Greeks Interaction with other Nations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Greeks Interaction with other Nations - Essay Example He did not have enough written document to assist him in his investigations of the Greek aspects of the War. In ancient Greece history was transmitted orally. He was therefore reduced to gather oral testimony from survivors and descendants of survivors of an era. He was too young to have experienced, but Herodotus had overcome those difficulties." He weighed and carefully sifted the oral accounts of his witnesses, making clear to his audience which among them contained evidence that was probable, Possible".(A. Robertson) The history of the Persian Wars was written with purpose of passion. To him men are only puppets in an all powerful fate. He thus tried to find out the universal truth through human beings. Although he was an Ionian Greek, Herodotus yet believed that Athenian vigor, liberty and democracy. He explained Athens's instrumental role in the defeat of the Persians. "The Athenians were saviors of Greece" and later justified her domination of Greek affairs through her Empire. The Persian Wars lasted for nearly five years (500BC- 479 BC) Herodotus provides information among many other things of the rise of the Persian Empire under Cyrus, the humiliating defeat of proud Croesus and two invasions of Greece by the Persians, the first under Darius turned back at Marathon (490B.C.) With the destruction of the Persian fleet at Salamis, Greece was saved from destruction. Her golden age began. He wanted to preserve the moral lesson embodied in what he saw the victory of Greek liberation from the clutches of Persian autocracy. The Persian Wars provided him the golden opportunity to construct this epic. Herodotus was the first historian to understand the need for a purpose in historical study. He was a true researcher who truly laid his hands on discovering the truth for example, the causes of the Persian War. He tried his best in putting together a long involved historical narrative in which the main theme never been lost. His comparative and constructive study of Greeks and Barbarians led a few scholars to consider him as a friend of the Barbarians. In the opinion of H.E. Barnes, "the frame of Herodotus will endure as the first constructive artist in the field of historical writing as the author of the earliest comprehensive historical work, as the first to imply that the task of the historian is to reconstruct the whole past life of man ... in the entire course of historical writing. He won for history a distinct place in the arts and sciences of mankind for all times." Aeschylus (525-456BC), Greek dramatist born in Eleusis, near Athens, he was the earliest of city's tragic poets. As the predecessor of Sophocles and Euripi dies, he is the founder of Greek Tragedy. "The Persians", presented in 472 BC, is a historical tragedy about the Battle of Salamis, the scene being set in Persia at the court of the mother of King Xerxes I. In the Play it is written that the Greek prevented an invasion by the superior forces of the Persians. More precisely, the play focus is the Persian reaction to their defeat. The Greek's belief on ghost can be seen when Darius appears, and blames his son Oxeyes arrogant pride which had