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헤로도토스의 흉상 | |
| 출생 | 기원전 484년경 소아시아 카리아의 할리카르나소스 |
|---|---|
| 사망 | 기원전 425년경 마케도니아의 펠라 또는 칼라브리아의 투리이 |
| 직업 | 역사가 |
할리카르나소스의 헤로도토스(고대 그리스어: ?ρ?δοτο? ? ?λικαρνασσε?? 헤로도토스 호 할리카르나세우스, 현대 그리스어: Ηρ?δοτο? ο Αλικαρνασσε?? 이로도토스 오 알리카르나세프스 라틴어: H?r?d?tus H?l?carnassensis 헤로도투스 할리카르넨시스, 대략 기원전 480년경~420년경)는 고대 그리스의 역사가이다. 서양 문화에서 그는 "역사학의 아버지"로 여겨진다. 그는 체계적으로 사료를 수집하고 어느 정도 사료의 정확성을 검증하였으며 잘 짜여지면서도 생생한 줄거리에 따라 사료를 배치한 최초의 역사가로 알려져 있다.[1] 그는 자신의 저작 《역사》를 통해서 알려져 있다. 이 책은 기원전 490년에서 480~479년까지 이어진 그리스-페르시아 전쟁의 기원에 대한 자신의 '탐구'(?στορ?αι, 이 낱말은 라틴어 historia로 차용되어 오늘날 여러 유럽어에서 '역사'를 뜻하는 말이 되었다)를 기록한 것으로, 특히 다른 문헌이 거의 없는 이 시기의 이야기 자료를 기록하였으며 그 밖에 자신이 지중해와 흑해 주변의 여러 지역을 널리 여행하면서 접한 여러 장소와 사람들에 대한 긴 여담을 많이 썼다. 그의 기록이 완전히 정확한 것은 아니지만 그는 자신이 들은 것만 기록했다고 주장하였다.
생애
헤로도토스의 생애에 관해서는 페르시아 전쟁을 기록한 그의 《역사》에 간간히 언급된 기록 이외에는 거의 알려져 있지 않다. 그의 고향은 도리아인에 의해 건설된 소아시아 지방의 할리카르나소스(현재 터키의 남서쪽 해안 도시인 보드룸)이며 그의 선조는 아마 카리아 지방(현재 터키의 남서쪽 내륙 지방)에서 이주한 것으로 보인다. 그는 할리카르나소스의 지배 가문을 축출하려는 시도에 연루되어 할리카르나소스에서 추방되어 사모스 섬으로 이주하였다. 약 30세를 전후로 헤로도토스는 이집트, 메소포타미아, 페니키아 그리고 스키타이 지역(현재 우크라이나 지방)을 두루 여행한 것으로 추측되며, 이 여행을 통해 수집한 많은 자료가 페르시아 전쟁을 주제로 한 그의 《역사》에 들여지게 된다. 특히 제2권에서 보게되는 고대 이집트 문명에 관한 기록은 현존하는 가장 오래된 기록으로서 이집트학 연구에 많은 도움을 주고 있다.
헤로도토스의 사망 연대는 알려져 있지 않지만, 《역사》(6.91)에서 펠로폰네소스 전쟁의 동기와 초기 상황에 관한 암시를 한 것을 미루어 볼 때, 기원전 420년대에 헤로도토스는 아직 생존하였던 것으로 여겨진다
역사 기술
할리카르나소스 태생 헤로도토스는 인류의 업적이 후세에 잊혀지지 않도록 그리고 그리스인 및 그 밖의 민족들의 훌륭한 발자취가 길이 남겨지도록 하기 위하여 여기에 자신의 탐구 기록을 펴낸다. 특히 여기서 무슨 이유로 이들이 서로 전쟁을 하게 되었는지 들어 깨닫게 될 것이다.
