Communications in Humanities Research

- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences


Communications in Humanities Research

Vol. 5, 14 September 2023


Open Access | Article

An Evaluation of Herodotus’s Historical Descriptions of the Scythians to What Extent Are Herodotus’s Literary Works on the Scythians Credible?

Junyan Shen * 1
1 Shanghai World Foreign Language Academy

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Communications in Humanities Research, Vol. 5, 36-42
Published 14 September 2023. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by EWA Publishing
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Citation Junyan Shen. An Evaluation of Herodotus’s Historical Descriptions of the Scythians to What Extent Are Herodotus’s Literary Works on the Scythians Credible?. CHR (2023) Vol. 5: 36-42. DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/5/20230027.

Abstract

Extensive research papers discussing the ancient Greek cultures or nomadic tribes refer primarily to one particular source – Herodotus’ Histories. A series of observations and oral information from various Persian territories were taken into account in this well-known work. As contemporary scholars use Herodotus' jobs, they often regard his accounts as accurate descriptions and come up with their conclusions respectively. Such a perspective should be considered a severe issue since history is a serious study of past events from all aspects of human society. Reckless approaches can, in terms, arise from wrong interpretations. This article focuses on Herodotus' descriptions of the Scythians and argues that Herodotus' works are invaluable in better understanding the archaeological findings. However, several mistakes are found in his accounts compared with other current archaeological findings. While directly citing from his works, scholars should make necessary cross-references to avoid potential errors.

Keywords

Herodotus, historical descriptions, the credibility of literary works, archaeological findings, Scythian kurgans, kings' burials, and tombs

References

1. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (2019) Herodotus | Biography, Histories, & Facts https://www.britannica.com/biography/Herodotus-Greek-historian.

2. Herodotus, George R., and Francis R. B. G. (1947) Herodotus: The Persian Wars

3. Liudmyla G. (2015) The Intra-Annual Streamflow Distribution of Ukrainian Rivers in Different Phases of Long-Term Cyclical Fluctuations https://doi.org/10.6001/ENERGETIKA.V61I2.3134.

4. Herodotus and Francis R. B. G. (1973) Herodotus: On the Scythians. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 32, no. 5

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6. Woldeyohannes, Dr-Yohannes & Khalil, Alamgir & Salem, Hilmi (2017) Nile River's Basin Dispute: Perspectives of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

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8. Aude M. (2017) Under the Microscope: The Oxus Treasure and Scythian Gold https://blog.britishmuseum.org/under-the-microscope-the-oxus-treasure-and-scythian-gold/.

9. Ivantchik A. (2018) The Funeral of Scythian Kings: The Historical Reality and the Description of Herodotus (IV, 71-72). Milton Keynes Uk: Lightning Source Uk Ltd., New York. 71–106.

10. Karen S. R. (1975) Expedition Magazine - Penn Museum https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/herodotus-and-the-scythians/.

11. Tom H. (2017) Darius, Herodotus and the Scythians https://blog.britishmuseum.org/darius-herodotus-and-the-scythians/.

12. Faustino M. (2007) Herodotus.

13. https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/greekpast/4694.html.

Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Psychology and Humanity Studies
ISBN (Print)
978-1-83558-003-5
ISBN (Online)
978-1-83558-004-2
Published Date
14 September 2023
Series
Communications in Humanities Research
ISSN (Print)
2753-7064
ISSN (Online)
2753-7072
DOI
10.54254/2753-7064/5/20230027
Copyright
14 September 2023
Open Access
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Copyright © 2023 EWA Publishing. Unless Otherwise Stated