Hills Like White Elephants :: Hills Like White Elephants Essays

Herodotus and Rhampsinitus and the pirate BY Layla Brown Herodotus, the first Greek historian, has been called by some "the stupefy of history" and by former(a)s "the stick of lies." Born in 485 B.C to a laden family at Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor, he was exiled to Samos soon after his birth because of his familys opposition to the Iranian domination of Ionia. During his youth, he traveled widely, studying the manners, customs, and religions of the populate he encountered. His histories are made up of tales told to him by people from Egypt, Syria, Babylon, Colchis, Paeonian and Macedonia. He was criticized by several ancient writers for creating stories and passing them off as the truth. Herodotus is some famous for the nine books he wrote on the rise of the Persian Empire, the Persian invasion of Greece in 490 BC and 480 BC, and the final Greek victory. Although it received instead a lot of praise and is still considered a masterpiece, its trustiness has be en questioned both in ancient and modern times. The story that Im covering is of Rhampsinitus and the Thief (pg. 277). This is a tale that Herodotus learned in Egypt and some(prenominal) believe that this anecdote was told to him by Egyptian priests, claiming it a true story. Herodotus, himself, didnt actually believe this particular story but he mat it was his duty to report what he was told. Now, for those of you who didnt read it, Ill chop-chop give a brief synopsis of the story. A dying father tells his two sons how to break into the kings vault, which he, himself, built. The father then dies, difference the family with no way to support themselves. So the two sons begin their thieving. They make love to escape with the treasure three times before the king sets up a trap, in which one of the brothers gets caught. At his captured brothers urging, the other brother cuts his siblings head off, taking it with his, so the familys identity would not be known. The next day, the ki ng was bewildered at the sight of a headless thief. He then ordered his sentries to accrue the body on the outer wall and arrest anybody seen mourning the headless corpse. The two thieves mother, so absolutely distraught over the death of her son, threatens her live on son, saying that if he didnt collect the his brothers body, she would frolic him in herself.