Why are there references to Palestine but not to jews in Herodotus?

Question

His "Histories' is the most comprehensive and earliest study of the region. Why no references that any of this alleged jewish history in their religious writings? Why all the references to Syria and Palestine?

Answer 1

The ignorance of our jewish participants is truly astonishing. All you have to do is check the Histories out at the library and consult the index. That one person thinks Palestine could not have existed before the advent of Islam. What on earth does Islam have to do with the question?

The point is,there are references in Herodotus to Palestine but no reference to any alleged jewish kingdoms. That is probably because Palestine obviously did exist in the 5th century BC and assuming jews existed at all they must have been a pretty small group not to have even been mentioned. Frankly,i think their entire history is a shameless fraud. There is no evidence whatsoever for any jewish kingdom or the existence of any of the jewish heroes. As to that one comment - they were in babylon - sorry,pal you've got the wrong era.

Answer 2

Tres amusant, as they say. Of course, he referred to Jews in his writings. No historian denies that. Guess what Herodotus called the Jews? Want to look it up yourself or do you want a hint?

Ok . . . Way back then, for whatever reason, he called the Jews "Palestinian Syrians". Get it?

And you want to see something really cool? Herodotus made it clear that the Arabians do not control that area. He described where the Jewish area, Judea, was under Persian rule. http://www.jstor.org/pss/1357193

As my lawyer friend says: Never ask a question in court if you're not sure of the answer.

Your question just highlighted that the Jews, and only the Jews, were residents of Judea (Israel) at the time of Herodotus. Thanks for that question. You deserve a star!

If you don't like my answer, that's ok. Historical researchers don't take Herodotus too seriously these days, as CJ G pointed out.  http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/lo...  So we can just forget this exchange took place, if you prefer.

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John E.:  "As you can see . . ."  -- huh?  As far as I can see, the only one  here that even used the term "anti-Semitism" is: John E. And where are all your imaginary Jewish "fellow posters" ?   What silent, inter-galactic messages did you get that everyone else missed?

Answer 3

The general view is that they were there,but that their "kingdoms" were very actually small tribes. Try putting "Herodotus/ jews" into google and you will find a wide range of pro-con websites. However,Palestine is referenced extensively in Herodotus,and he recaps Egyptian history with great detail. There are no references to Judea and Samaria so they clearly belong to a much later era - and the tale of David may be consigned to mythology.

Answer 4

There are many cases in which Herodotus, not certain of the truth of a certain event or unimpressed by the dull "facts" that he received, reported the several most famous accounts of a given subject or process and then wrote what he believed was the most probable. Although The Histories were often criticized in antiquity for bias, inaccuracy and plagiarism—Claudius Aelianus attacked Herodotus as a liar in Verae Historiae and went as far as to deny him a place among the famous on the Island of the Blessed—this methodology has been seen in a more positive light by many modern historians and philosophers, especially those searching for an paradigm of objective historical writing. Of course, given the sensitivity surrounding the issue, the very foundation of the discipline of history, this has not become a common view; attacks have been made by various scholars in modern times, a few even arguing that Herodotus exaggerated the extent of his travels and invented his sources.

Answer 5

Because their whole "history" is just a pack of lies,or if you want to be nice we can call it mythology. No ancient historian even mentions them.

Answer 6

there aren't, you are lying. if you weren't you'd provide references.

in any case islam didn't exist back then, now did it? so the muslim communities in gaza and the west bank, whatever you want to call them, didn't exist.

Answer 7

simply because the land is Arabic-Palestinian

Answer 8

There was a Jewish plan from some Israeli Universities a few years back to "alter" the writings of Greek historian Herodotus.

As you can see all of our fellow Jewish posters have called upon some obscure Jewish proof that Herodotus was (are you ready for this? an ..........................Anti Semite!)

If the Israeli Universities teach such c**p, then my friends, I refuse to take part in this.

Note that it's totally impossible to alter any of this man's writings because his "book" is saved  (written on cow hive pages) and kept in Athens Greece.

I urge you to stay away from Colleges and schools that try to manipulate (?) our human history just because of fanaticism.

Answer 9

Herodotus was a Greek Historian and was believed to be alive from 484 BC to 425 BC (or BCE if you like).

Although his works are considered some of the best histories written, he is still criticized for ignoring things that did not interest him and for filling in unknown truths with conjecture. Long story short, they either didn't interest him, or he didn't have all of the information.

Besides- if the Babylonian Exile was still in effect (meaning they were in Babylon as unnamed slaves) Mr. H wouldn't have known.