A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography by John Marincola

Author:John Marincola
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2010-11-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Rhampsinitos and the Clever Thief (Herodotus 2.121)

Stephanie West

QUINTUS: I see, my brother, that you think that different rules must be observed in history and in poetry.

MARCUS: Of course, since in the one everything is judged by reference to the truth, in the other generally by the pleasure it gives; and yet both in Herodotus the father of history and in Theopompus there are innumerable tales.

(Cic. Leg. 1.5)

Herodotus' survey of Egyptian history before the coming of the Greeks (2.99–142) is a neglected area, understandably. It is hard to dispute Macan's assessment (Macan 1895: xiv): “the grotesque and laughable substitutes for history connected with the memory of ‘Rhamsinitos’ and the Pharaohs of the three empires.” We do not here depend on Herodotus, as we so often must, for a narrative framework into which may be fitted our other evidence for the period or region concerned, and the historical value of these chapters lies rather in what they reveal about fifth-century Greek views of Egypt – not just Herodotus' own views, but what he judged his audience would find credible and interesting.

Herodotus' authorial presence is unusually prominent in his account of Egypt; we have frequent references to what he himself saw or heard (Dewald 1987; Marincola 1987). He starts his account of Egyptian history with a careful statement of his sources (2.99.1): “Up to this point my own observation, opinion, and inquiry are the basis of my report; but from now on I am going to relate Egyptian accounts as I heard them; something also will be added from my own observation.” Nearly fifty chapters later, as he passes to the events which led to regular Greek contact, he repeats his claim that the narrative hitherto comes from native sources (147.1). We are given to understand that his account derives from priestly traditions; the phrase “the priests said” repeatedly indicates that this “history” is a continuous and unitary account, and recurrent references to Memphis and its monuments, and in particular to the temple of Hephaestus (i.e., Ptah: Herodotus does not actually mention the Egyptian name, surprisingly, since we now know that it was given by Hecataeus: FGrHist 1 F 327bis), imply that, unless otherwise stated, this narrative is to be understood as representing, specifically, the traditions of the Memphite clergy (2.99.2, 100.1, 101.1, 102.2, 107.1, 109.1, 111.1, 112.1, 113.1, 116.1, 118.1, 120.1, 121.1, 122.1, 124.1, 127.1, 129.1, 136.1, 139.1). Nowhere else do we get so strong a sense of a dialogue between Herodotus and his informants. Repeated use of the imperfect tense, elegon (“they were saying”), reinforces the impression of a corporate tradition. Herodotus would not wish us to suppose that he might have been misled by the inventions of an irresponsible individual. One member of the clergy confirms or amplifies what another mentioned earlier; mutual agreement provides an assurance of truthfulness. Familiar as we are with our cathedrals as centers of cultural memory, we accept this picture very readily.

But some caution is needed. The hotchpotch of material offered in this section

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