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133-400: Some theoreticians characterize historicity as a dimension of all natural phenomena that take place in space and time. Other scholars characterize it as an attribute reserved to certain human occurrences, in agreement with the practice of historiography . Herbert Marcuse explained historicity as that which "defines history and thus distinguishes it from 'nature' or the 'economy'" and "signifies

266-679: A Roman Senator . Senatorial histories are generally particularly informative due to their "insider's" perspective. A general pattern of Senatorial histories is that they seem to invariably contain a reason that the author is writing histories instead of remaining involved in politics. Sullan annalists politicized their past. They were partisans of the Sullan faction who carried on the Marius and Sulla conflict through their histories, often rewriting them to fit their own agenda. Some Sullan annalists may have been sources for Livy. Valerius Antias (fl. 80-60 BC)

399-529: A chronological form that abstained from analysis and focused on moralistic teaching. In 281 AD the tomb of King Xiang of Wei ( d.  296 BC ) was opened, inside of which was found a historical text called the Bamboo Annals , after the writing material. It is similar in style to the Spring and Autumn Annals and covers events from the mythical Yellow Emperor to 299 BC. Opinions on

532-690: A history of Egypt in Greek for the Ptolemaic royal court during the 3rd century BC. The Romans adopted the Greek tradition, writing at first in Greek, but eventually chronicling their history in a freshly non-Greek language. Early Roman works were still written in Greek, such as the annals of Quintus Fabius Pictor . However, the Origines , composed by the Roman statesman Cato the Elder (234–149 BC),

665-535: A universal history , the Bibliotheca historica , that sought to explain various known civilizations from their origins up until his own day in the 1st century BC. The Chaldean priest Berossus ( fl.  3rd century  BC) composed a Greek-language History of Babylonia for the Seleucid king Antiochus I , combining Hellenistic methods of historiography and Mesopotamian accounts to form

798-510: A brief synopsis of the key points before he begins a lengthier summary of the reign of Augustus. From there, he launches into his scathing account of history from where Livy would have left off. Edward Gibbon considered Tacitus the very model of the philosophic historian. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus ( Suetonius ) is most famous for his biographies of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian emperors and other notable historical figures. He

931-460: A defining characteristic of Roman historiography, while he is also known for the establishment of the ab urbe condita tradition of historiography which is writing history "from the founding of the city". Cincius also wrote in Greek, but seems to have been less esteemed by later historians: thus for the Battle of Lake Trasimene , Livy states that he "has accepted Fabius as my main source, since he

1064-542: A good case for himself. Titus Livius, commonly known as Livy , was a Roman historian, best known for his work entitled Ab Urbe Condita , which is a history of Rome "from the founding of the city". He was born in Patavium , which is modern day Padua, in 59 BC and he died there in 17 AD. Others referred to his writing as having "patavinitas". Little is known about his life, but based on an epitaph found in Padua, he had

1197-522: A great corpus of historiographic literature. The extent to which historians are influenced by their own groups and loyalties—such as to their nation state —remains a debated question. In Europe, the academic discipline of historiography was established in the 5th century BC with the Histories , by Herodotus , who thus established Greek historiography . In the 2nd century BC, the Roman statesman Cato

1330-540: A great reputation in the military. Upon his return to Rome, he was both elected tribunus militium and given the priesthood as a pontifex . During his time in these positions, Caesar befriended Pompey and Crassus , the two men with whom he would later form the First Triumvirate. As the years went on, recognition for Caesar's political, military, and oratory skills grew and he easily was elected praetor and consul. After his consulship, Caesar gained control of

1463-552: A history opens with a chronological outline of court affairs, and then continues with detailed biographies of prominent people who lived during the period in question. The scope of his work extended as far back as the 16th century BC with the founding of the Shang dynasty . It included many treatises on specific subjects and individual biographies of prominent people. He also explored the lives and deeds of commoners, both contemporary and those of previous eras. Whereas Sima's had been

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1596-452: A model for later historians. This has led to Gibbon being called the first "modern historian". The book sold impressively, earning its author a total of about £9000. Biographer Leslie Stephen wrote that thereafter, "His fame was as rapid as it has been lasting." Gibbon's work has been praised for its style, its piquant epigrams and its effective irony. Winston Churchill memorably noted, "I set out upon ... Gibbon's Decline and Fall of

1729-542: A much fuller narrative form. While Caesar's De Bello Gallico focused specifically on his wars in Gaul , Roman works that served as a broad universal history often placed heavy emphasis on the origin myth of the founding of Rome as a starting point. These works formed the basis of the Roman historiographic models utilized by later Imperial authors of the Principate era, such as Tacitus and Suetonius . Before

1862-455: A passage or a fact were reduced to depend." In this insistence upon the importance of primary sources, Gibbon broke new ground in the methodical study of history: In accuracy, thoroughness, lucidity, and comprehensive grasp of a vast subject, the 'History' is unsurpassable. It is the one English history which may be regarded as definitive. ... Whatever its shortcomings the book is artistically imposing as well as historically unimpeachable as

1995-492: A precedent for subsequent Western historical writings. He was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon ( c.  431  – 355 BC) introduced autobiographical elements and biographical character studies in his Anabasis . The proverbial Philippic attacks of the Athenian orator Demosthenes (384–322 BC) on Philip II of Macedon marked

