The Oracle of Delphi
The Oracle of Delphi is a seer who predicts major events in human history. He is a Greek prophet who understands the future. Through his symbolic prophecies, the Histories of the world's various world groups were shown. He tells of the attacks against the Persians, and he tells of the rise and fall of the Persian nation. Through references to nature and the past, the prophet elaborates strikingly particular prophecies about the future.
The Trojan War
The Trojan War is shown as a natural sequence of events starting with Helen's decision to stay with Paris, her captor. He kidnapped her for reasons that Herodotus mentions, but ultimately, it was her decision to stay, making her the universal symbol for unfaithful wives (for generations and eons to come). The Trojan War is the most important wars in human history, says Herotodus, noting that the whole earth will be shaped by the remembrance of it.
The Fall of Babylon
During the Oracle's prophecies, the fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persians is recalled. This is certainly a symbol for the end times in most religious world views, and the Oracle seems to be understanding that symbolic downfall as an archetypal downfall. The symbol speaks of the never-ending rise and fall of nations, as a permanent symbol that no empire is immune from the grips of fate or history. Indeed, the Histories do cover the rise and fall of many nations.
Egyptian symbology
Herotodus exits his own prose to speak about Egyptian symbology and mythology. He mentions how genuinely exotic and often creepy Egyptian folklore is. Animals like crocodiles, poisonous serpents, and hippopotamuses are not native to Greece, so the author is simply beside himself to explain how bizarre a land Egypt really is. Their labyrinths and temples are mentioned as a reference to the unique and esoteric views of Egyptian religion.
The gods at war
The gods are at war in symbolic ways. For instance, in the Trojan war, various deities are mentioned or invoked during the combat, and the gods of various nations are described in their costume. In the Athenian combat against the Spartans, the gods are involved in the fateful events of war, and again when the Persians attack Greece. The gods are seen as sublime, supernatural decision-makers of fate, and instead of operating on firm ethical pillars, they tend to make reality more epic and interesting, often taking sides.
Athenian cleverness
The book ends with a remembrance of a popular Athenian strategy. When they have intel that a nation will be invading, the Greeks flee their towns and leave the invaders scratching their heads. Then, through surprise attacks at critical places and times, they defend themselves not by masses or force, but by cleverness. The Athenians are shown as symbols for an evolving kind of warfare where cleverness is not regarded as it was in the Trojan war (dishonorably, that is), but as winsome and good.
