Dr. Roel Konijnendijk

So there's often that kind of pattern that you see in those stories repeated in the stories about the Persian court as well.

So that's one aspect of it.

And the other part is, as I said, I mean, he is really actually quite interested in Persia and in giving Persians their due for their achievements.

And so even figures like Xerxes, although they commit a lot of horrors, which may or may not be part of how they profile themselves, they're also presented as people who are really quite keen to do the right thing.

They're driven by forces beyond their control.

They're also very interested in the things they do.

They're always investigating.

They're always looking at things and always asking about things.

And so it's not a single-minded profile of, you know, just the sort of cartoon villain that he gives of any of these rulers.

He is sort of interested in creating fully fleshed out characters, I think, who are to some extent fated to be who they are.

It's a really interesting question actually.

I think there's just not enough detail in his account of the first of those expeditions to say he would have done it differently if he had given all of those details.

The fact is simply that he spends so much more time on Xerxes' invasion force and so much more time on the leadership of that force and its failings.

And so when we hear about the marathon campaign, you do hear some of the way that these Persian commanders, Dates and Artefrenes, who commanded that expedition, how they managed things, how they conducted themselves, but you don't hear much about how their forces are composed.

And you don't hear that much about what kind of councils they had among themselves, which would get much more for Xerxes.

So this is obviously more distant in time for Herodotus, but it's also just not the meat of his account.

So it's not the main event.

And so he is to some extent holding back some of those later conflicts he's really going to spin out.

Like why does Xerxes attack the Greeks?

Why does he decide to do the things he does and do it the way he does it?