? 역사 1.1
헤로도토스가 기원전 440년경에 쓴 《역사》는 서양 최초의 역사책으로 여겨진다. 전 9권으로 이루어져 있으며, 아시아와 유럽 사이의 항쟁 유래로부터 페르시아 전쟁의 종결에 이르기까지 저술되어 있는데, 제 9권은 미완성이다. 키케로는 헤로도토스를 ‘역사의 아버지’라 불렀다. 좁게는 그리스 도시 국가들과 페르시아 제국 사이의 전쟁을 다루었지만 헤로도토스가 여행한 여러 지역의 문화, 풍습, 역사도 폭넓게 다루었다. 여행지에서 만난 자들의 여러 증언을 토대로 하였는데 확인할 수 없는 증언은 적으면서 사실인지에 대한 자신의 의견도 썼다. 그러나 그의 역사 기술이 사실과 다르고 내용에 편향적인 시각이 들어있다는 비판도 만만치 않았다. 일례로 2세기의 작가 루키아노스는 풍자적인 요소가 강한 그의 작품 《실화》에서 헤로도토스를 거짓말쟁이로 비난하고 있다. 근대의 학자들 여러 명은 헤로도토스가 자신의 여행한 범위를 과장했고 정보 출처를 지어냈다고 주장하였다.
그러나 새로운 고고학적, 문헌학적 발견으로 잘못이라 생각되었던 헤로도토스의 기술이 사실이었다는 것이 여러 차례 드러나면서 《역사》의 정확성에 대한 신뢰는 20세기 중반 이후 더 높아졌다. 이제 헤로도토스는 역사뿐만이 아니라 민족지, 인류학의 아버지로도 평가된다.
헤로도토스가 전하는 내용에는 나일 강이 매년 범람하는 것이 남쪽 멀리 눈이 녹아서라는 증언이 있는데 헤로도토스는 어떻게 세상에서 가장 더운 곳에 눈이 있을 수 있는지 이해하지 못한다고 적고 있다. 또 이집트에서 만난 페니키아 뱃사람들은 아프리카를 돌아 항해하면서 서쪽으로 항해할 때 태양이 오른쪽에 떠있는 것을 보았다고 증언했다고 적고 있다. 이렇게 헤로도토스는 자신이 믿지 않은 증언들도 전달하면서 당시 지리학에 관한 정보를 우리에게 남겨주고 있다.
과거의 위업을 후세의 기억 속에 남긴다는 지극히 서사시적 발상하에 지리, 풍속, 역사, 삽화, 종교 등 너무나도 다양한 사항이 수록되어 있어 이것이 때때로 주제에서 이탈함으로써 보기에 따라 전체의 통일성이 결여된 듯하다. 그러나 이러한 다양한 사항을 동서간의 항쟁이라는 일관된 역사적 전체 속에 집어넣고 페르시아 전쟁도 그 한 부분으로서 파악한 데에 《역사》의 구성상 통일이 있고 그의 역사적 달관이 담겨 있다. 《역사》의 문체가 지니는 매력은 다양성과 유연성에 있다. 직설적인 묘사와 과학적 산문이라고 할 건조한 문체, 그리고 극적인 긴장감을 주는 표현 등 변화가 풍부하다. 또한 줄거리의 교묘함, 서사시적 웅대함, 줄거움을 주면서 가르치는 수완, 낭독하는 것을 목적으로 한 점 등이 헤로도토스가 '산문의 호메로스'로 불리는 이유이다.
- 원전
- Historiae, K. Hude (편집), 2권, 1927 Oxford.
- Herodotus, The Persian Wars, A. D. Godley (번역, 그리스어-영어), 4권, LOEB Classical Library, 1920-1924 Cambridge (Mass.).