2128-449: A short summary of the subject's youth and death, the biographies do not follow a chronological pattern. Rather than chronicling events as they happened in time, Suetonius presents them thematically. This style allowed him to compare the achievements and downfalls of each emperor using various examples of imperial responsibilities, such as building projects and public entertainment. However, it makes dating aspects of each emperor's life and

2261-419: A singularly personal point of view. Michelet was one of the first historians to shift the emphasis of history to the common people, rather than the leaders and institutions of the country. He had a decisive impact on scholars. Gayana Jurkevich argues that led by Michelet: 19th-century French historians no longer saw history as the chronicling of royal dynasties, armies, treaties, and great men of state, but as

2394-442: A spate of local histories of the individual city-states ( poleis ), written by the first of the local historians who employed the written archives of city and sanctuary. Dionysius of Halicarnassus characterized these historians as the forerunners of Thucydides, and these local histories continued to be written into Late Antiquity , as long as the city-states survived. Two early figures stand out: Hippias of Elis , who produced

2527-640: A specifically Christian historiography can be seen in Clement of Alexandria in the second century. The growth of Christianity and its enhanced status in the Roman Empire after Constantine I (see State church of the Roman Empire ) led to the development of a distinct Christian historiography, influenced by both Christian theology and the nature of the Christian Bible , encompassing new areas of study and views of history. The central role of

2660-543: A superb military hero, Caesar was able to clear all doubts in Rome about his abilities as a leader. Although Caesar used this account for his own gain, it is not to say that the De Bello Gallico is at all unreliable. The victories that Caesar has written about did, in fact, occur. Smaller details, however, may have been altered, and the word choice makes the reader more sympathetic to Caesar's cause. De Bello Gallico

2793-511: A unique composite. Reports exist of other near-eastern histories, such as that of the Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon ; but he is considered semi-legendary and writings attributed to him are fragmentary, known only through the later historians Philo of Byblos and Eusebius , who asserted that he wrote before even the Trojan war . The native Egyptian priest and historian Manetho composed

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2926-519: A universal history from the beginning of time down to the time of writing, his successor Ban Gu wrote an annals-biography history limiting its coverage to only the Western Han dynasty , the Book of Han (96 AD). This established the notion of using dynastic boundaries as start- and end-points, and most later Chinese histories would focus on a single dynasty or group of dynasties. The Records of

3059-590: A vast panorama of a great period. The tumultuous events surrounding the French Revolution inspired much of the historiography and analysis of the early 19th century. Interest in the 1688 Glorious Revolution was also rekindled by the Great Reform Act of 1832 in England . Nineteenth century historiography, especially among American historians, featured conflicting viewpoints that represented

3192-563: A wife and two sons. We also know that he was on good terms with Augustus and he also encouraged Claudius to write history. Ab Urbe Condita covered Roman history from its founding, commonly accepted as 753 BC, to 9 BC. It consisted of 142 books, though only books 1–10 and 21–45 survive in whole, although summaries of the other books and a few other fragments exist. The books were referred to as "decades" because Livy organized his material into groups of ten books. The decades were further split in pentads: The purpose of writing Ab Urbe Condita

3325-520: Is an excellent example of the ways in which retellings of actual events can be spun to a person's advantage. For this reason, De Bello Gallico is often looked at as a commentary, rather than a piece of actual historiography. His companion piece, Commentarii de Bello Civili , faced a more difficult challenge in presenting the author's actions in a positive light, but by framing his soldiers as uniformly heroic, and himself as acting in defence of his official status and Roman liberty too, Caesar again makes

3458-779: Is classified as part of the Indosphere and the Sinosphere . The archipelago had direct contact with China during the Song dynasty (960–1279), and was a part of the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires. The pre-colonial Philippines widely used the abugida system in writing and seals on documents, though it was for communication and no recorded writings of early literature or history. Ancient Filipinos usually wrote documents on bamboo, bark, and leaves, which did not survive, unlike inscriptions on clay, metal, and ivory did, such as

3591-537: Is considered a hero and anyone named Claudius is an enemy, and the opposition to the populares never went by a consistent name but were instead called "boni", "optime" or " optimates ", implying that they were the good guys. Roman historiography is also very well known for subversive writing styles. The information in the ancient Roman histories is often communicated by suggestion, innuendo, implication and insinuation because their attitudes would not always be well received, as with Tacitus’ attitude to Tiberius . Tacitus

3724-662: Is ever present and is the function of Roman historiography. Ancient Roman historians traditionally had personal and political baggage and were not disinterested observers. Their accounts were written with the specific moral and political agendas. For example, Q. Fabius Pictor started the tradition of historiography that was concerned with both morality and history and affirmed the prestige of Roman state and its people. Ancient Roman historians wrote pragmatic histories in order to benefit future statesmen. The philosophy of pragmatic history treats historical happenings with special reference to causes, conditions and results. In Roman Historiography

3857-616: Is important", "keen sense of drama", and "grasp of the fact that a whole civilization is a unit of study". At the same time, philosopher David Hume was having a similar effect on the study of history in Great Britain . In 1754 he published The History of England , a 6-volume work which extended "From the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688". Hume adopted a similar scope to Voltaire in his history; as well as

