With discovery of a baris, Herodotus is proved right, ~2500 years later

March 24, 2019 7:00 PM

In the fifth century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt and wrote of unusual river boats on the Nile. Twenty-three lines of his Historia (Wikipedia), the ancient world’s first great narrative history, are devoted to the intricate description of the construction of a “baris” (English translation on Perseus, from Tufts). For centuries, scholars have argued over his account because there was no archaeological evidence that such ships ever existed. Now there is. A “fabulously preserved” wreck in the waters around the sunken port city of Thonis-Heracleion has revealed just how accurate the historian was. (The Guardian)
posted by filthy light thief (20 comments total)

Coverage on the Smithsonian Magazine includes additional information and outbound links.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:06 PM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

o dang where are the giant ants?
posted by Going To Maine at 7:52 PM on March 24, 2019 [23 favorites]

all you people calling herodotus a delusional old gasbag must be pretty red in the face now. also they’re gonna find those fucking ants you mark my words
posted by um at 8:04 PM on March 24, 2019 [41 favorites]

The ants are there and they have been found repeatedly but nobody that has ever found them has been able to report on them on god the ants they are so huge and why oh wh-
posted by hippybear at 8:33 PM on March 24, 2019 [18 favorites]

We cannot get out. We cannot get out. We hear drums, drums in the deep. They are coming. The ants are coming.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 8:36 PM on March 24, 2019 [12 favorites]

they’re gonna find those fucking ants you mark my words

hehehehe w-wwait
posted by fleacircus at 8:45 PM on March 24, 2019 [12 favorites]

*rips hood off of an gold-digging ant*

"Well I'll be gang! It was old man marmot all along!"

"I would have gotten away with it too- if it wasn't for you meddling historians!"
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:03 PM on March 24, 2019 [18 favorites]

I hope this gives weight to his account of the Cult of Kosmos and the young granddaughter of Leonidas who tracked them down one by one.
posted by Merus at 10:00 PM on March 24, 2019 [11 favorites]

That marmot thing is delightful. So much can be rendered incoherent by a small misunderstanding!
posted by a power-tie-wearing she-capitalist at 11:37 PM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

Did someone say ants?
posted by pxe2000 at 5:14 AM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

Daedalus knew from ants.
posted by BWA at 5:55 AM on March 25, 2019

Y'all are excited about big ants but no one is bringing up the Akephaloi?
posted by thecjm at 6:38 AM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

Ok, but phoenixes are still fake, right?
posted by tobascodagama at 7:40 AM on March 25, 2019

What about the blinded Scythian slaves and the milking of mares?

Now the Scythians blind all their slaves, to use them in preparing their milk. The plan they follow is to thrust tubes made of bone, not unlike our musical pipes, up the vulva of the mare, and then to blow into the tubes with their mouths, some milking while the others blow. They say that they do this because when the veins of the animal are full of air, the udder is forced down. The milk thus obtained is poured into deep wooden casks, about which the blind slaves are placed, and then the milk is stirred round. That which rises to the top is drawn off, and considered the best part; the under portion is of less account. Such is the reason why the Scythians blind all those whom they take in war; it arises from their not being tillers of the ground, but a pastoral race.

posted by pracowity at 9:19 AM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

OK, but I'm having trouble imagining woodchucks taking down a camel.
posted by acrasis at 1:52 PM on March 25, 2019 [2 favorites]

Ok, but phoenixes are still fake, right?

All that was fake is now true, and all that was true is now fake.

Such are the times in which we are living.

God help us all.
posted by hippybear at 9:46 PM on March 25, 2019

if that means we get phoenixes then okay
posted by Going To Maine at 11:18 PM on March 25, 2019 [2 favorites]

I just want to say that I came into this thread to be all BUT DO YOU GUYS REMEMBER THE GOLD-DIGGING GIANT ANTS? and it warms my heart to see that I was so thoroughly beaten to the punch.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:13 AM on March 26, 2019

Why are the gold-digging ants so well known? Every time Herodotus gets mentioned on the English-language Internet someone jumps in with a comment about the gold-digging ants.

Is it in a commonly used text book?
posted by Kattullus at 12:58 AM on March 27, 2019

The only things I remember from Histories are the gold-digging ants, Herodotus describing the Trojan Wars as a bit of harmless wife-stealing that got out of hand, and the Athenians being delightfully passive-aggressive towards the Spartans during the Persian Wars:

“Hey SPARTANS we’re all over here ready to FIGHT SOME PERSIANS anytime you wanna show up. Of course if you rather observe your little religious holiday instead of winning SWEET BATTLEFIELD GLORY that’s cool too. Namaste.”
posted by um at 11:35 PM on March 27, 2019 [2 favorites]