Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2013
Abstract
The study analyses particular passages related to Egyptian Western Desert and to inhabited spots there in Herodotus’ Histories. These fringe and unknown areas as well as the desert oases in Herodotus’ Libyan Desert are depicted in contrast to green and vivid setting of the Nile Valley with abundance of water, vegetation and settlement.
Data preserved by Herodotus on Libyan Desert are unique in many ways. We read more or less accurate details of local topography, ethnography and often weird customs but the writings also reveal a lot of Herodotus’ way of thinking about two and half millennia ago.
Comparing his view of the desert with for example biblical texts, Herodotus’ pragmatic, factual and predominantly rational method arises markedly.