주석
- ↑ New Oxford American Dictionary, "Herodotos", Oxford University Press
Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: ?ρ?δοτο? ?λικαρν?σσε?? H?r?dotos Halikarn?sse?s) was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (c. 484 BC?c. 425 BC) and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent, and arrange them in a well constructed and vivid narrative[1] He is almost exclusively known for writing The Histories, a record of his 'inquiries' (or ?στορ?αι, a word that passed into Latin and took on its modern connotation of history) into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars which occurred in 490 and 480-479 BC ? especially since he includes a narrative account of that period, which would otherwise be poorly documented, and many long digressions concerning the various places and peoples he encountered during wide-ranging travels around the lands of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. However, some of his stories are not always completely accurate. Herodotus however does state he is only reporting what is told to him, an honesty lacking in many historians.
Biography
Much of what is known of Herodotus' life has been gathered from his own work. Additional details have been garnered from the Suda, an 11th-century encyclopaedia of Byzantium; it seems likely that the Suda took its information from traditional accounts. Born in Halicarnassus, the Suda claims him to be the son of Lyxes and Dryo, and the brother of Theodorus, and that he was also related to Panyassis, an epic poet of the time. According to this account, after being exiled from Halicarnassus by the tyrant Lygdamis, Herodotus went to live at Samos. Later returning to Halicarnassus, Herodotus took part in the removal of Lygdamis from the city. The traditional biography also includes some time spent in Athens, and has Herodotus joining a Hellenic colony named Thurii in Southern Italy. His death and burial are placed either at Thurii or at Pella, in Macedon.
How much of this is correct cannot be known. It was common practice in antiquity for the biographies of poets to be drawn from inferences collated from their works, and something similar may have happened in Herodotus's case. The casting of Herodotus as a tyrannicide may simply be reflecting the pro-freedom attitude he expresses in the Histories, while the stays at Samos and Athens may have been invented to explain the pro-Samian and pro-Athenian bias that has been often thought to pervade his work. His exile from Halicarnassus may also be fictional: later historians, such as Thucydides and Xenophon, certainly did undergo periods of exile, and their fate may have been later retroactively imposed on Herodotus by later writers.
Herodotus as historian
| “ | Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances. | ” |
Herodotus has provided much information concerning the nature of the world and the status of the sciences during his lifetime. He was arguably the first historian, and certainly the first to methodically travel around the known world in order to write with more accuracy, although this still involved second and third hand accounts relating to his primary subject: the Persian wars.
For example, he reports that the annual flooding of the Nile was said to be the result of melting snows far to the south, and comments that he cannot understand how there can be snow in Africa, the hottest part of the known world, offering an elaborate explanation based on the way that desert winds affect the passage of the Sun over this part of the world (2:18ff). (He also passes on dismissive reports from Phoenician sailors that, while circumnavigating Africa, they 'saw the sun on the right side while sailing westwards'. Thanks to this brief mention, which is almost an afterthought, it has been argued that Africa was indeed circumnavigated by ancient seafarers?for this is precisely where the sun ought to have been.)
He is one of the sources on Croesus and his fabulous treasures of gold and silver, and many stories about his riches.
Written between 431 BC and 425 BC, The Histories were divided by later editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses (the 'Muse of History', Clio, represented the first book).[citation needed]
Opinions
Herodotus' invention has earned him the twin titles The Father of History and The Father of Lies.[2] As these epithets would seem to imply, there has long been a debate?at least from the time of Cicero's 'On the Laws' (Book 1, paragraph 5)?concerning the veracity of his tales, and, more importantly, concerning the extent to which he knew himself to be creating fabrications. Indeed, every manner of argument has surfaced on this subject, from a devious and consciously-fictionalizing Herodotus to a gullible Herodotus whose sources 'saw him coming a long way off'.
