Herodotus on Persians

 I think I like Herodotus because the space he carves out in a reader’s imagination is vast. His reports on the ancient world can’t be taken as the literal truth. But he helps us imagine what distant people might have been like.

Herodotus says the Persians took education seriously but had only three subjects: horsemanship, archery and honesty.

That’s not literally true. Herodotus later tells us how the Persians bridged the Hellespont, suggesting expertise in mathematics, engineering and logistics.

Still, honesty must have been important to them in a way politically active Americans might find baffling. In his account of the Persians’ religion, Herodotus says that the two chief sins were lies and debt. Lying was the worst. Debt was not in itself a problem, but the Persians thought it led necessarily to lying, which was.

• Sources and notes: Herodotus, The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield; Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 62-3. The Histories, which Herodotus viewed as nine books, are on my list for 2025.