said that during the hundred and six years of Cheops and Chephren nothing but evil came to Egypt and the temples stayed closed the whole time. Because of hatred of these kings, the Egyptians were unwilling to name them, and even called the pyramids after Philitis the shepherd who pastured flocks there then.
Chapter 21
How does Herodotus describe Mykerinos's rule and his treatment of subjects?
Herodotus says Mykerinos, son of Cheops, found his father's deeds displeasing: he opened the temples, let the oppressed people return to their business and sacrifices, and gave juster decisions than other kings. When someone complained about a judgment, he compensated them from his own goods. The Egyptians commended him more than all previous kings, though calamities still befell him.
Chapter 21
What did the oracle from Buto tell Mykerinos, and how did he respond?
The oracle said Mykerinos had six years left, dying in the seventh. He protested that his impious father and uncle lived long while he, practicing piety, would die soon. A second message said he was hastening his end because he had not done what was appointed: Egypt was destined to suffer evils for a hundred and fifty years, which his predecessors perceived but he did not. He then used lamps to turn nights into days, seeking twelve years instead of six.
Chapter 21
Section 224 cards
Why does Herodotus reject Rhodopis as builder of the pyramid?
Herodotus argues the Hellenes are wrong because Rhodopis lived many years later, in the reign of Amasis, not during the reign of the king who built the pyramid. He adds that the pyramid cost innumerable thousands of talents, far beyond her means, and that her tithe at Delphi—iron spits—can still be seen, showing her wealth was not great enough for such a monument.
Chapter 22
What memorial did Rhodopis dedicate at Delphi, and with what funds?
With the tithe of her wealth, Rhodopis had iron spits made, large enough to pierce a whole ox and many in number, and sent them to Delphi as a memorial of herself. Herodotus says they were still lying there heaped together behind the altar dedicated by the Chians, opposite the cell of the temple.
Chapter 22
What law did Asychis make about lending money in Egypt?
The priests told Herodotus that in Asychis's reign, because money circulated slowly, a law allowed a man to borrow what he needed by offering the dead body of his father as security. The lender also gained a claim on the whole sepulchral chamber, and a debtor who refused to repay could neither be buried in that family tomb or any other, nor bury any kinsman who died.
Chapter 22
How did Sabacos punish Egyptian wrongdoers, and what effect did it have?
Sabacos the Ethiopian, who ruled Egypt for fifty years after the blind king Anysis fled to the fen-country, never put a transgressor to death. Instead he sentenced each according to the greatness of the wrong, assigning them to throw up an embankment before the city they came from. Thus the cities were raised higher than before, especially Bubastis, already banked up in Sesostris's reign.
Chapter 22
Section 234 cards
Why did Sabacos, the Ethiopian king, leave Egypt of his own free will?
Sabacos dreamed that a man counselled him to gather all the priests of Egypt and cut them in the midst. He took this as a divine trap to make him commit an impious deed, so he refused. He also said the fifty years of rule foretold to him by the Ethiopian Oracles had expired, and so he departed.
Chapter 23
How did the blind king survive in the fen-country, and who first found his island?
He lived fifty years on an island he built by heaping up ashes and earth. Egyptians who secretly brought him food, as appointed, were told to bring ashes too. No one could find the island for over seven hundred years until Amyrtaios. It was named Elbo and measured ten furlongs each way.
Chapter 23
How did Sethos, the priest of Hephaistos, defeat Sanacharib's invading army?
Sethos had slighted the warrior class and taken their land grants, so they refused to help. He entered the temple, and in a dream the god promised he would send helpers. He marched with shopkeepers and artisans to Pelusion. Field mice swarmed at night, ate the enemies' quivers, bows and shield handles, so they fled unarmed and many fell.
Chapter 23
What did the priests of Zeus at Thebes show Herodotus, and what did they claim about their ancestry?
They led him into the temple and counted colossal wooden statues, one set up by each chief-priest in his lifetime. They said each was a son succeeding his father, tracing three hundred and forty-five statues, each surnamed Piromis, meaning 'honourable and good man.' They denied that any man was born from a god, rejecting Hecataios's claim of divine descent in the sixteenth generation.
Chapter 23
Section 244 cards
How do Egyptians rank Pan, Heracles, and Dionysos by age?
The Egyptians count Pan among the eight gods, the most ancient rank; Heracles belongs to the second rank, the twelve gods; and Dionysos to the third rank, born of the twelve gods. Herodotus reports the Egyptians reckon Dionysos's existence at fifteen thousand years down to the reign of Amasis, with Pan older still and Dionysos youngest of the three.
