Corpi di re nelle Storie di Erodoto

Herodotus' Histories are full of bodies: eye and ear (sensitive instruments of the human body) are actually the main tools of historical research. The body thus becomes an inevitable measure of human experience: through the observation of the body, too, the historian can highlight specificities or distortions of the power of kings. Through a selected and particularly significant cases, I will try to highlight the importance of royal physicality in two complementary directions: on the one hand, Herodotus is stingy with observations on the use of the body by kings in political communication; on the other hand, however, he scatters the text with signs showing his full awareness of the importance of physical expression in the management of royal power. The itinerary through all the Histories gives particular emphasis to some figures in Book I (Deioces, Cyrus, Croesus), to Feretheus mother of the king of Cyrene, and to the Achaemenids, looked at through the lens of comparison with the Spartan kings.