3990-441: Is much scholarly debate concerning the order of publication of Tacitus' works; traditional dates are given here. Tacitus' style is very much like that of Sallust. Short, sharp phrases cut right to the point, and Tacitus makes no bones about conveying his point. His claim that he writes history "sine ira et studio" ("without anger and partiality") ( Annales I.1) is not exactly true. Many of his passages ooze with hatred towards

4123-578: Is not political or military history, it is the history of the arts, of commerce, of civilization—in a word—of the human mind." Voltaire's histories used the values of the Enlightenment to evaluate the past. He helped free historiography from antiquarianism, Eurocentrism , religious intolerance and a concentration on great men, diplomacy, and warfare. Peter Gay says Voltaire wrote "very good history", citing his "scrupulous concern for truths", "careful sifting of evidence", "intelligent selection of what

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4256-413: Is often criticized that he was more interested in the interesting stories about the emperors and not about the actual occurrences of their reigns. The style, with which he writes, primarily stems from his overarching purpose, to catalogue the lives of his subjects. He was not writing an annalistic history, nor was he even trying to create a narrative. His goal was the evaluation of the emperors, portraying

4389-416: Is still in existence. Historiography was more recently defined as "the study of the way history has been and is written—the history of historical writing", which means that, "When you study 'historiography' you do not study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians." Understanding the past appears to be a universal human need, and

4522-469: Is that the Gallic Wars were both just and pious, and that he and his army attacked Gaul in self-defense. The Helvetians were forming a massive migration straight through the provinces. When a group of neighboring allies came to Caesar himself asking for help against these invading Helvetians, that was all the justification Caesar needed to gather his army. By creating an account that portrays himself as

4655-685: The Rikkokushi (Six National Histories), a corpus of six national histories covering the history of Japan from its mythological beginnings until the 9th century. The first of these works were the Nihon Shoki , compiled by Prince Toneri in 720. The tradition of Korean historiography was established with the Samguk Sagi , a history of Korea from its allegedly earliest times. It was compiled by Goryeo court historian Kim Busik after its commission by King Injong of Goryeo (r. 1122–1146). It

4788-472: The Confucian Classics . More annals-biography histories were written in subsequent dynasties, eventually bringing the number to between twenty-four and twenty-six, but none ever reached the popularity and impact of the first four. Traditional Chinese historiography describes history in terms of dynastic cycles . In this view, each new dynasty is founded by a morally righteous founder. Over time,

4921-645: The Ethiopian Empire in the Horn of Africa , Islamic histories by Muslim historians , and the Korean and Japanese historical writings based on the existing Chinese model. During the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment , historiography in the Western world was shaped and developed by figures such as Voltaire , David Hume , and Edward Gibbon , who among others set the foundations for the modern discipline. In

5054-695: The Ethiopian Orthodox Church , the reigns of Iyasu II (r. 1730–1755) and Iyoas I (r. 1755–1769) were the first to be included in larger general dynastic histories. During the Renaissance , history was written about states or nations. The study of history changed during the Enlightenment and Romanticism . Voltaire described the history of certain ages that he considered important, rather than describing events in chronological order. History became an independent discipline. It

5187-619: The Jugurthine War . Livy (59 BC – 17 AD) records the rise of Rome from city-state to empire . His speculation about what would have happened if Alexander the Great had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of alternate history . Biography, although popular throughout antiquity, was introduced as a branch of history by the works of Plutarch ( c.  45  – 125 AD) and Suetonius ( c.  69  – after 130 AD) who described

5320-727: The Laguna Copperplate Inscription and Butuan Ivory Seal . The discovery of the Butuan Ivory Seal also proves the use of paper documents in ancient Philippines. After the Spanish conquest, pre-colonial Filipino manuscripts and documents were gathered and burned to eliminate pagan beliefs. This has been the burden of historians in the accumulation of data and the development of theories that gave historians many aspects of Philippine history that were left unexplained. The interplay of pre-colonial events and

5453-670: The Middle Ages . They wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers. In the Early Middle Ages historical writing often took the form of annals or chronicles recording events year by year, but this style tended to hamper the analysis of events and causes. An example of this type of writing is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , which

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5586-601: The Warring States period (403 BC) to the end of the Five Dynasties period (959) in chronological annals form, rather than in the traditional annals-biography form. This work is considered much more accessible than the "Official Histories" for the Six dynasties , Tang dynasty , and Five Dynasties , and in practice superseded those works in the mind of the general reader. The great Song Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi found

5719-631: The medieval Islamic world also developed an interest in world history. Islamic historical writing eventually culminated in the works of the Arab Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406), who published his historiographical studies in the Muqaddimah (translated as Prolegomena ) and Kitab al-I'bar ( Book of Advice ). His work was forgotten until it was rediscovered in the late 19th century. The earliest works of history produced in Japan were

5852-417: The second Punic war , there was no historiography in Rome, but the clash of civilisations it involved proved a potent stimulus to historiography, which was taken up by the two senators (and participants in the war), Quintus Fabius Pictor and Lucius Cincius Alimentus , who may be considered the "Founders" of Roman Historiography. Pictor wrote a history of Rome in Greek, not Latin. This choice of writing about

