- Popular Morality in Herodotus 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206

199 Nick Fisher - Bril's C to H

207 on geographical distance from the Greek world, are naturall mapped against Greek norms! so is his portrayal of the exotic jealousies and brutalities at the courts of his Eastern kings" #uch norms include monogam , the protection of citi$en women, legal penalties for those who disrupt marriages, and modified tolerance for the male use of prostitutes, courtesans, and, within certain restrictions, engagement in homose%ual, especiall pederastic, relationships" 32 &erodotus' presentation of alternati(es to these norms can nonetheless )e remarka)l di(erse and open*minded" 33 Some more extreme cultures (at the geographical extremities) are apparently dismissed fairly rapidly for permitting (e.g.) random copulation in public like animals +1"203, 3"101, 4"1,0-, )ut through most of the ethnographic sections, he is as often concerned to attempt to explain the coherence and regularity of the practices and their contribution to the overall stability of the people" 34 . good e%ample is pro(ided ) his treatment of apparentl )i$arre customs of marriage auctions and sacred prostitution among the /a) lonians" 35 It is also notable how far erodotus is from simple appeals to traditional !reek male fear of powerful women" individual or collective. 0he traditional representati(es of female power, the .ma$ons, appear, )ut the stor which de(elops, the origins of the #auromatae from the amusingl descri)ed unions of fugiti(e .ma$ons and oung #c thians, emphasi$es how the resulting societ achie(ed a harmonious com)ination of the two cultural traditions, and allows for the preser(ation of some degree of .ma$onian female warrior customs +which ma reflect some genuine features of #armatian culture-" 36 1ndi(idual women, whether at the 2ersian court, in the Greek world, or e(en in 'sa(age' cultures, t picall defend, often in de(ious or manipulati(e wa s, the (alues of their different societies! and on occasions such powerful women can match men in brutal acts of sexual jealousy or revenge" 2rime e%amples are the stories of 0om ris of the 3assagetai +1"211*14-, 2heretime of 4 rene +4"205, see )elow 55555555555555555555 32 #ee, e"g", 6o(er +1974- 205*16, +197,- passim, 7inkler +1990-, 4ohen +1991-" 33 8osselini and #a9d +197,-, 6ewald +19,1-, Gould +19,9- 129*32" 34 7ell argued ) 8edfield +19,5-, and see also Gould +19,9- 95*109" 35 :n his treatment of these practices, 2em)roke +1967-, /eard and &enderson +1997-, ;urke +1999- 227*46, &arrison +2000)- 216*17, and 4hs" 20 and 21 in this (olume" 36 #ee 6ewald +19,1- 99*101, Gould +19,9- 131, <ateiner +19,5- 93*6! for archaeological e(idence, Gersche(itch +19,5-, 1,5*99! see also 4hs" 10 and 19 in this (olume"

20, p" %%-, and the passions and jealousies of #erxes and his wife $mestris towards his brother %asistes, and his wife and daughter +9"10,*13-" 37 3an other =astern kings ga(e greater priorit to the sei$ure of power, or a demonstration of its a)solute nature, than to the demands of se%ual moralit and famil ties" 0wo e%amples ma )e gi(en" 4andaules, the last &eraclid king of < dia, 'who was destined to end )adl ' +1",-, )rought a)out his downfall through e%cessi(e se%ual lo(e for his own wife, and the inappropriate need to ha(e her )eaut appreciated ) his fa(ourite G ges +descri)ed as )eing contrar to what is proper, ta kala, and to nomos-" &is wife's strong sense of shame +aids, aiskhun) at being seen unveiled and naked by another man impelled her to seek revenge through murder; Herodotus comments that this sense of disgrace was even more typical of barbarian peoples than (by implication) Greeks, whose males at least e ercised naked! "# Gyges$ readiness to acceed to the wife$s desire for revenge and their %oint sei&ure of power, would, according to the 'elphic oracle, lead to retribution falling on his descendants in the fifth generation ((!(", )()! *styages$ preparedness to have his daughter married to a man of a lesser ethnic group, and then, more dreadfully, to have her son, his grandson +yrus killed rather than see him succeed to his imperial position, has as its apparently natural conse,uence a yet fouler deed against the values of family feeling and succession; and retribution followed, as his act of revenge against Harpagus in serving up his son to him at a feast met with retaliation when Harpagus inspired +yrus to lead the -ersians in revolt ((!(./*30-" 39 55555555555555555555 37 :n the %asistes stor , see also Gould +1991- 10*11 and 4hs" 10, pp" 230*1 and 13, pp" 310*13 in this (olume! on the moral and political theme of the decline of the 2ersian monarch , and its significant placing here, see 6ewald +1997-, esp" 6,*70" 3, :n aids, see above all +airns (())"), and on this passage Gould (()#.) 0"*4, ;ilmer +1993- 161*2, and 4airns +1996-" 0here is another case of women's shame in relation to e%posure of their own )odies at 3"133" &n the thematic connections linking the stories of 'andaules( and %asistes( wives , and their contri)ution to the comple% modes of closure of the work, see also 7olff +1964-, &erington +1991a152*3, and )elow, pp" 215*16" 39 8ecent anal ses of this episode in (an der >een +1996- 4h" 3 and 2elling +1996-, though (an der >een under(alues the importance in such standard folktales of the failure to kill )a)ies fated to )ecome kings or leaders, )ecause of the natural difficult e(en tough men find in killing smiling )a)ies! on these motifs +found in 5"92, as well as in man other traditions-, see /inder +1964-, <ewis +19,0and .sheri +19,,- on 1"113" 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 ?inall , the last e(ent of Greek*2ersian conflict in the &istories +@ust

after the stor of the e%cessi(e, also mutilator , re(enges of Aer%es and his wife on %asistes and his wife- is the capture of #estus 216 217 21, 219 220 221 222 223 224