Prep Five: Writing History
One of the main themes of Herodotus’ history is the tension between fate and human agency.
How does the debate about whether Xerxes should lead an army to take revenge on the Greeks
(Book Seven) illustrate this subject? What role does the dream represent here?
Demaratus, the Spartan king who abdicated and defected to Persia, shows up as a wise advisor
to Xerxes in Book Seven. These speeches are dramatizations created by Herodotus to illustrate
differences between Spartans and Persians. Choose two specific differences between the
peoples that Demaratus sets out in his speeches to Xerxes and analyze how these differences
are important cultural markers.
Compare Themistocles and Miltiades as Athenian generals. How are they similar? How do
their speeches to their armies touch on important aspects of Athenian identity?