Hdt. 9.80: another beetle in the rose?
Hdt. 9.80: another beetle in the rose?

Summary/Abstract: The information provided by Herodotos that the Greeks did not collect as booty the costly garments of the fallen Persians after the battle at Plataia in 479 BC, as there were plenty of other precious objects that they plundered (Hdt. 9.80), is contradicted by contextual data for an apophthegm attributed to Pausanias by Plutarch (Apoph. Lac. 230e). It is shown that the version preserved by Plutarch is more reliable and that Herodotos slightly altered the facts in his account, using a literary device to emphasize the power and wealth of the Persian army routed at Plataia. The alteration of the facts also made an Athenian slander against the Aiginetans seem more credible.

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