George Rawlinson re-read Strabo’s claim that these people required that men must have at least five wives as a misinterpretation of a limit on the size of their harems. For 10 points each:
[10m] Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg quipped that what people’s short-lived empire “exists for us because Herodotus said it did,” referencing the historian’s questionable accounts of kings like Deioces and Astyages?
ANSWER: Medes [or Medians; or Medoi; or Medi; accept Medo-Persians; reject Persians]
[10e] Herodotus reported that one of these phenomena interrupted a battle of Medes and Lydians near the Halys River; modern scholars dispute whether that event of this kind was accurately predicted by the philosopher Thales.
ANSWER: the Eclipse of Thales [accept either solar eclipse or lunar eclipse; accept Battle of the Eclipse]
[10h] This physician may have written his Persica to correct Herodotus’ misinformation. While Herodotus’s account tells of India’s gold-digging ants, this author’s Indica tells of its gold-hoarding griffins.
ANSWER: Ctesias of Cnidus
<History - Ancient History>