Chapter 24
Why does Herodotus think the Hellenes learned these gods' names late?
The author argues that if Dionysos son of Semele and Pan son of Penelope had lived visibly to old age in Hellas, people would call them mere men bearing the names of older gods. Instead the Hellenes say Zeus sewed the infant Dionysos into his thigh and carried him to Nysa in Ethiopia, and cannot say where Pan went, so Herodotus concludes they learned these names later and date the births to when they learned them.
Chapter 24
What did the twelve kings agree, and why did they build the labyrinth?
After the reign of the priest of Hephaistos, the Egyptians set twelve kings over a divided Egypt. The kings intermarried and swore not to overthrow or outdo one another, because an oracle said whoever poured a libation with a bronze cup in the temple of Hephaistos would rule all Egypt. They also resolved to leave a joint memorial and built the labyrinth above Lake Moiris, near the City of Crocodiles.
Chapter 24
What does Herodotus report about the labyrinth's chambers and the lake of Moiris?
Herodotus says he saw the upper chambers himself, finding them beyond human greatness, while the underground chambers he only heard of, since the keepers refused to show them, claiming they held the tombs of the first kings and sacred crocodiles. The labyrinth has twelve covered courts and three thousand chambers. Lake Moiris, fed by a canal from the Nile, is sixty schoines around and holds two pyramids with colossal seated statues.
Chapter 24
Section 254 cards
Why did the eleven kings exile Psammetichos to the fen-country?
At a temple sacrifice the chief-priest brought only eleven golden cups for twelve kings, so Psammetichos, standing last, used his bronze helmet to pour libation. The kings recalled an oracle that whoever poured libation with a bronze cup would rule Egypt alone. Finding he acted without forethought, they did not kill him but stripped him of most power and drove him into the fen-country.
Chapter 25
How did Psammetichos finally overthrow the eleven kings?
He consulted the Oracle of Leto at Buto, which said vengeance would come when men of bronze appeared from the sea. Later Ionians and Carians, driven ashore while plundering, landed in bronze armour. Psammetichos took this as the oracle fulfilled, befriended them with large promises, and with these mercenaries plus loyal Egyptians overthrew the kings and gained all Egypt.
Chapter 25
What did Psammetichos grant the Ionians and Carians who helped him?
He gave them portions of land to dwell in, opposite one another with the Nile between, called "Encampments," and paid all he had promised. He also placed Egyptian boys with them to learn the Hellenic tongue; from these descended Egypt's class of interpreters. Amasis later moved them to Memphis as his guard against the Egyptians.
Chapter 25
What does Herodotus say about the floating island of Chemmis?
Herodotus reports the Egyptians say the island in the lake by the temple at Buto floats, and that Leto hid Apollo there from Typhon. He states he did not himself see it floating or moving, and feels surprise at the report, wondering if it truly floats. He also notes Aeschylus alone made Artemis the daughter of Demeter.
Chapter 25
Section 264 cards
Who began the channel to the Erythraian Sea, and why did he stop?
Necos, son of Psammetichos, was the first to attempt the channel to the Erythraian Sea, which Dareios the Persian later completed. He ceased in the midst of digging because an oracle declared he was working for the Barbarian; Herodotus notes the Egyptians call all men Barbarians who do not share their speech. Twelve myriads of Egyptians perished while digging it.
Chapter 26
What criticism did the Egyptians make of how the Eleians ran the Olympic contest?
The Eleians claimed to order the contest most justly and came to Egypt seeking additions to their rules. The Egyptians asked whether Eleian citizens could compete; told anyone who wished could, they said the Eleians had wholly missed justice, since they would favor their own man over a stranger. They advised letting only strangers contend, barring Eleians.
Chapter 26
How did Amasis come to be set up as king against Apries?
Apries sent Amasis to persuade the revolting Egyptians to cease. While Amasis was speaking, one Egyptian stood behind him and put a helmet on his head, crowning him king. This was not unwelcome to Amasis, as his behavior proved: once the revolted Egyptians set him up as king, he prepared to march against Apries.
Chapter 26
Why did Apries' own supporters defect to Amasis?
Apries sent Patarbemis, a man of reputation, to bring Amasis alive. Patarbemis returned without him, and Apries, disregarding his report and moved by violent anger, ordered his ears and nose cut off. The remaining Egyptians, seeing the man of most repute among them shamefully outraged, waited no longer but joined the revolt and delivered themselves to Amasis.
Chapter 26
Section 274 cards
What were the seven classes of Egyptians, according to Herodotus?
