Herodotus Use Or Abuse Of Oracles
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Herodotus of Halicarnassus, is today, regarded by most as being the 1st historian. His Histories, later divided into nine books, tell the epic story of the Persian invasions of Greece. Herodotus as a historian, be it the 1st, is not without his faults. His historical causation is often very simplistic, and his explanations for important historical events often simply involve 'wrongdoing and retaliation.' His historical causation often feature the use of divine intervention and the involvement of oracles, which the modern historian would shy away from listing as causes or contributing factors to events. Although troubling for the modern scholar, religion played a large part in Herodotus's live, and that of the ancient Greek's, and thus he must be excused for any causation inadequacies by today's standard. In this essay I intend to examine the use of oracles, specifically the Delphic Oracle, and how it influenced his work.
It is clear that Herodotus believes in divine intervention. Men could be punished by the gods for specific crimes or god's will shown to mortals through dreams and oracles. Herodotus also connects the rising to power of an individual or state, only to be brought down, with the will of the gods...