21. Herodotus on the Persian conquest of Thrace and Macedonia

Herodotus (Greek: Ἡρόδοτος, circa 484 - circa 425 BC), "the Father of History", Greek historian born in Halicarnassus, Caria (modern day Bodrum, Turkey). His work Histories (ἱστορία, Istoría, which in Ancient Greek meant Inquiries), written in Ionic Greek around 460-420 BC, is the account of the wars between the Persians and the Greeks, but also includes historical and geographical background information, mentions of myths, legends, oracles and anecdotes.

"Their fleet subdued the Thasians, who did not so much as lift up their hands against it; their land army added the Macedonians to the slaves that they had already, for all the nations nearer to them than Macedonia had been made subject to the Persians before this."

Herodotus, The Histories, Book 6, chapter 44, section 1. Translated by A. D. Godley. Harvard University Press, 1920. At Perseus Digital Library.

"From Doriscus Xerxes went on his way towards Hellas, compelling all that he met to go with his army. As I have shown earlier, all the country as far as Thessaly had been enslaved and was tributary to the [Persian] king, by the conquests of Megabazus and Mardonius after him."

22. Herodotus on the Persian naval catastophe at Athos 492 BC

"Crossing over from Thasos they travelled near the land as far as Acanthus, and putting out from there they tried to round Athos. But a great and irresistible north wind * fell upon them as they sailed past and dealt very roughly with them, driving many of their ships upon Athos.

It is said that about three hundred ships were lost, and more than twenty thousand men. Since the coasts of Athos abound in wild beasts, some men were carried off by beasts and so perished; others were dashed against the rocks; those who could not swim perished because of that, and still others by the cold."

Herodotus, The Histories, Book 6, chapter 44, sections 2-3. Translation by A. D. Godley. Harvard University Press, 1920. At Perseus Digital Library.

* Northern Greece is still subject all year round to sudden violent storms, brought from the Balkan mountains to the north, and reaching as far south as Thessaly. In February 2012 the coast around the Strymonic Gulf was hit by storms and enormous waves which caused damage to several villages.

See also comments on the climate of northern Greece at The Cheshire Cat Blog:

Do Meteora dogs dream of floating sheep?

and

Desperately seeking summer part 2.

In other translations of this passage by Herodotus, the "wild beasts" around the coast of Athos are called "monsters" (George Rawlinson), "sea monsters" (G. C. Macaulay, 3rd edition, 1914) or even specifically named as "sharks that infest the sea around Mount Athos" (Robin Waterfield, Oxford University Press, 1998). Although sharks appear to be the only possible candidates for the "sea monsters" in the northern Aegean, it seems unlikely that there would have been sufficient numbers in the stormy sea to have killed scores or even hundreds of men. I have often seen dolphins along this coast, but never a shark, nor have I heard mention of anybody seeing one. Perhaps they were much more common in antiquity.

As for wild beasts on land, if another report by Herodotus is true, lions were numerous enough around Halkidiki to cause problems for Xerxes' enormous army in 480 BC as it marched from Akanthos to Therme (Θέρμη, southeast of where Thessaloniki was later to be founded, see History of Stageira Part 6) and the mouth of the river Axios (Ἄξιος) on the north coast of the Thermaic Gulf (see photo on Macedonia page 3):

"So the fleet lay there off the river Axius and the city of Therma and the towns between them, awaiting the king. But Xerxes and his land army marched from Acanthus by the straightest inland course, making for Therma. Their way lay through the Paeonian and the Crestonaean country to the river Cheidorus, which, rising in the Crestonaean land, flows through the Mygdonian country and issues by the marshes of the Axius.

As Xerxes marched by this route, lions attacked the camels which carried his provisions; nightly they would come down out of their lairs and made havoc of the camels alone, seizing nothing else, man or beast of burden. I wonder what prevented the lions from touching anything but the camels, creatures which they had not seen and had no knowledge of until then.

