Anointed One crucified in Herodotus 3.124-5

[Blood]

Ran across this while reading The Histories. Poor Polycrates is the only other guy I know of in Greek literature who was anointed and crucified. The "washed by Zeus" could also be seen as an allusion to ritual bathing.

3.124 (1) ὁ δὲ πολλὰ μὲν τῶν μαντίων ἀπαγορευόντων πολλὰ δὲ τῶν φίλων ἐστέλλετο αὐτόσε, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ἰδούσης τῆς θυγατρὸς ὄψιν ἐνυπνίου τοιήνδε: ἐδόκεε οἷ τὸν πατέρα ἐν τῷ ἠέρι μετέωρον ἐόντα λοῦσθαι μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Διός, χρίεσθαι δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου. [2] ταύτην ἰδοῦσα τὴν ὄψιν παντοίη ἐγίνετο μὴ ἀποδημῆσαι τὸν Πολυκράτεα παρὰ τὸν Ὀροίτεα, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἰόντος αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν πεντηκόντερον ἐπεφημίζετο. ὁ δέ οἱ ἠπείλησε, ἢν σῶς ἀπονοστήσῃ, πολλόν μιν χρόνον παρθενεύεσθαι. ἣ δὲ ἠρήσατο ἐπιτελέα ταῦτα γενέσθαι: βούλεσθαι γὰρ παρθενεύεσθαι πλέω χρόνον ἢ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐστερῆσθαι.

Polycrates then prepared to visit Oroetes, despite the strong dissuasion of his diviners and friends, and a vision seen by his daughter in a dream; she dreamt that she saw her father in the air overhead being washed by Zeus and anointed by Helios; [2] after this vision she used all means to persuade him not to go on this journey to Oroetes; even as he went to his fifty-oared ship she prophesied evil for him. When Polycrates threatened her that if he came back safe, she would long remain unmarried, she answered with a prayer that his threat might be fulfilled: for she would rather, she said, long remain unmarried than lose her father. (Godley trans.)

3.125 (1) Πολυκράτης δὲ πάσης συμβουλίης ἀλογήσας ἔπλεε παρὰ τὸν Ὀροίτεα, ἅμα ἀγόμενος ἄλλους τε πολλοὺς τῶν ἑταίρων, ἐν δὲ δὴ καὶ Δημοκήδεα τὸν Καλλιφῶντος Κροτωνιήτην ἄνδρα, ἰητρόν τε ἐόντα καὶ τὴν τέχνην ἀσκέοντα ἄριστα τῶν κατ᾽ ἑωυτόν. [2] ἀπικόμενος δὲ ἐς τὴν Μαγνησίην ὁ Πολυκράτης διεφθάρη κακῶς, οὔτε ἑωυτοῦ ἀξίως οὔτε τῶν ἑωυτοῦ φρονημάτων: ὅτι γὰρ μὴ οἱ Συρηκοσίων γενόμενοι τύραννοι οὐδὲ εἷς τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλληνικῶν τυράννων ἄξιος ἐστὶ Πολυκράτεϊ μεγαλοπρεπείην συμβληθῆναι. [3] ἀποκτείνας δέ μιν οὐκ ἀξίως ἀπηγήσιος Ὀροίτης ἀνεσταύρωσε: τῶν δέ οἱ ἑπομένων ὅσοι μὲν ἦσαν Σάμιοι, ἀπῆκε, κελεύων σφέας ἑωυτῷ χάριν εἰδέναι ἐόντας ἐλευθέρους, ὅσοι δὲ ἦσαν ξεῖνοί τε καὶ δοῦλοι τῶν ἑπομένων, ἐν ἀνδραπόδων λόγῳ ποιεύμενος εἶχε. [4] Πολυκράτης δὲ ἀνακρεμάμενος ἐπετέλεε πᾶσαν τὴν ὄψιν τῆς θυγατρός: ἐλοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς ὅκως ὕοι, ἐχρίετο δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου, ἀνιεὶς αὐτὸς ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἰκμάδα.

But Polycrates would listen to no advice. He sailed to meet Oroetes, with a great retinue of followers, among whom was Democedes, son of Calliphon, a man of Croton and the most skillful physician of his time. [2] But no sooner had Polycrates come to Magnesia than he was horribly murdered in a way unworthy of him and of his aims; for, except for the sovereigns of Syracuse, no sovereign of Greek race is fit to be compared with Polycrates for magnificence. [3] Having killed him in some way not fit to be told, Oroetes then crucified him; as for those who had accompanied him, he let the Samians go, telling them to thank him that they were free; those who were not Samians, or were servants of Polycrates' followers, he kept for slaves. [4] And Polycrates hanging in the air fulfilled his daughter's vision in every detail; for he was washed by Zeus when it rained, and he was anointed by Helios as he exuded sweat from his body.

[PhilosopherJay]

Hi Blood,

It is interesting that Polycrates daughter draemt of his crucifixion before she could have possibly known that he was going to be crucified.
We find the same thing in Matthew 17:19 - While Pilate was sitting in the judgment hall, his wife sent him a message: "Have nothing to do with that innocent man, because in a dream last night, I suffered much on account of him. Since Pilate did not know that he was going to be judging "that innocent man" the next morning, his wife's dream was also prophetic.

If we take dreams to really be prophetic and they foretell the future, then we may assume these are historical accounts that actually happened. If we are skeptical of dreams foretelling the future, we may conclude that prophetic dreams before sudden and tragic events was a literary trope and the Matthew made it up to match other literary descriptions of such events.

Warmly,

Jay Raskin

[EdwardM]

To tell the truth, we can't be sure it was a cruci-fixion, either by the way the Romans did it or by the way modern scholarship imagines the Romans did it. To me, the anastaurow verb could refer to an impalement / post-impalement suspension ( ie, lifting the pale erect ), because the verbiage about being "killed in some way not fit to be told" sounds like a death from impalement whilst still on the ground because a vital organ was pierced.

Mind you, the ancient Greeks considered being penetrated as something shameful for a male citizen, so a Greek man of rank dying from penetration would be considered especially shameful. Some later writers like Cicero thought Polycrates was impaled ( in crucem egit. ) Perhaps shameful enough to be something not worth repeating.