Criticisms of Herodotus
There are many cases in which Herodotus, not sure of the truth of a certain event or unimpressed by the dull 'facts' he received, reported the several most famous accounts of a given subject or process and then wrote what he believed was the most probable. Though The Histories were often criticized in antiquity for bias, inaccuracy and plagiarism (for example, Claudius Aelianus attacked Herodotus as a liar in Verae Historiae and went as far as to deny him a place among the famous on the Island of the Blessed), this methodology has been seen in a more positive light by many modern historians and philosophers, especially those searching for an example of relatively objective historical writing. Of course, given the sensitivity of the issue, the very founding of the discipline of history, this has not become a consensus view; attacks have been made by several scholars in modern times, a few even arguing that Herodotus exaggerated the extent of his travels and invented his sources.[3]
Discoveries made since the end of the 19th century have greatly helped restore Herodotus' reputation. The archaeological study of the now submerged ancient Egyptian city of Heracleion and the recovery of the so-called 'Naucratis stela' give extensive credibility to Herodotus' previously unsupported claim that Heracleion was founded under the Egyptian New Kingdom. Because of this recent increase in respect for his accuracy, as well as the quality and content of his observations, Herodotus is now recognized as a pioneer not only in history, but in ethnography and also anthropology.
One of the most recent developments in Herodotus scholarship was made by the French ethnologist Michel Peissel. On his journeys to India and Pakistan, Peissel claims to have discovered an animal species that may finally illuminate one of the most "bizarre" passages in Herodotus' Histories. In Book 3, passages 102 to 105, Herodotus reports that a species of fox-sized, furry "ants" lives in one of the far eastern, Indian provinces of the Persian Empire. This region, Herodotus reports, is a sandy desert, and the sand there contains a wealth of fine gold dust. These giant ants, according to Herodotus, would often unearth the gold dust when digging their mounds and tunnels, and the people living in this province would then collect the precious dust. Now, Peissel says that in an isolated region of the Dansar Plateau between India and Pakistan there exists a species of marmot (a type of burrowing squirrel) that may solve the mystery of Herodotus' giant "ants". Much like the province that Herodotus describes, the ground of the Dansar Plateau is rich in gold dust. According to Peissel, he interviewed the Minaro tribal people who live in the Dansar Plateau, and they have confirm!ed that they have, for generations, been collecting the gold dust that the marmots bring to the surface when they are digging their underground burrows. Even more tantalizing, in his book, "The Ants' Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas", Peissel offers the theory that Herodotus may have become confused because the old Persian word for "marmot" was quite similar to that for "mountain ant". Because research suggests that Herodotus probably did not know any Persian (or any other language except his native Greek), he was forced to rely on a multitude of local translators when travelling in the vast polylingual Persian Empire. Therefore, he may have been the unwitting victim of a simple misunderstanding in translation. (It is also important to realize that Herodotus never claims to have himself seen these "ants/marmot" creatures - he may have been dutifully reporting what other travellers were telling him, no matter how bizarre or unlikely he personally may have found it to be. In an age when most of the world was still mysterious and unknown and before the modern science of biology, the existence of a "giant ant" may not have seemed so far-fetched.) The suggestion that he completely made up the tale may continue to be thrown into doubt as more research is conducted.[4][5]
However, it must be noted that this theory of the marmots fails to take into consideration Herodotus' own followup in passage 105 of Book 3, wherein the "ants/marmots" are said to chase and devour full-grown camels; nevertheless, this could also be explained as an example of a tall tale or legend told by the local tribes to frighten foreigners from seeking this relatively easy access to gold dust. On the other hand, all these details of the "ants" are eerily similar to the description of the camel spider (Solifugae), which strictly speaking is not a spider, and is even sometimes called a "wind scorpion". Camel spiders are said to chase camels (they can run up to 10mph), they have lots of hair bristles, and they could quite easily be mistaken for ants given their rather bizarre appearance. And as has been noted by some, on account of the fear factor of encountering one there have been "many myths and exaggerations about their size" [6]. Images of camel spiders [7] [8] could give the impression that this could be mistaken for a giant ant, but certainly not the size of a fox.
- Pharaoh (historical novel by Bolesław Prus, incorporating scenes involving the ancient Egyptian Labyrinth described in Book II of The Histories of Herodotus)
- Thucydides, ancient Greek historian who is often said to be also "the father of history"
- Life of Homer (Pseudo-Herodotus), a short biography of Homer that claims falsely to be the work of Herodotus