Revisiting Herodotus

On The The Egyptian Origin of the Phoenecians

"This people [the Phoenecians] , who had formerly dwelt on the shores of the Erythraean [Red] Sea, having migrated to the Mediterranean and settled in the parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt and Assyria. They landed at many places on the coast, and among the rest at Argos, which was then preeminent above all the states included now under the common name of Hellas." -- Herodotus, historian, The History, Book I, 440 B.C.

On the Trojan War

"Now as for the carrying off of women, it is the deed, they say, of a rogue: but to make a stir about such as are carried off, argues a man a fool. Men of sense care nothing for such women, since it is plain that without their own consent they would never be forced away. The Asiatics, when the Greeks ran off with their women, never troubled themselves about the matter; but the Greeks, for the sake of a single Lacedaemonian girl, collected a vast armament, invaded Asia, and destroyed the kingdom of Priam." -- Herodotus, historian, The History, Book I, 440 B.C.

On Cyclical Devolution

"... the cities which were formerly great have most of them become insignificant; and such as are at present powerful, were weak in the olden time." -- Herodotus, historian, The History, Book I, 440 B.C.

On Prisca Sapientia

"Our fathers, in time past, distinguished right and wrong plainly enough, and it is our wisdom to submit to be taught by them." -- Herodotus, historian, The History, Book I, 440 B.C.