HISTORY BY HERODOTUS

Foreign Languages and Culture Reading Salon 6, Nov. 1, 2020

HISTORY BY HERODOTUS: A report from Zhu Huiying, a Salon Participant

The reading salon was held on November 1. Dozens of teachers and students from Hunan Normal University and Central South University attended the salon.

Professor Ruan Wei first stressed that Herodotus's "history" should not be understood literally. Its content is obviously different from history in our conception, as it contains a lot of myths and other unreal things, and on the whole, it is more like a novel.

At the meeting, eight teachers and students made reports according to the contents of the book to share their views.

Starting from the first volume of The Histories, Zhang Qi, accounted for the development of Lydia from prosperity to defeat, and raised the question of how to define happiness. The second speaker, Huang Yuling, elaborated on Persia and the Persians, and summarized specific manifestations of the Persian autocratic system in detail. The third speaker, Feng Qian, combed through some aspects of the Egyptians and Egyptians in Volume II of The Histories and shared her thoughts. The fourth speaker, Zhu Suyao, introduced relevant materials pertaining to the Scythian people, such as their geographical location, customs and habits, in detail.

Next, professor Ruan Wei, Ren Haiyan, Tan Yanwei, Chen Zhongping and Li Lansheng commented on the contents and problems of these students’ presentations. The on-site discussion was heated and in-depth.

Then, the fifth speaker, professor Li Zhaoqian, expressed his views on the kings in volume 3, relating his belief that the scholars' summary of the characteristics of kings in the book was based on close reading of the text, and it raised questions worthy of discussion. Hu Chenxi, the sixth speaker, analyzed the part of women in detail from five different perspectives with examples from the book. His thinking was clear and his perspective lucid. The seventh speaker, Chen Minghui, expressed her own personal views, which were supplemented with vivid imagery and textual examples, on the contents of Herodotus related to the Greek-Persian War. Finally, Wang Yuan made an in-depth exploration on the dispute among some scholars on the identity of Herodotus's as the "father of lies" and "father of history", and he shared his own views, citing informative references, demonstrating innovative thinking, and winning unanimous praise.

Professor Ruan Wei shared his views on the questions raised by the speakers. He believed that some of the details in Herodotus's Histories are dubious but worth exploring.

At the end of the salon, professor Ren Haiyan expressed her sincere thanks to all the participants and hoped that you would continue to join the salon sponsored by Foreign Languages And Cultures.