Which Is a Better Source of Reliable Information Concerning Salamis Ð- Herodotus Histories or Aeschylus the Persians
Essay Preview: Which Is a Better Source of Reliable Information Concerning Salamis Ð- Herodotus Histories or Aeschylus the Persians
Report this essay
Both “The Persians” and “The Histories” contain information regarding the battle of Salamis. “The Persians” is set in the period between the battle of Salamis and the deciding battle of Platea, and although a work of fiction, it has many valuable and useful bits of information.
Firstly, it was written earlier than The Histories, by someone who had been in the battle itself. Therefore, most of the information would be accurate to Aeschylus. However, when in the heat of battle, no-one knows exactly what is happening in other areas, only what is happening in front of them. As such, a lot of what is considered facts in Aeschylus is more likely to be hearsay and rumours, although it may also be accurate. Also, it was written before Herodotus, so it is likely to be more accurate.
Herodotus is also very biased against Xerxes and everything he did, and is more likely to include fiction simply to make Xerxes seem worse than he actually is. However, this is no better than Aeschylus because he was writing for a Greek audience, and would change the information to please his audience. (A good example of this is when he describes the death ritual of the Persians involving Olives, which are not native to Persia and are used by Greeks as part of the death ritual)
Another reason that The Persians is a good source of information is that Herodotus uses it as a source when writing The Histories (a good example of this is in Aeschylus, he says the Greeks has “1000 ships, 207 of whichД, but in Herodotus it is written as 1207, probably after Herodotus misheard the line from which he extracted the information)