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greybruce1980 t1_iuwoqbp wrote

Reply to comment by Vlacas12 in TIL that the Persian King Xerxes was so enraged after a storm destroyed his bridges that he ordered the sea be given 300 whiplashes, and branded it with red-hot irons as the soldiers shouted at the water by LethalPoopstain

Maybe? I mean, the rich and powerful are often fucking crazy because they don't have the same checks and balances of reality to contend with like you or I do.

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KypDurron t1_iux7scz wrote

That's fine, but you can't say that second- or third-hand accounts from a biased source are likely to be accurate just because they fit with what you expect to hear about someone.

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crossedstaves t1_iuz0g5u wrote

Herodotus wasn't really into objectivity though, he did a lot to make a very moralizing point about hubris with Xerxes.

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