THE PERSIAN TRIAD IN THE HISTORIES

herodotian representations of Cyrus, Cambyses and Darius

Abstract

With the advent of the Persian Wars, in the first half of the fifth century BC, contact between Greeks and Persians intensified. In the post-war conjuncture, Hellenic politics and, specifically, Athenian politics were significantly strengthened and consolidated. Added to this, there was a period of political effervescence, in which there is an affirmation of a Greek identity, based on the union of “Greek brothers'' who fight for freedom and against tyranny, and consolidate their identity against the “other”, represented mainly by the Persian Empire. Herodotus, a historian from Halicarnassus, was placed in this political context, in which he wrote his Histories. Divided into nine books, the Histories narrate several historical episodes from Hellas and the peoples of the East. In the course of this work Herodotus presents some of the Persian monarchs, of which we will work with the representation of three: Cyrus as father; Cambyses as despot; and Darius as a merchant. It is worth mentioning that, in these representations, it is possible to perceive elements of Athenian politics that consisted in the affirmation and exaltation of the constituent elements of a Greek identity, and in the expression of a negative figure about the Orient, specifically, Persia. In addition, we have the perspective of a historian who has had contact with different peoples and cultures. Coming from a Greek colony located in Asia Minor that was a satrapy, that is, province of the Persian Empire, Herodotus had direct and indirect contact with the Persians, which influenced his judgment and writing.