"Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World"

[Jona Lendering]

Herodotus makes this admission only as far as whether Leonidas himself sent the allies away, according to his speculation, due to some oracle, or if they left on their own. It has little impact on the story.

Indeed, this itself is unimportant, but it marks the break. Until this point, Herodotus could check his facts, after this, I believe not; you (=Rich) believe that after this event, he still had "some insight to happenings from the Persian camp such as Xerxes conversations with Demaratus, and the mistreatment of Leonidas' body."

That's the rub. Do we believe this? This is the Immerwahr thesis: Herodotus' references to sources are often fake. The one point where I can follow this debate is Babylonia, and in my view, Herodotus simply made things up. Again, he does it subtle. He nowhere states he has been in Babylon, but he suggests it with lines like "people who have not been there find it hard to believe..." or "this was still the case in my age". Herodotus' errors are too great, which is -if Brill's Companion to Herodotus is a measure- communis opinio. He was not there, all the people he mentions as sources are fake.

Now Demaratus is also suspect. He is a "tragic warner", like Croesus. They are Herodotus' way to give an idea about the options that were open to the actors, like the speeches of Thucydides. Now it seems to me pretty clear that Croesus-after-his-escape-from-the-pyre is an invention. I am very skeptical about Demaratus at Thermopylae.

I think that the only thing we know for certain about Herodotus' spokesman in the Persian camp, is that he was not a Greek, but a Persian. The proof is the misunderstanding behind the Immortals (the existing Anûšiya, 'companions', is mixed up with the non-existing Anauša, 'Immortals'). No Greek who had served for longer than a couple of days at the Persian court, can have made this mistake. On the other hand, it is logical if Herodotus and an interpreter interviewed a former POW.

So, I think that after 7.220, Herodotus' only source is a Persian who, at Thermopylae, was not capable of knowing what Leonidas was doing.