5985-755: The wider Greek world , a development which would be an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around the Mediterranean region. The tradition of logography in Archaic Greece preceded the full narrative form of historiography, in which logographers such as Hecataeus of Miletus provided prose compilations about places in geography and peoples in an early form of cultural anthropology , as well as speeches used in courts of law . The earliest known fully narrative critical historical works were The Histories , composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484–425 BC) who became known as

6118-498: The " science of biography ", " science of hadith " and " Isnad " (chain of transmission). These methodologies were later applied to other historical figures in the Islamic civilization . Famous historians in this tradition include Urwah (d. 712), Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 728), Ibn Ishaq (d. 761), al-Waqidi (745–822), Ibn Hisham (d. 834), Muhammad al-Bukhari (810–870) and Ibn Hajar (1372–1449). Historians of

6251-440: The "father of history". Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts, and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving written accounts of various Mediterranean cultures. Although Herodotus' overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men, he also attributed an important role to divinity in the determination of historical events. The generation following Herodotus witnessed

6384-495: The "telling of history" has emerged independently in civilizations around the world. What constitutes history is a philosophical question (see philosophy of history ). The earliest chronologies date back to ancient Egypt and Sumerian / Akkadian Mesopotamia , in the form of chronicles and annals . However, most historical writers in these early civilizations were not known by name, and their works usually did not contain narrative structures or detailed analysis. By contrast,

6517-532: The 1980s there has been a special interest in the memories and commemoration of past events—the histories as remembered and presented for popular celebration. In the early modern period , the term historiography meant "the writing of history", and historiographer meant " historian ". In that sense certain official historians were given the title " Historiographer Royal " in Sweden (from 1618), England (from 1660), and Scotland (from 1681). The Scottish post

6650-519: The 19th century, historical studies became professionalized at universities and research centers along with a belief that history was like a science. In the 20th century, historians incorporated social science dimensions like politics, economy, and culture in their historiography. The research interests of historians change over time, and there has been a shift away from traditional diplomatic, economic, and political history toward newer approaches, especially social and cultural studies . From 1975 to 1995

6783-464: The 1st century BC, born c. 86 BC in the Sabine community of Amiternum . There is some evidence that Sallust's family belonged to a local aristocracy, but we do know that he did not belong to Rome's ruling class. Thus he embarked on a political career as a " novus homo ", serving as a military tribune in the 60s BC, quaestor from 55 to 54 BC, and tribune of the plebs in 52 BC. Sallust was expelled from

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6916-472: The 2nd century BCE with the Origines by Cato the Elder . Contemporary Greek historians such as Polybius wrote about the rise of Rome during its conquest of Greece and ascension as the primary power of the Mediterranean in the 2nd century BCE. Moving away from the annalist tradition, Roman historians of the 1st century BCE such as Sallust , Livy , and even Julius Caesar wrote their works in

7049-592: The Annals and the Monograph, and the rewriting of history to suit the author's needs. Annals are a year-by-year arrangement of historical writing. In Roman historiography, annals generally begin at the founding of Rome. Proper annals include whatever events were of importance for each year, as well as other information such as the names of that year's consuls, which was the basis by which Romans generally identified years. The annals seem originally to have been used by

7182-642: The Bible in Christianity is reflected in the preference of Christian historians for written sources, compared to the classical historians' preference for oral sources and is also reflected in the inclusion of politically unimportant people. Christian historians also focused on development of religion and society. This can be seen in the extensive inclusion of written sources in the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea around 324 and in

7315-592: The Elder produced the Origines , which is the first Roman historiography . In Asia, the father and son intellectuals Sima Tan and Sima Qian established Chinese historiography with the book Shiji ( Records of the Grand Historian ), in the time of the Han Empire in Ancient China . During the Middle Ages , medieval historiography included the works of chronicles in medieval Europe ,

7448-508: The Elder . Evidence of the former's influence includes emphasis on politics, use of archaisms, character analysis, and selective omission of details. The use of such devices as asyndeton , anaphora , and chiasmus reflect preference for the old-fashioned Latin style of Cato to the Ciceronian periodic structure of his own era. Whether Sallust is considered a reliable source or not, he is largely responsible for our current image of Rome in

7581-779: The English People . Outside of Europe and West Asia, Christian historiography also existed in Africa. For instance, Augustine of Hippo , the Berber theologian and bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia ( Roman North Africa ), wrote a multiple volume autobiography called Confessions between 397 and 400 AD. While earlier pagan rulers of the Kingdom of Aksum produced autobiographical style epigraphic texts in locations spanning Ethiopia , Eritrea , and Sudan and in either Greek or

7714-724: The Grand Historian and Book of Han were eventually joined by the Book of the Later Han (AD 488) (replacing the earlier, and now only partially extant, Han Records from the Eastern Pavilion) and the Records of the Three Kingdoms (AD 297) to form the "Four Histories". These became mandatory reading for the Imperial Examinations and have therefore exerted an influence on Chinese culture comparable to

7847-536: The Jugurthine War as a backdrop for his examination of the development of party struggles in Rome in the 1st century BC. The Historiae describe in general the history of the years 78–67 BC. Although Sallust's purposes in writing have been debated over the years, a major theme of his is that of moral decline, similar to the attitude of a censor . The historical details outlined in his monographs serve as paradigms for Sallust. In Bellum Catilinae , Sallust uses

