Quote:
Originally Posted by fantasyfan
I have finished reading An Account of Egypt by Herodotus. Reading this book gives you a chance to visit Egypt in the Fifth Century B.C. You can learn something of the Egyptian culture including their embalming techniques which varied according to the price paid. Herodotus describes the pyramids as they appeared in their original glory and shares something of the Egyptian view of their history while warning the reader that there is much he doesn't trust to be accurate.
He has been called "the father of history" and he well deserves the accolade.
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Take anything that Herodotus says with a pinch of salt. He almost certainly did not personally visit Egypt, but was relying on the accounts of other travellers. Modern Egyptologists take virtually all of what he says with a very, very large pinch of salt. (One example: I'm afraid it's not actually true that a hippopotamus, although the name does indeed mean "water horse", has a mane and the tail of a horse, and neither does it neigh like a horse, as Herodotus states.) Remember that people in Egypt in the 5th century BC knew absolutely nothing about the origin of the Giza pyamids, which were some 2300 years old at the time. They were the stuff of myth and legend.
Pretty much the only thing he did get right is his account of the process of mummification.
Herodotus is a fun read, but not to be taken seriously.