Tales from Herodotus of Ancient Greece

Sophie (age 7) and Ellie (age 5) tell some of the best loved tales from Herodotus.

They start with the story of Croesus. Herodotus explains how Croesus was very rich. However, his neighbours were the powerful Persians. Croesus wanted to know if he should go to war with the Persians. He decided to ask an Oracle what to do. But he couldn’t be sure if the Oracles would tell the truth. So he asked different Oracles the same question, “What am I doing now?”. Then he arranged to do something very strange. He cooked a tortoise in a pot. Only one Oracle got the right answer. So he asked that Oracle whether he should attack the Persians. Herodotus tells us that the Oracle told him that if he attacked Persia a great empire would be destroyed. Emboldened, Croesus attacked the Persians. And prompted lost. He did not realise that the empire that he would destroy would be his own.

Our second story from Herodotus is about the Persian Emperor discussing difference between peoples. He asked the Greeks if they would eat the body of their own dead father. The Greeks and Sophie and Ellie are disgusted at the very idea. The Greeks cremate their dead. Then the Persian Emperor asked some Indians if they would burn the body of their dead father. The Indians are disgusted at the very idea. They eat the bodies of the dead.

Our third story from Herodotus is about the naughty Persians visiting the Greeks. The Persians request that the Greek wives join for dinner. But they then keep trying to kiss the wives. The Greek husbands are not happy about this. That night they get all the Greek men without beards to secretly dress up as women. When the Persians try again to kiss them, the Greek men stab the Persians with hidden daggers.

Our fourth story from Herodotus sees the Persian invasion of Greece. The Persian Emperor builds a bridge of boats. But a storm comes and destroys the bridge. The Persian Emperor is so angry that he has the sea punished. It is whipped. Ellie observes that this is completely pointless.

Our final story from Herodotus is about the Golden Ants. Herodotus tells a story about ants as big as small dogs which go digging in the East for gold. People then wait for them to come out of their burrows and take the gold. The story seems ridiculous. But more recently people have realised that Marmots in the Himalayas come out of their burrow covered in gold dust and local people would take the gold off them. Maybe this is the story that Herodotus was talking about in his tale.

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