7980-689: The Mirror to be overly long for the average reader, as well as too morally nihilist, and therefore prepared a didactic summary of it called the Zizhi Tongjian Gangmu (Digest of the Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government), posthumously published in 1219. It reduced the original's 249 chapters to just 59, and for the rest of imperial Chinese history would be the first history book most people ever read. Historiography of

8113-670: The Philippines refers to the studies, sources, critical methods and interpretations used by scholars to study the history of the Philippines . It includes historical and archival research and writing on the history of the Philippine archipelago including the islands of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Philippine archipelago was part of many empires before the Spanish Empire arrived in the 16th century. Southeast Asia

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8246-406: The Roman Empire [and] was immediately dominated both by the story and the style. ... I devoured Gibbon. I rode triumphantly through it from end to end and enjoyed it all." Gibbon was pivotal in the secularizing and 'desanctifying' of history, remarking, for example, on the "want of truth and common sense" of biographies composed by Saint Jerome . Unusually for an 18th-century historian, Gibbon

8379-446: The Roman form included various attitudes and concerns that were considered strictly Roman. As the recording of Roman history began to evolve and take shape, many characteristics came to define what we know today as Roman historiography, most notably the strong defense of and allegiance to the Roman state and its wide variety of moral ideals, the factional nature of some histories, the splitting of historiography into two distinct categories,

8512-556: The act. Although there is no doubt that Washington existed as an historical figure, the historicity of this specific account has been found lacking. Questions of historicity are particularly relevant to partisan or poetic accounts of past events. For example, the historicity of the Iliad has become a topic of debate because later archaeological finds suggest that the work was based on some true event. Questions of historicity frequently arise in relation to historical studies of religion . In these cases, value commitments can influence

8645-440: The arts and sciences. He was the first scholar to make a serious attempt to write the history of the world, eliminating theological frameworks, and emphasizing economics, culture and political history. Although he repeatedly warned against political bias on the part of the historian, he did not miss many opportunities to expose the intolerance and frauds of the church over the ages. Voltaire advised scholars that anything contradicting

8778-485: The authenticity of much of the material (as eventually published) cannot be guaranteed. A monograph is a comprehensive work on a single subject. The monograph could be written about a single event, a technique, rhetoric, or one of any number of other subjects. For example, Pliny the Elder once published a monograph on the use of the throwing-spear by cavalry. Monographs were among the most common historical works found in Roman writings. Ab urbe condita , literally "From

8911-418: The authenticity of the text has varied throughout the centuries, and it was rediscovered too late to gain the same status as the Spring and Autumn Annals . Sima's Shiji ( Records of the Grand Historian ), initiated by his father the court astronomer Sima Tan (165–110 BC), pioneered the "Annals-biography" format, which would become the standard for prestige history writing in China. In this genre

9044-421: The beginning, and they are not even necessarily annalistic. An important sub category that emerged from the monographic tradition was the biography. Some monographic authors: Often, especially in times of political unrest or social turmoil, historians re-wrote history to suit their particular views of the age. So, there were many different historians each rewriting history a little bit to bolster their case. This

9177-452: The choice of research methodology . Historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension, the term historiography is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic by using particular sources, techniques of research, and theoretical approaches to

9310-612: The deeds and characters of ancient personalities, stressing their human side. Tacitus ( c.  56  – c.  117  AD) denounces Roman immorality by praising German virtues, elaborating on the topos of the Noble savage . Tacitus' focus on personal character can also be viewed as pioneering work in psychohistory . Although rooted in Greek historiography, in some ways Roman historiography shared traits with Chinese historiography , lacking speculative theories and instead relying on annalistic forms, revering ancestors , and imparting moral lessons for their audiences, laying

9443-411: The demands of critical method, and even, after a time, the goal of writing "scientific" history. Thomas Carlyle published his three-volume The French Revolution: A History , in 1837. The first volume was accidentally burned by John Stuart Mill 's maid. Carlyle rewrote it from scratch. Carlyle's style of historical writing stressed the immediacy of action, often using the present tense. He emphasised

9576-509: The development of historiography during the Age of Enlightenment through his demonstration of fresh new ways to look at the past. Guillaume de Syon argues: Voltaire recast historiography in both factual and analytical terms. Not only did he reject traditional biographies and accounts that claim the work of supernatural forces, but he went so far as to suggest that earlier historiography was rife with falsified evidence and required new investigations at

9709-525: The dynasty becomes morally corrupt and dissolute. Eventually, the dynasty becomes so weak as to allow its replacement by a new dynasty. Christian historical writing arguably begins with the narrative sections of the New Testament, particularly Luke-Acts , which is the primary source for the Apostolic Age , though its historical reliability is disputed . The first tentative beginnings of

9842-457: The emperors. Despite this seemingly obvious partisan style of writing, much of what is said can go under the radar, which is as Tacitus wanted things to be. His skill as an orator, which was praised by his good friend Pliny, no doubt contributes to his supreme mastery of the Latin language. Not one to mince words, Tacitus does not waste time with a history of Rome ab urbe condita . Rather, he gives

