An Itinerant Mind

Old Hat

I am slowly but surely working my way through Herodotus' The Histories. Some of it is hard going, as the author fills paragraphs with references to Argustheopolis son of Herepingpongupsidasy son of the despot of Somewhere I may have mentioned in passing, but then again maybe not. who consulted the oracle at Delphi and was told something obscure, where was I oh yes I was telling you about someone I mentioned two pages and forty-eight names ago. You get the picture I'm sure.

However - some of it is very interesting. Not least of which is the story of the King who threw a ring into the sea and was later served a fish with the ring in it. Yep - that story.

Or maybe you'd like the one about the wicked stepmother and Queen who prevailed upon her husband to have someone take his daughter away and drop her in the sea. The man entrusted to do so did exactly as told. He also tied a rope around her and once he'd faithfully dropped her in the sea, lifted her out again. Leaving her there hadn't been mentioned. So basically - Snow White anyone?

There's another strange one about a man who drops dead in a fuller's shop (a fuller is one who fulls cloth - amazing I know - I think it means pleating or gathering, but I'm not 100% on that). The man is well known in the town, so the fuller locks the shop and goes to relay to his family the bad news. Whilst he is there a man of Cyzicus joins the conversation to say that he'd not long ago see this man on the road - so he couldn't be dead.

They all troop off to the shop. When it is unlocked - he's not there!!!!!!! (Herodotus missed the opportunity for an excess of exclamation marks - so I'm added a few for him).

"But in the seventh year after that Aristeas appeared at Proconnesus and made that poem which the Greeks now call the Arimaspea, after which he vanished once again." This story intrigued me greatly - i wonder if it is the origin of another tale too.