Literary Sources (Sparta and Athens)

LITERARY SOURCES (SPARTA AND ATHENS)

HERODOTUS

• Wrote ‘The Histories’ of the Persian Wars
• Work was fairly reliable because he took eye witness reports, but the eye witnesses may not be reliable as they may be exaggerating their victories and also, he may not have interviewed all Spartans because of their isolationism
• Tells us about the Amazonian women which we have no other evidence for
• Could be seen as unreliable because he said that the gates at Babylon had more gates than it actually did

THUCYDIDES

• wrote about the Peloponnesian war and its histories
• Was Athenian so he could be seen as biased towards Athens
• Made Sparta look really good, so their defeat will not be as bad
• Was then exiled from Athens because he wasn’t doing a good job, so he could be seen as unbiased towards Athens
• Had beef with Herodotus so he made sure his work was more reliable than Herodotus
• His sources were good for war, not…