9975-492: The events and actions of the person while they were in office. He focuses on the fulfillment of duties, criticizing those that did not live up to expectations, and praising bad emperors for times when they did fulfill their duties. There are a variety of other lost or incomplete works by Suetonius, many of which describe areas of culture and society, like the Roman Year or the names of seas. However, what we know about these

10108-578: The events of the early Roman Empire difficult. It also completely removes the ability to extrapolate a causal sequence from the works. Suetonius's purpose was not a historical recount of events, though, but rather an evaluation of the emperors themselves. Suetonius's style is simple; he often quotes directly from sources that were used, and artistic organization and language does not seem to exist, though subtler skills have been detected by some. He addresses points directly, without flowery or misleading language, and quotes from his sources often. However, he

10241-415: The facts and an impression of what the facts mean are presented. Interpretation is always a part of historiography; Romans never made any pretense about it. Conflict between the facts and the interpretation of those facts indicate a good historian. Polybius , who wrote in Greek, was the first pragmatic historian. His histories have an aristocratic ethos and reveal his opinions on honor, wealth and war. Tacitus

10374-421: The figure of Catiline as a symbol of the corrupt Roman nobility, though he also presents a wider picture of the Roman political scene beyond Catiline himself. The content of Bellum Jugurthinum also suggests that Sallust was more interested in character studies (e.g. Marius) than the details of the war itself. With respect to writing style, the main influence on Sallust's work was Thucydides , perhaps also Cato

10507-477: The first comprehensive work on historical criticism , arguing that historians should be skeptical of primary sources, rely on systematically gathered evidence, and should not treat previous scholars with undue deference. In 1084 the Song dynasty official Sima Guang completed the Zizhi Tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government), which laid out the entire history of China from the beginning of

10640-600: The first historian to write in Latin. His work, the Origines , was written to teach Romans what it means to be Roman. Like Pictor, Cato the Elder wrote ab urbe condita , and the early history is filled with legends illustrating Roman virtues. The Origines also spoke of how not only Rome, but the other Italian towns were venerable, and that the Romans were indeed superior to the Greeks. The Romans enjoyed serious endeavors and so

10773-515: The founding of the city", describes the Roman tradition of beginning histories at the founding of the city of Rome. In Livy's Ab Urbe Condita , much time is spent on the early history of Rome, and on the founding of the city itself. In Sallust's histories, the founding and early history of Rome is almost reduced to a single sentence. Thus, the ab urbe condita form is extremely variable while continuing to mould Roman histories. "Senatorial History" describes history written by or with information from

10906-634: The groundwork for medieval Christian historiography . The Han dynasty eunuch Sima Qian (145–86 BC) was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing . His work superseded the older style of the Spring and Autumn Annals , compiled in the 5th century BC, the Bamboo Annals , the Classic of History , and other court and dynastic annals that recorded history in

11039-470: The height of ancient political agitation. The now lost history of Alexander's campaigns by the diadoch Ptolemy I (367–283 BC) may represent the first historical work composed by a ruler. Polybius ( c.  203  – 120 BC) wrote on the rise of the Roman Republic to world prominence, and attempted to harmonize the Greek and Roman points of view. Diodorus Siculus composed

11172-484: The historical works that have been convincingly ascribed to Sallust, the monographs, Bellum Catilinae and Bellum Jugurthinum . We have only fragments of the third work, his Histories. There is less agreement about the authorship of some other works that have, at times, been attributed to him. In Bellum Catilinae , Sallust outlines the conspiracy of Catiline , a brash and ambitious patrician who tried to seize power in Rome in 63 BC. In his other monograph, Sallust used

11305-472: The history of Kings, Parliaments, and armies, he examined the history of culture, including literature and science, as well. His short biographies of leading scientists explored the process of scientific change and he developed new ways of seeing scientists in the context of their times by looking at how they interacted with society and each other—he paid special attention to Francis Bacon , Robert Boyle , Isaac Newton and William Harvey . He also argued that

11438-480: The history of ordinary French people and the landscape of France. Hippolyte Taine (1828–1893), although unable to secure an academic position, was the chief theoretical influence of French naturalism , a major proponent of sociological positivism , and one of the first practitioners of historicist criticism. He pioneered the idea of "the milieu" as an active historical force which amalgamated geographical, psychological, and social factors. Historical writing for him

11571-472: The interpretation of documentary sources. Scholars discuss historiography by topic—such as the historiography of the United Kingdom , of WWII , of the pre-Columbian Americas , of early Islam , and of China —and different approaches to the work and the genres of history, such as political history and social history . Beginning in the nineteenth century, the development of academic history produced

11704-592: The issue of "what really happened", but also how modern observers can come to know "what really happened". This second issue is closely tied to historical research practices and methodologies for analyzing the reliability of primary sources and other evidence. Because various methodologies thematize historicity differently, it is not possible to reduce historicity to a single structure to be represented. Some methodologies like historicism can make historicity subject to constructions of history based on submerged value commitments. The historiographer François Hartog introduced

11837-499: The late period of Trajan's rule and under Hadrian , he held various positions, until he was discharged. He had a close proximity to the government as well as access to the imperial archives, which can be seen in his historical biographies. Suetonius wrote a large number of biographies on important literary figures of the past ( De Viris Illustribus ). Included in the collection were notable poets, grammarians, orators, historians, and philosophers. This collection, like his other works,

