Herodotus: Major Differences Between The Greeks And Persians

Herodotus defines the differences between the Greeks and Persians in his writings. One of the major differences between Greece and Persia is their governments. Herodotus identifies two main forms of government: a democracy such as Athens, and a monarchy such as Persia. Which form of governing is better? In a democracy, all men are hypothetically equal and there is no single ruler who is above the population. In a monarchy, one person is placed unequally above others and is not held accountable for his actions. In a democracy, there is a bunch of little states compared to a monarchy, where there is one large state. In a monarchy, the monarch can do anything he wants. Xerxes is the monarch in Persia. Xerxes states, "You bitter water, your lord lays on you this punishment because you have wronged him without a cause, having suffered no evil at his hands.” (7.35) Xerxes punishes water to three hundred lashes because his bridge over the river broke. Xerxes punishes the river for the great storm that came through and destroyed his bridge. This is preposterous,

The Persians have a vastly bigger army than the Greeks do. According to Herodotus’ estimation, there were three hundred thousand Greeks fighting the 5,283,220 soldiers brought by Xerxes. (7.184&186) An army of that size can seize almost any land they want. The Persian soldiers could easily overpower the Greeks with almost an eighteen to one soldier ratio. The Persian soldiers and Greek soldiers are all from different states and allies that want to get rid of an enemy. A big army is useless if they do not have the skills and training to fight off other soldiers who have trained their whole lives to fight. A big army includes a lot of soldiers that will have to feed every day. In order to feed all of the soldiers brought by Xerxes, they would need 110,340 medimni or roughly 160,000 bushels a day.