Strategies of Persuasion in the Narrative Histories of Herodotus and the Hebrew Bible

The lecture will present a summary of my PhD-project, to be submitted in May 2017. The representation of past events in the biblical narrative from Genesis to 2 Kings and in Herodotus’ Histories is partly similar and partly very different. A main difference is the design of the narratorial voice presenting the account. Herodotus’ narrator is a tangible person whose experiences, perception and reasoning are known to the reader. He engages into polemical debate with other scholars, sometimes states what he does not know and emphasizes his role as a mediator. The Hebrew narrative avoids any hint to the account as a product of particular people; the anonymous narratorial voice is almost effaced. The ancient Jewish writers do not perpetuate themselves in the text as individuals. Whereas the Herodotean narrator mentions himself more than 1000 times, there is not one reference to the narrator in the first person in the Hebrew Bible.

With regard to the narrative function of material relics from the past, there is more overlap between Herodotus and biblical history. The three main functions of authentication, transmission of values and norms, and didactic aids to facilitate reception for the audience are found in both sources. In order to be effective as evidence, relics need not necessarily be around in the discourse-now, i.e. the present communication between the narrator and his audience.