Water, wind, and war: maritime sacrifice and dedications in Herodotus' ​​​​​​​Histories

Abstract

Herodotus’ Histories is a vital source for understanding Greek religion and culture in the late Archaic and Classical periods, as his work is roughly contemporary with these eras, and discusses many religious customs. Although there has been a new focus on religion in Herodotus, the area of maritime religion has remained largely unexamined in modern scholarship of Herodotus’ work, despite the Histories being an important source. This thesis intends to fill this gap in scholarship by focusing on passages from Herodotus’ narrative that discuss maritime religious and sacrificial practices, and their significance for Greek religion in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., as well as the information they provide about Herodotus’ own religious beliefs. Throughout Herodotus’ account of the Persian Wars, and earlier eras, maritime religion plays a significant role in religious practices. Due to the sheer amount of content in Herodotus’ narrative relating to maritime religion, the scope of this thesis will focus on maritime sacrifice and dedications, and maritime related prayers and libations to the sea, gods, deities, and weather.This thesis includes three chapters, each concentrating on a different facet of maritime sacrifice: sacrifice relating to the sea, sacrifice to the weather at sea, and maritime sacrifice and dedications to the gods. The first chapter examines how sacrifice to the sea is performed through three characters in Herodotus’ narrative: Kleomenes, Xerxes, and Leon of Troizen. These episodes demonstrate that sacrifice to the sea was essential to Greek and Eastern religions, as Herodotus depicts sacrifices by Greeks (including Spartans), Phoenicians, and Persians, seeking safe voyage and favourable omens through divine aid. The second chapter examines sacrifice, propitiatory offerings, and prayer to the winds and storms in Herodotus’ Histories, and in particular the lead up to the Battle of Artemision, to determine what can be understood about contemporary Classical Greek practices. The Delphians, Athenians, and Persians are all depicted sacrificing to the winds, or establishing altars to them, and thus Herodotus demonstrates the variable polytheistic nature of Greece at this time, as different city-states sacrifice to and propitiate different deities related to the same goal: control of, and thanks to, the winds. The final chapter examines episodes from the Histories of prayers and libations to the gods at sea, and maritime votives dedicated in the sanctuaries of gods and deities after naval battles. Herodotus depicts the Greeks dedicating triremes and statues made from the spoils of battles to Panhellenic deities, namely Apollo, Zeus, and Poseidon, but also heroes such as Ajax, given to these gods and deities after naval victories as thank-offerings for their aid in the battles. Through the study of these examples, this thesis aims to further the understanding of belief and ritual in Greek maritime religion during the fifth and sixth centuries B.C., and will contribute to our understanding of these maritime religious practices as depicted by Herodotus.