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Herodotus: The History (Book 7) Xerxes Flogs the Hellespont
Whereas many Middle Eastern
peoples welcomed the advent of the Persian Empire, the Greeks viewed their
own victories over the Persians as making possible the very continuance of
their civilization. The army of Darius was defeated at the Battle of Marathon
in 490 BCE and that of Xerxes I at Salamis in 480 BCE. The Greeks considered
their poleis,
many of them democracies, as infinitely superior to the absolute monarchy of
Persia. Europeans have traditionally maintained that if these battles had not
been won, history would have been utterly changed, with Europe falling under
the sway of Eastern despotism. Whether or not this theory is true can never
be known, but the theory itself helped to shape centuries of European
hostility to and contempt for the nations of the Middle East. Part of that
contempt is expressed in the following story, in which the great Xerxes is
depicted by the Greek historian Herodotus as a superstitious fool and a
bloodthirsty tyrant. His massive army is preparing to cross the narrow strait
(the Hellespont, now in Turkey) which separated Asia from Europe. (Build your own
bridge.)
They then began to build bridges
across the Hellespont from Abydos to that headland between Sestus and
Madytus, the Phoenicians building one of ropes made from flax, and the
Egyptians building a second one out of papyrus. From Abydos to the opposite
shore it is a distance of almost two-thirds of a mile. But no sooner had the
strait been bridged than a great storm came on and cut apart and scattered
all their work. Xerxes flew into a rage at this,
and he commanded that the Hellespont be struck with three hundred strokes of
the whip and that a pair of foot-chains be thrown into the sea. It's even
been said that he sent off a rank of branders
(1) along with the rest to the Hellespont! He also commanded the
scourgers to speak outlandish and arrogant words: You hateful water, our master lays his judgement on you
thus, for you have unjustly punished him even though he's done you no wrong!
Xerxes the king will pass over you, whether you wish it or not! It is fitting
that no man offer you sacrifices, (2) for you're a muddy and salty river! In these ways he commanded that the sea be punished and also that the heads be severed from all those who directed the bridging of the Hellespont. And this scourging was done by
those appointed to this graceless honor, and other builders were chosen. The
bridging was done in the following way: fifty-oared ships and triremes were
set side by side, about three hundred and sixty to form the Euxinian bridge,
and about three hundred and fourteen to form the other bridge, all of them at
right angles to the Pontus and parallel to the Hellespont, thus taking off
some of the tension from the ropes. Once the ships were alongside one
another, they released huge anchors, both from the end near the Pontus
because of the winds blowing from that sea, and on the other end towards the
west and the Aegean because of the western and southern winds. A passage was
left in the opening of the fifty-oared ships and triremes in order that, if
he wished to go into or out of the Pontus, he could pass through in a small
ship. Having done all this, they stretched ropes from the land and twisted
them with wooden pulleys, and they did not keep each separate, but assigned
two flaxen cables and four papyrus cables for each bridge. Each type of cable
was thick and comely, but the report goes that the flaxen cables were
heavier, a single yard weighing over 100
pounds. (3) When the sea was bridged, wooden timbers equal to the
breadth of the floating ships were felled and were laid on the stretched
cables, and laying them alongside one another they tied them fast. Having
done this, they put down brushwood, laying it on the timbers, and they put down
earth on top of the brushwood, stamping it down and building a fence on the
earth on each side in order that the beasts of burden and the horses would
not be frightened by the sea flowing beneath them. When they had built the bridges,
the work around Athos, and the dikes around the mouths of the canals, these
built because of the sea breaking on the shore which would silt up the mouths
of the canals, and these canals being reported as completely finished, the
army then and there prepared to winter and, when spring came, was ready and
set forth to Abydos from Sardis. When they had started to set forth, the sun
eclipsed itself and was not to be seen in its place in the heavens, even
though the sky was unclouded and as clear as can be, so that the day turned to
night. When Xerxes perceived this he became anxious, and he asked the Magians
to clarify what this omen meant. These said that the god, Pythian Apollo, was
foreshowing to the Greeks the eclipse of their city, for the sun was a
prophet to the Greeks, as the moon was to them. Hearing that, Xerxes' mood
became exceedingly sunny and he continued the march. As he marched out the army,
Pythias the Lydian, dreading the heavenly omen and encouraged by the gifts
given to him by Xerxes, came up to Xerxes and said, "Master, I wish to
ask a favor of you, which would be a small favor for you to render, but would
be a great favor for me to receive." Xerxes, thinking that he knew
everything Pythias could ask for, answered that he would grant the favor and
asked him to proclaim what it was he wished. Master, it happens that I have five sons, and they are all
bound to soldier for you against the Greeks. I pray you, king, that you have
pity on one who has reached my age and that you set free one of my sons, even
the oldest, from your army, so that he may provide for me and my possessions.
Take the other four with you, and may you return having accomplished all you
intended. Xerxes flew into a horrible rage
and replied, You villainous man, you have the effrontery, seeing me
marching with my army against the Greeks, with my sons and brothers and
relatives and friends, to remind me of your son, you, my slave, who should
rather come with me with your entire household, including your wife! You may
now be certain of this, that since the spirit lives in a man's ears, hearing
good words it fills the body with delight, when it hears the opposite it
swells up. When you at one time performed well and promised more, you had no
reason to boast that you outperformed your king in benefits; and now that you
have turned most shameless, you shall receive less than what you deserve. You
and four of your sons are saved because of your hospitality; but one of your
sons, the one you most desire to hold your arms around, will lose his life! Having answered thus, he commanded
those charged to accomplish this to find the eldest of Pythias's sons and cut
him in half, and having cut him in two to set one half of his corpse on the
right side of the road and the other on the left side, and between these the
army moved forth. Xerxes Weeps On
reaching the Scamander, which was the first stream, of all that they
had crossed since they left Sardis, whose water failed them and did not suffice to satisfy the thirst of men and cattle, Xerxes
ascended into the Pergamus of Priam, since he had a longing
to behold the place. When he had seen everything, and
inquired into all particulars, he made an offering of a
thousand oxen to the Trojan Minerva, while the Magians poured libations to the heroes who were slain at Troy. The night after, a panic
fell upon the camp: but in the morning they set off with
daylight, and skirting on the left hand the towns Rhoeteum,
Ophryneum, and Dardanus (which borders on Abydos), on the
right the Teucrians of Gergis, so reached Abydos.
"There
came upon me," replied he, "a sudden pity, when I thought of the shortness of man's life, and considered that of all this
host, so numerous as it is, not one will be alive when a
hundred years are gone by." |