Herodotus lists seven Egyptian classes: priests, warriors, cowherds, swineherds, shopkeepers, interpreters, and boatmen. He says their names derive from the occupations they follow. The warriors themselves divide into two groups, the Calasirians and the Hermotybians, each drawn from a set of named districts.
Chapter 27
What special land privilege did Herodotus say warrior-class Egyptians received?
Each warrior was granted twelve yokes of land free from imposts, a privilege Herodotus says was shared only with the priests. A yoke measures one hundred Egyptian cubits each way, and the Egyptian cubit equals the Samian cubit. Additionally, one thousand Calasirians and one thousand Hermotybians served yearly as the king's bodyguard, receiving daily bread, beef, and wine rations.
Chapter 27
How did Apries fall from power and what happened to him afterward?
Apries led foreign mercenaries against Amasis, who commanded the whole body of Egyptians. They met at Momemphis; the mercenaries fought well but were outnumbered and defeated. Apries, who reportedly believed no god could end his rule, was captured alive and taken to Sais. Amasis initially treated him well, but after the Egyptians blamed him, he handed Apries over, and they strangled him.
Chapter 27
What does Herodotus say about the Mysteries at Sais and their connection to Greece?
At Sais, near a stone-edged circular lake, Egyptians perform by night a show of 'his sufferings,' which they call Mysteries. Herodotus says he knows more detail but will leave it unspoken, as he does with the Demeter rites the Greeks call Thesmophoria. He states the daughters of Danaos brought this rite from Egypt to the women of the Pelasgians, and the Arcadians later preserved it.
Chapter 27
Section 284 cards
How did Amasis win over the Egyptians who initially despised him?
The author reports that Amasis, though of common birth, won the Egyptians over by wisdom rather than wilfulness. He broke up a gold foot-basin used for washing feet, made it into a god's image, and when the people revered it, explained he himself had similarly been transformed from commoner to king, bidding them honour him.
Chapter 28
How did Amasis answer friends who criticized his daily drinking and jesting?
Amasis compared men to bows: bows are stretched when needed and loosened afterward, for if kept always tight they break. He argued that a man who is always earnest and never relaxes in due time would go mad or become stupefied, so he distributed time between the two ways of living.
Chapter 28
How did Amasis treat oracles that had convicted versus absolved him of theft?
It is said that before becoming king Amasis loved drinking and jesting, and when his means failed he would steal; those he robbed brought him before oracles. Once king, he paid no regard to the gods who had absolved him, considering them worthless with lying oracles, but greatly honoured those who had convicted him, as truly gods with oracles that did not lie.
Chapter 28
What law did Amasis establish about livelihood, and who adopted it?
Amasis established that every year each Egyptian must declare to the ruler of his district from what source he got his livelihood, and anyone who failed to do so or did not declare an honest way of living was punished with death. The author states that Solon the Athenian received this law from Egypt and enacted it for the Athenians, who continued to observe it.
Chapter 28
Section 294 cards
What privileges did Amasis grant to Hellenes coming to Egypt, and where?
Amasis granted the city of Naucratis as a dwelling place for Hellenes who came to Egypt, and gave those who only voyaged there portions of land to set up altars and sacred enclosures for their gods. The greatest and most frequented enclosure, the Hellenion, was established jointly by listed Ionian, Dorian, and Aiolian cities.
Chapter 29
Which cities jointly established the Hellenion, and who had no rightful claim?
The Hellenion was established in common by the Ionians Chios, Teos, Phocaia, and Clazomenai; the Dorians Rhodes, Cnidos, Halicarnassos, and Phaselis; and the Aiolians Mytilene alone. These cities appoint superintendents of the port. All other cities claiming a share are making a claim without any right, according to the chapter.
Chapter 29
Under old rules, what happened to a ship arriving at a Nile mouth other than Naucratis?
In old times Naucratis alone was an open trading-place. Anyone arriving at another Nile mouth had to swear he did not come of his own free will; after swearing, he had to sail his ship to the Canobic mouth, or if contrary winds prevented sailing, carry his cargo round the head of the Delta in boats to Naucratis.
Chapter 29
Why did Amasis send offerings to Samos and to Lindos?
At Samos Amasis dedicated two wooden figures of himself to Hera because of the guest-friendship between himself and Polycrates son of Aiakes. At Lindos he dedicated two stone images and a linen corslet, not for guest-friendship but because the temple of Athene there is said to have been founded by the daughters of Danaos.
Chapter 29
Source and licence
Text used: Project Gutenberg eBook #2131 (Public domain in the United States). Generated from the full text; cards paraphrase the source.
Version: Public domain edition. Retrieved 2026-11-01. Cards reviewed 2026-11-01.
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