Sexual Promiscuity of Non-Greeks in Herodotus’ Histories

This paper examines Herodotus’ characterization of the sexual customs and habits of barbarians (i.e., non-Greeks) in the Histories. The argument to be advanced in this study is that Herodotus describes non-Greek populations as sexually promiscuous and implies that, at least by Greek standards, their marital relations constitute a sort of μοιχεία (i.e., adultery/corruption). Moreover, since the μοιχός (adulterer/corrupter) was typically seen as an un-manly or emasculated figure in the Classical Greek imagination, this paper further argues that Herodotus is utilizing prevailing notions of gender and sexuality as a way of more broadly articulating non-Greek cultures as essentially unmanly in general.