Featured Artifact: The Histories by Herodotus

The featured artifact is a copy of The Histories by Herodotus. In the 1930s William Lidgerwood, a founder of the Washington Association of NJ, donated the book to the museum. Being a frequent traveler of Europe, Lidgerwood likely acquired the artifact during one of his trips between 1890-1910. 

The museum’s version of the text was translated from Greek to Latin and published in 1594 in Frankfurt, Germany by Andreae Wecheli Heredes, Claude de Marne, and Jean d’Aubry. The artifact is from the Renaissance, an era of classical rebirth when many publishers were printing texts from antiquity.  

While the press followed the trend of publishing Greek texts, it also has a history of printing controversial religious works during the Protestant Reformation. When Christianus Wecheli, the father of Andreae, was running the business in Paris, religious tensions were growing in Europe. In 1521, Martin Luther criticized the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences at the Diet of Worms. Later in 1535, Luther translated the Bible into German, enabling laymen to read and analyze the word of God in their vernacular language. Although all of these religious changes were occurring in Germany, Wecheli resided in Catholic France. Thus, in 1534, when he published ‘De eso interdicto carnium,’ a work by the controversial Northern Humanist Desiderius Erasmus, he was precariously criticizing the dominant religion in his country. 

In later years, the Wecheli family ran into trouble during the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day in 1572.  After King Charles of France and his regent mother Catherine de Medici, persecuted the French Hugeonots, Andreae feared for his safety as a protestant. As a result, he moved his family and the printing press to Frankfort in 1573. There is not much information regarding the other printers Claude de Marne and Jean d’Aubry. However, records show Jean d’Aubry married the daughter of Andreae Wecheli Heredes.

While the identities of the publishers are unique, the physical characteristics of the artifact are common for the time. The cover is vellum, which comes from animal skin. The dark streaks on the cover may be a design or marks from glue that held a paper cover onto the book. Both low quality leather and small size of the book indicates its low production cost. This size book was made from a large sheet of paper that was folded then binded. The buyer could cut the folded pages apart or pay extra for a pre-cut book. The book may also be small if it had been intended for teaching purposes. The index, which is uncommon for books at the time, also suggests that it was an educational tool.

Just as people during the Renaissance had an interest in studying The Histories, modern scholars are still examining Herodotus’ work and life. The academic community agrees Herodotus was born around 480 BCE in Halicarnassus on the Aegean coast of Asia minor, which is now modern-day Turkey. Not much is known about the author, but his travels and writing style suggest he had wealth and an education. Herodotus wrote his text in an Ionic dialect of Greek during the second half of the 5th century BCE. However, many historians believe was a traveling storyteller before a writer, following Greek oral tradition. Many today regard Herodotus as the father of history. Herodotus writes about his commitment to rendering the Persian wars and their causes at the start of his text. In contrast to Homer, Herodotus does not evoke the muses to tell his recount of the past. Instead, he gives himself full credit. Interestingly, the museum’s 1594 copy of The Histories is split into nine parts, each named after a Greek muse. These divisions were added to the text by scholars in the Ancient Library of Alexandria. It is unclear when editors started adding the muses. Perhaps this was an attempt to liken Herodotus to the more famous Homer. 

Over the years, Herodotus’ factuality has been criticized. His incorporation of famous people from mythology such as Helen of Troy and Madea makes his work lose credibility in the eyes of some audiences who see him as blending myth and truth. In recent times, however, post modernists criticize the sentiment that there is one true version of history. Many now believe Herodotus should be given more credibility as his rendering of history is unique and valuable.  

 

 This blog post Siobhan Nerz