Herodotus and the topography of Xerxes’ invasion: Place and memory in Greece and Anatolia

Jan Zacharias Van Rookhuijzen

Published by De Gruyter 2019

Herodotus and the topography of Xerxes’ invasion

Place and memory in Greece and Anatolia

Jan Zacharias Van Rookhuijzen

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110612530

Overview
Contents

About this book

In his Histories, Herodotus of Halicarnassus gave an account of Xerxes’ invasion of Greece (480 BCE). Among the information in this work features a rich topography of the places visited by the army, as well as of the battlefields. Apparently there existed a certain demand among the Greeks to behold the exact places where they believed that the Greeks had fallen, gods had appeared, or Xerxes had watched over his men.
This book argues that Herodotus’ topography, long taken at face value as if it provided unambiguous access to the historical sites of the war, may partly be a product of Greek imagination in the approximately fifty years between the Xerxes’ invasion and its publication, with the landscape functioning as a catalyst. This innovative approach leads to a new understanding of the topography of the invasion, and of the ways in which Greeks in the late fifth century BCE understood the world around them. It also prompts new suggestions about the real-world locations of various places mentioned in Herodotus’ text.

Author / Editor information

Jan Zacharias van Rookhuijzen, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	XI
List of maps and figures Publicly Available Download PDF	XV
1. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Topographical Case Studies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
3. A Typology of Mnemotopes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	290
4. Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	310
Index Locorum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Classicists, Historians, and Archaeologists.
Pages
- Front matter: 16
- Main content: 373
Keywords: Herodotus; Persian Wars; Topography; Memory studies

eBook

Published: November 19, 2018
ISBN: 9783110612530

Hardcover

Published: November 19, 2018
ISBN: 9783110610208

Paperback

Published: July 6, 2020
ISBN: 9783110710175