Essay about Commentary on Book Two of Herodotus Histories...

Introduction This paper will offer a commentary on Herodotus’ Histories 2.129-135. Book Two of Histories concerns itself with Egypt; specifically chapters 99-182 detail rulers of Egypt both legendary and actual. Book Two is distinct from the other books in Histories as it is in this book that we predominantly experience Herodotus as an investigator. More precisely it is in Book Two that Herodotus treats first person experience not as direct evidence but as a method of assessing the accounts of others. Chapters 129-135 provide us with the tale of King Mycerinus as recounted by whom Herodotus refers to in 2.127 as simply ‘ÆGYPTIOI’. These Egyptians are referred to at various points in Book Two and at times appear to refer to what might†¦show more content†¦This portrait of Mycerinus as a kind ruler is an interesting one and appears again in Diodorus Siculus’ Library of History. However, despite his stated low opinion of Herodotus’ earl ier work, Diodorus’ account of Egypt undoubtedly has Herodotean threads running through it and for this reason alone cannot be used to support the story of Mycerinus presented in Herodotus’ Histories. Alan B. Lloyd has suggested that the view of Mycerinus as a benign ruler may have come about due to the relatively small size of his pyramid in contrast to those of Chephren and Cheops. This argument is given further credence when it is considered that one of the theories proposed for the reduction in size of Mycerinus’ pyramid was that the Pharaoh began to devote more resources to the construction of temples. However, Herodotus’ tale of Mycerinus can just as easily be read, albeit in an unusual way, as an example of the dangers of hubris. This tale also contains some of the motifs and anti-motifs of tyrants as described in the speech of Otanes at 3.80. The conventions in Otanes’ speech appear frequently when Herodotus talks about despotic rulers i n Histories. This theory of a hubristic Mycerinus character formed as part of a tyrannical tradition in Histories will be dealt with later in this paper. 2.130 At the end of 2.129 Herodotus