Herodotus on the Trojan War
Herodotus was a historian in Ancient Greece who wrote extensively about the history of Greece and its neighbors, especially concerning their wars with the Persians. With the new movie, Troy, being played in theaters, here's a bit of the Trojan War legend from a Greek perspective:
...In Argos [the Phoenicians] displayed their wares, and five or six days later when they were nearly sold out, a number of women came down to the beach to see the fair. Amongst these was the king's daughter, whom Greek and Persian writers agree in calling Io, daughter of Inachus. These women were standing about near the vessel's stern, buying what they fancied, when suddenly the Phoenician sailors passed the word along and made a rush at them. The greater number got away; but Io and some other were caught and bundled aboard the ship, which cleared at once and made off for Egypt....
Later on some Greeks, whose name the Persians fail to record--They were probably Cretans--put into the Phoenician port of Tyre and carried off the king's daughter Europa, thus giving them tit for tat.
For the next outrage it was the Greeks again who were responsible. They sailed in an armed marchantman to Aea in Colchis on the river Phasis, and, not content with the regular business which had brought them there, they abduct the king's daughter, Medea. The king sent to Greece demanding reparations and his daughter's return; but the only answer he got was that the Greeks had no intention of offering reparation, having received none themselves for the abduction of Io from Argos.
The accounts go on to say that some forty to fifty years afterwards Paris, the son of Priam, was inspired by these stories to steal a wife for himself out of Greece, being confident that he would not have to pay for the venture any more than the Greeks had done. And that was how he came to carry off Helen....
Thus far there had been nothing worse than woman-stealing on both sides; but for what happened next the Greeks, they say, were seriously to blame; for it was the Greeks who were, in a military sense, the aggressors. Abducting young women, in their opinion, is not, indeed, a lawful act; but it is stupid after the event to make a fuss about avenging it. The only sensible thing is to take no notice; for it is obvious that no young woman allows herself to be abducted if she does not wish to be.
I asked the priests if the Greek story of what happened at Troy had any truth to it, and they gave me in reply some information which they claimed to have had direct from Menelaus himself. This was, that after the abduction of Helen, the Greeks sent a strong force to the Troad in support of Menelaus' cause, and as soon as the men had landed and established themselves on Trojan soil, ambassadors, of whom Menelaus was one, were dispatched to Troy. They were received within the walls of the town, and demanded the restoration of Helen together with the treasure which Paris had stolen, and also satisfaction for the injuries they had received. The Trojan,s however, gave them the answer which they always stuck to--sometimes even swearing to the truth of it: namely, that neither Helen nor the treasure was in their possession, but both were in Egypt, and there was no justice in trying to force them to give satisfaction for property which was being detained by the Egyptian king Proteus. [Proteus, on receiving Paris in Egypt and discovering what the prince had done, supposedly rebuked him soundly, called him a villain, and confiscated Helen and Paris' treasure.]
This, then, is the version the Egyptian priests gave me of the story of Helen, and I am inclined to accept it for the following reason: had Helen really been in Troy, she would have been handed over to the Greeks with or without Paris' consent; for UI cannot believe that either Priam or any other kinsman of his was made enough to be willing to risk his own and his children's lives and the safety of the city, simply to let Paris continue to live with Helen. If, moreover, that had been their feeling when the troubles began, surely later on, when the Trojans had suffered heavy losses in every battle they fought, and there was never an engagement (if we may believe the epic poems) in which Priam himself did not lose two of his sons, or three, or even more: surely, I repeat, in such circumstances as these, there can be little doubt that, even if Helen had been the wife of Priam the king, he would have given her back to the Greeks, if to do so offered a chance of relief from the suffering which the war had caused.
How interesting that even the Ancient Greeks thought that there was something fishy about that myth. Comments? Questions? I can excerpt the Paris-bashing, too, if you'd like. :) I just hope the fangirls don't stone me.
...In Argos [the Phoenicians] displayed their wares, and five or six days later when they were nearly sold out, a number of women came down to the beach to see the fair. Amongst these was the king's daughter, whom Greek and Persian writers agree in calling Io, daughter of Inachus. These women were standing about near the vessel's stern, buying what they fancied, when suddenly the Phoenician sailors passed the word along and made a rush at them. The greater number got away; but Io and some other were caught and bundled aboard the ship, which cleared at once and made off for Egypt....
Later on some Greeks, whose name the Persians fail to record--They were probably Cretans--put into the Phoenician port of Tyre and carried off the king's daughter Europa, thus giving them tit for tat.
For the next outrage it was the Greeks again who were responsible. They sailed in an armed marchantman to Aea in Colchis on the river Phasis, and, not content with the regular business which had brought them there, they abduct the king's daughter, Medea. The king sent to Greece demanding reparations and his daughter's return; but the only answer he got was that the Greeks had no intention of offering reparation, having received none themselves for the abduction of Io from Argos.
The accounts go on to say that some forty to fifty years afterwards Paris, the son of Priam, was inspired by these stories to steal a wife for himself out of Greece, being confident that he would not have to pay for the venture any more than the Greeks had done. And that was how he came to carry off Helen....
Thus far there had been nothing worse than woman-stealing on both sides; but for what happened next the Greeks, they say, were seriously to blame; for it was the Greeks who were, in a military sense, the aggressors. Abducting young women, in their opinion, is not, indeed, a lawful act; but it is stupid after the event to make a fuss about avenging it. The only sensible thing is to take no notice; for it is obvious that no young woman allows herself to be abducted if she does not wish to be.
I asked the priests if the Greek story of what happened at Troy had any truth to it, and they gave me in reply some information which they claimed to have had direct from Menelaus himself. This was, that after the abduction of Helen, the Greeks sent a strong force to the Troad in support of Menelaus' cause, and as soon as the men had landed and established themselves on Trojan soil, ambassadors, of whom Menelaus was one, were dispatched to Troy. They were received within the walls of the town, and demanded the restoration of Helen together with the treasure which Paris had stolen, and also satisfaction for the injuries they had received. The Trojan,s however, gave them the answer which they always stuck to--sometimes even swearing to the truth of it: namely, that neither Helen nor the treasure was in their possession, but both were in Egypt, and there was no justice in trying to force them to give satisfaction for property which was being detained by the Egyptian king Proteus. [Proteus, on receiving Paris in Egypt and discovering what the prince had done, supposedly rebuked him soundly, called him a villain, and confiscated Helen and Paris' treasure.]
This, then, is the version the Egyptian priests gave me of the story of Helen, and I am inclined to accept it for the following reason: had Helen really been in Troy, she would have been handed over to the Greeks with or without Paris' consent; for UI cannot believe that either Priam or any other kinsman of his was made enough to be willing to risk his own and his children's lives and the safety of the city, simply to let Paris continue to live with Helen. If, moreover, that had been their feeling when the troubles began, surely later on, when the Trojans had suffered heavy losses in every battle they fought, and there was never an engagement (if we may believe the epic poems) in which Priam himself did not lose two of his sons, or three, or even more: surely, I repeat, in such circumstances as these, there can be little doubt that, even if Helen had been the wife of Priam the king, he would have given her back to the Greeks, if to do so offered a chance of relief from the suffering which the war had caused.
How interesting that even the Ancient Greeks thought that there was something fishy about that myth. Comments? Questions? I can excerpt the Paris-bashing, too, if you'd like. :) I just hope the fangirls don't stone me.