Assignment for Monday, January 12:

Read: Herodotus Book 1 (Penguin pp. 3-94)

NB: If you’ve not read any Herodotus before, or simply want to know more about him and the historical context of the reading, read the Introduction to the Penguin.

As you read, think about the following (and make sure you come prepared to discuss):

a) make a list of places where H. explicitly conceives of what he is doing as preserving ‘memory’ – look, that is, for places where he speaks of remembering, recording, forgetting, memory, etc.

b) In what sense do the societies (or society) and culture you encounter in Hdt. 1 reflect Nora’s conception of ‘archaic society’? Does Hdt. (or rather the people he describes) value memory in a way that differs significantly from the way you imagine modern society (i.e., the one you inhabit) values it?

c) Pick an episode from Book 1, and be prepared to discuss its purpose in the text. Why, in other words, does Hdt. bother to include it? What does it contribute to the context-setting going on in Bk. 1? Some examples: the ‘rape’ narrative, the Candaules/Gyges episode, Croesus/Solon, Astyages/Harpagus/Mandanes, Massagetae ‘ethnography’….