11970-480: The late republic. He doubtlessly incorporates elements of exaggeration in his works and has at times been described as more of an artist or politician than historian. But our understanding of the moral and ethical realities of Rome in the 1st century BC would be much weaker if Sallust's works did not survive. Tacitus was born c. 56 AD in, most likely, either Cisalpine or Narbonese Gaul. Upon arriving in Rome, which would have happened by 75, he quickly began to lay down

12103-466: The lists of winners in the Olympic Games that provided the basic chronological framework as long as the pagan classical tradition lasted, and Hellanicus of Lesbos , who compiled more than two dozen histories from civic records, all of them now lost. Thucydides largely eliminated divine causality in his account of the war between Athens and Sparta, establishing a rationalistic element which set

12236-423: The meaning we intend when we say of something that is 'historical'." The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy defines historicity as "denoting the feature of our human situation by which we are located in specific concrete temporal and historical circumstances". For Wilhelm Dilthey , historicity identifies human beings as unique and concrete historical beings. Questions regarding historicity concern not just

12369-467: The monographic tradition. The authors who used the Annalistic tradition wrote histories year-by-year, from the beginning, which was most frequently from the founding of the city, usually up until the time that they were living in. Some annalistic authors: Monographs are more similar to present-day history books. They are usually on a single topic, but most importantly, they do not tell history from

12502-584: The native Ge'ez script , the 4th century AD Ezana Stone commemorating Ezana of Axum 's conquest of the Kingdom of Kush in Nubia also emphasized his conversion to Christianity (the first indigenous African head of state to do so). Aksumite manuscripts from the 5th to 7th centuries AD chronicling the dioceses and episcopal sees of the Coptic Orthodox Church demonstrate not only an adherence to Christian chronology but also influences from

12635-453: The neutral and detached tone of the tradition of Gibbon. Carlyle presented the history as dramatic events unfolding in the present as though he and the reader were participants on the streets of Paris at the famous events. Carlyle's invented style was epic poetry combined with philosophical treatise. It is rarely read or cited in the last century. In his main work Histoire de France (1855), French historian Jules Michelet (1798–1874) coined

12768-617: The non-Christian Kingdom of Kush, the Ptolemaic dynasty of Hellenistic Egypt , and the Yemenite Jews of the Himyarite Kingdom . The tradition of Ethiopian historiography evolved into a matured form during the Solomonic dynasty . Though works such as the 13th century Kebra Nagast blended Christian mythology with historical events in its narrative, the first proper biographical chronicle on an Emperor of Ethiopia

12901-835: The normal course of nature was not to be believed. Although he found evil in the historical record, he fervently believed reason and educating the illiterate masses would lead to progress. Voltaire's History of Charles XII (1731) about the Swedish warrior king ( Swedish : Karl XII) is also one of his most famous works. It is not least known as one of Napoleon's absolute favorite books. Voltaire explains his view of historiography in his article on "History" in Diderot's Encyclopédie : "One demands of modern historians more details, better ascertained facts, precise dates, more attention to customs, laws, mores, commerce, finance, agriculture, population." Already in 1739 he had written: "My chief object

13034-464: The notion of regimes of historicity to describe a society that considers its past and attempts to deal with it, a process that is also cited as "a method of self-awareness in a human community". The historicity of a reported event may be distinct from the historicity of persons involved in the event. For example, a popular story says that as a child, George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, and when confronted about it, honestly took responsibility for

13167-522: The priesthood to keep track of omens and portents. The Annales Maximi were a running set of annals kept by the Pontifex Maximus. The Annales Maximi contained such information as names of the magistrates of each year, public events, and omens such as eclipses and monstrous births. The Annales Maximi covers the period from the early Roman Republic to around the time of the Gracchi, though

13300-490: The proportion of professors of history in American universities identifying with social history increased from 31 to 41 percent, while the proportion of political historians decreased from 40 to 30 percent. In 2007, of 5,723 faculty members in the departments of history at British universities, 1,644 (29 percent) identified themselves with social history and 1,425 (25 percent) identified themselves with political history. Since

13433-546: The provinces of Illyricum , Cisalpine , and Transalpine Gaul . In 58 BC, trouble arose in the Gallic provinces, sparking one of the most important wars of Caesar's career. The De Bello Gallico is Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars. As the Wars were raging on, Caesar fell victim to a great deal of criticisms from Rome. De Bello Gallico is a response to these criticisms, and a way for Caesar to justify these wars. His argument

13566-583: The quest for liberty was the highest standard for judging the past, and concluded that after considerable fluctuation, England at the time of his writing had achieved "the most entire system of liberty, that was ever known amongst mankind". The apex of Enlightenment history was reached with Edward Gibbon 's monumental six-volume work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , published on 17 February 1776. Because of its relative objectivity and heavy use of primary sources , its methodology became

13699-427: The role of forces of the spirit in history and thought that chaotic events demanded what he called 'heroes' to take control over the competing forces erupting within society. He considered the dynamic forces of history as being the hopes and aspirations of people that took the form of ideas, and were often ossified into ideologies. Carlyle's The French Revolution was written in a highly unorthodox style, far removed from