In these parts there are many lions and wild oxen, whose horns are those very long ones which are brought into Hellas. The boundary of the lions' country is the river Nestus which flows through Abdera and the river Achelous which flows through Acarnania. Neither to the east of the Nestus anywhere in the nearer part of Europe, nor to the west of the Achelous in the rest of the mainland, is any lion to be seen, but they are found in the country between those rivers."

23. Herodotus on the size of Xerxes' army 480 BC

"This was by far the greatest of all expeditions that we know of. The one that Darius led against the Scythians is nothing compared to it; neither is the Scythian expedition when they burst into Media in pursuit of the Cimmerians and subdued and ruled almost all the upper lands of Asia (it was for this that Darius afterwards attempted to punish them). According to the reports, the expedition led by the sons of Atreus against Troy is also nothing by comparison; neither is the one of the Mysians and Teucrians which before the Trojan war crossed the Bosphorus into Europe, subdued all the Thracians, and came down to the Ionian sea, marching southward as far as the river Peneus."

Herodotus, The Histories, Book 7, chapter 20, section 2. At Perseus Digital Library.

24. Herodotus on Xerxes in Halkidiki 480 BC

Herodotus, The Histories, Book 7:

"1. Journeying from the Strymon, the army passed by Argilus, a Greek town standing on a stretch of coast further westwards; the territory of this town and that which lies inland of it are called Bisaltia.

2. From there, keeping on his left hand the gulf off Poseideion [the Strymonic Gulf], Xerxes traversed the plain of Syleus (as they call it), passing by the Greek town of Stagirus, and came to Acanthus. He took along with him all these tribes and those that dwelt about the Pangaean range, just as he did those previously mentioned, the men of the coast serving in his fleet and the inland men in his land army.

3. The entire road along which king Xerxes led his army the Thracians neither break up nor sow, but they hold it in great reverence to this day."

Chapter 116
"When Xerxes came to Acanthus, he declared the Acanthians his guests and friends, and gave them Median clothing, praising them for the zeal with which he saw them furthering his campaign, and for what he heard of the digging of the canal."

. . .

Chapter 118
"But the Greeks who received Xerxes' army and entertained the king himself were brought to such a degree of misery [financial ruin], that they were driven from house and home. Witness the case of the Thasians, who received and feasted Xerxes' army on behalf of their towns on the mainland; Antipatrus son of Orgeus, as notable a man as any of his townsmen, chosen by them for this task, rendered them an account of four hundred silver talents expended on the dinner."

Chapter 119
"1. Similar accounts were returned by the officers in the other towns. Now the dinner, about which a great deal of fuss had been made and for the preparation of which orders had been given long ago, proceeded as I will tell.

2. As soon as the townsmen had word from the herald's proclamation, they divided corn among themselves in their cities and all of them for many months ground it to wheat and barley meal; moreover, they fed the finest beasts that money could buy, and kept landfowl and waterfowl in cages and ponds, for the entertaining of the army. They also made gold and silver cups and bowls and all manner of service for the table.

3. These things were provided for the king himself and those that ate with him. For the rest of the army they provided only food. At the coming of the army, there was always a tent ready for Xerxes to take his rest in, while the men camped out in the open air.

4. When the hour came for dinner, the real trouble for the hosts began. When they had eaten their fill and passed the night there, the army tore down the tent on the next day and marched off with all the movables, leaving nothing but carrying all with them."

Source of drawings of Darius I and the Persian archer

Drawing of Darius I by Faucher-Gudin, from a photo by the French archaeologist Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy (1844-1920).

The archer friezes were discovered by Dieulafoy and his wife Jane (1851-1916) during their excavation of Susa, Persia (Iran) in 1885-1886. Many of the artefacts they unearthed were shipped to France and are now in the Louvre. Drawing by Boudier, from a photograph taken in the Louvre by Faucher-Gudin.

Both drawings from:
Gaston Maspero (1846-1916), History of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 9 (of 12). Edited by A. H. Sayce, translated by M. L. McClure. Grolier Society, London. Undated (1906?). At Project Gutenberg.

Visit the My Favourite Planet Group on Facebook.