Posted by Gary [GLamotta] on March 29, 1999 at 09:35:05 {boLUiPtahch0OYTjZkPMMW2MRXA6xmpsc}:
In Reply to: ***ANSTEY'S CHRONOLOGY DEAD # 2 posted by J.H. on March 29, 1999 at 09:02:41:
Hi Jan,
My statement was not a contradiction. The fact that Cyrus is born before his own mother addresses that Herodotus was lying as well as Xenophon. They just got caught because they did their histories at different times and didn't coordinate their stories.
The chronological problem is that a considerable amount of the Persian Period history is dependent upon Greek historians and not Persian texts. So when you find out these men are unreliable, it affects the credibility of this history, especially in the face of so few truly contemporary "natural" records from the period to back up their stories.
But for the record, Cyrus was not the grandson of Astyages as Herodotus and Xenophon claim, but his son-in-law.
And, of course, the Greeks were lying about their chronology.
Cheers,
Gary