According to Herodotus the Persians demanded earth and water (γῆ καί ὕδωρ) from the cities or people who surrendered to them. On book 4, Herodotus mentions for the first time the term earth and water in the answer of king Idanthyrsos of the Scythians to king Dareios. Bust of Herodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: , Herodotos Halikarnasseus) was a Dorian Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC - ca. ... The Persians of Iran (officially named Persia by West until 1935 while still referred to as Persia by some) are an Iranian people who speak Persian (locally named Fârsi by native speakers) and often refer to themselves as ethnic Iranians as well. ... Scythia was an area in Eurasia inhabited in ancient times by an Indo-Aryans known as the Scythians. ...

On the 5th book, Dareios sent heralds demanding earth and water from king Amyntas I of Macedon. Amyntas I, king of Macedonia (c. ... Macedons regions and towns Macedon or Macedonia (from Greek ; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was the name of an ancient kingdom in the northern-most part of ancient Greece, bordering the kingdom of Epirus on the west and the region of Thrace to the east. ...

On the 6th book, Dareios sent heralds throughout Hellas bidding them demand earth and water for the king. Greece, formally called the Hellenic Republic (Greek: Ελληνική Δημοκρατία), is a country in the southeast of Europe on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula. ...

The demand for earth and water symbolized that those surrendering to Persians gave up all their rights over their land and every product of the land. Giving earth and water they recognized the persian authority on everything, even their lives belonged to the king of Persians. Then negotiations would take place to specify the obligations and the benefits of the liegemen.

The phrase earth and water, even in modern Greek, symbolizes unconditional subordination to a conqueror.

According to J.M. Balcer ('The Persian Wars Against Greece: A Reassessment' Historia 38 (1989)p. 130), the significance of earth and water is that they were Zoroastrian symbols and representative of vassalage to the Persian Empire. "Persian heralds traveled throughout Greece demanding the recognition of Persian Suzerainty and the Zoroastrian symbols of earth and water, the marks of vassalage...".

See also

Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars or Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Greek world and the Persian Empire that started about 500 BC and lasted until 448 BC. The term can also refer to the continual warfare of the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire against the Parthians and...