I logioi persiani sull’aggressività del mondo greco e la legittimità del phoros alla Persia (ad Hdt. I, 4, 4)

As the analysis of Hdt. I, 4, 4 within its broader context suggests, the Persian logioi wanted to stress the anomaly of a Greek world (Hellenikon) inhabitating both Europe and Asia, therefore showing, implicitly, the legitimacy of the Persian claim for a tribute from the Microasiatic Greeks. To the view of the Persians of his own time, whose authority on the Microasiatic coast was menaced by the Delian League and who reiterated the distinction between Europe and Asia with the aim of emphasizing the Persians’ right to claim for a tribute (I, 4, 4), Herodotus, as a Greek, opposes the right of the Greeks to «freedom» which very concretely consists in not paying any tribute (I, 5, 3; 6, 2-3).