Herodotean Soundings

This volume is dedicated to the logos of Cambyses at the beginning of Book 3 in Herodotus' Histories, one of the few sources on the Persian conquest of Egypt that has not yet been exhaustively explored in its complexity. The contributions of this volume deal with the motivations and narrative strategies behind Herodotus' characterization of the Persian king but also with the geopolitical background of Cambyses' conquest of Egypt as well as the reception of the Cambyses logos by later ancient authors. "Herodotean Soundings: The Cambyses Logos" exemplifies how a multidisciplinary approach can contribute significantly to a better understanding of a complex work such as Herodotus' Histories.



Prof. Dr. Andreas Schwab ist W3-Professor für Klassische Philologie, insbesondere Gräzistik, und DFG-Heisenberg-Professor am Institut für Klassische Altertumskunde an der Universität Kiel.

Dr. Alexander Schütze ist akademischer Rat auf Zeit am Institut für Ägyptologie und Koptologie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.



Alexander Schütze and Andreas Schwab: Herodotean Soundings. The Cambyses Logos



Close readings: Linguistic, narratological and philosophical perspectives

Elizabeth Irwin: Just Who is Cambyses? Imperial Identities and Egyptian Campaigns

Anna Bonifazi: Herodotus' verbal strategies to depict Cambyses' abnormality

Anthony Ellis: Relativism in Herodotus. Foreign Crimes and Divinities in the Inquiry



The Cambyses logos and other sources on the conquest of Egypt

Melanie Wasmuth: Perception and Reception of Cambyses as Conqueror and King of Egypt. Some Fundamentals

Alexander Schütze: Cambyses the Egyptian? Remembering Cambyses and Amasis in Persian Period Egypt

Reinhold Bichler: A comparative look at the post-Herodotean Cambyses



Geopolitical dimensions of the Cambyses logos

Gunnar Sperveslage: On the historical and archaeological background of Cambyses' alliance with Arab tribes (Hdt. 3.4-9)

Damien Agut-Labordère: An "Ammonian Tale". Cambyses in the Egyptian Western Desert

Olaf E. Kaper: The revolt of Petubastis IV during the reigns of Cambyses and Darius

Andreas Schwab: Pindaric 'arrows' in Herodotus: Psámmos (Hdt. 3.26). Just a sandstorm or also a rebel(lion)?



Cambyses and the Egyptian Temples

Dan'el Kahn: Cambyses' Attitude towards Egyptian Temples in Contemporary Texts and Later Sources. A Reevaluation of the Persian Conquest of Egypt

Fabian Wespi: Cambyses' Decree and the destruction of Egyptian temples

Joachim Friedrich Quack: Cambyses and the sanctuary of Ptah



List of Contributors

Index nominum, rerum et locorum

Index fontium