13832-407: The senate in 50 BC on moral grounds, but quickly revived his career by attaching himself to Julius Caesar. He served as quaestor again in 48 BC, as praetor in 46 BC, and governed the new province in the former Numidian territory until 44 BC., making his fortune in the process. Sallust's political career ended upon his return to Rome and Caesar's assassination in 44 BC. We possess in full two of

13965-635: The source. Such an outlook was not unique in that the scientific spirit that 18th-century intellectuals perceived themselves as invested with. A rationalistic approach was key to rewriting history. Voltaire's best-known histories are The Age of Louis XIV (1751), and his Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations (1756). He broke from the tradition of narrating diplomatic and military events, and emphasized customs, social history and achievements in

14098-400: The subjects it covers. Christian theology considered time as linear, progressing according to divine plan. As God's plan encompassed everyone, Christian histories in this period had a universal approach. For example, Christian writers often included summaries of important historical events prior to the period covered by the work. Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in

14231-669: The term Renaissance (meaning "rebirth" in French ), as a period in Europe's cultural history that represented a break from the Middle Ages, creating a modern understanding of humanity and its place in the world. The 19-volume work covered French history from Charlemagne to the outbreak of the French Revolution . His inquiry into manuscript and printed authorities was most laborious, but his lively imagination, and his strong religious and political prejudices, made him regard all things from

14364-503: The term "historiography" is taken to refer to written history recorded in a narrative format for the purpose of informing future generations about events. In this limited sense, " ancient history " begins with the written history of early historiography in Classical Antiquity , established in 5th century BC Classical Greece . The earliest known systematic historical thought and methodologies emerged in ancient Greece and

14497-447: The times. According to 20th-century historian Richard Hofstadter: The historians of the nineteenth century worked under the pressure of two internal tensions: on one side there was the constant demand of society—whether through the nationstate, the church, or some special group or class interest—for memory mixed with myth, for the historical tale that would strengthen group loyalties or confirm national pride; and against this there were

14630-475: The tracks for his political career. By 88, he was made praetor under Domitian , and he was also a member of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis . From 89 to 93, Tacitus was away from Rome with his newly married wife, the daughter of the general Agricola . 97 saw Tacitus being named the consul suffectus under Nerva . It is likely that Tacitus held a proconsulship in Asia. His death is datable to c. 118. There

14763-596: The use of secondary sources written by historians to evaluate the primary sources, do not provide a critical examination of the methodology of the early Philippine historical study. During the Age of Enlightenment , the modern development of historiography through the application of scrupulous methods began. Among the many Italians who contributed to this were Leonardo Bruni (c. 1370–1444), Francesco Guicciardini (1483–1540), and Cesare Baronio (1538–1607). French philosophe Voltaire (1694–1778) had an enormous influence on

14896-508: The war in Greek arose from a need to address the Greeks and counter another author, Timaeus , who also wrote a history of Rome until the Second Punic War. Timaeus wrote with a negative view of Rome. Therefore, in defense of the Roman state, Pictor wrote in Greek, using Olympiad dating and a Hellenistic style. Pictor's style of writing history defending the Roman state and its actions, and using propaganda heavily, eventually became

15029-407: The writing of historiography became very popular for upper class citizens who wanted to spend their time on worthwhile, virtuous, "Roman" activities. As idleness was looked down upon by the Romans, writing history became an acceptable way to spend their otium or retirement. Almost as soon as historiography started being used by the Romans, it split into two traditions: the annalistic tradition and

15162-479: Was a Sullan annalist but he was not viewed as a credible historian. He seems to have been trying to counter the Marian historian, C. Licinius Macer, whose veracity is also questionable. Antias' history, written in seventy-six books, is melodramatic and often filled with exaggerations and lies: Livy wrote of “Valerius, who is guilty of gross exaggerations of numbers of all kinds”. In his history, anyone named Cornelius

15295-568: Was a search for general laws. His brilliant style kept his writing in circulation long after his theoretical approaches were passé. Roman historiography During the Second Punic War with Carthage , Rome's earliest known annalists Quintus Fabius Pictor and Lucius Cincius Alimentus recorded history in Greek , and relied on Greek historians such as Timaeus . Roman histories were not written in Classical Latin until

15428-423: Was also a pragmatic. His histories have literary merit and interpretations of facts and events. He was not purely objective, rather his judgments served a moral function. Julius Caesar was born 12 July 100 BC into a patrician family. As a young man, he was given a priesthood as Flamen Dialis by his father-in-law, Cornelius Cinna. When that position was taken away by Sulla, Caesar spent a decade in Asia, earning

15561-593: Was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, presenting a descriptive history of peoples and places known to his era. The Roman historian Sallust (86–35 BC) sought to analyze and document what he viewed as the decline of the Republican Roman state and its virtues, highlighted in his respective narrative accounts of the Catilinarian conspiracy and

15694-628: Was born around 69 to an equestrian family. Living during the times of the Emperor Trajan and having a connection to Pliny the Younger , Suetonius was able to begin a rise in rank in the imperial administration. In c. 102, he was appointed to a military tribune position in Britain, which he did not actually accept. He was, though, among the staff for Pliny's command in Bithynia . During

15827-597: Was completed in 1145 and relied not only on earlier Chinese histories for source material, but also on the Hwarang Segi written by the Silla historian Kim Daemun in the 8th century. The latter work is now lost. The Shitong , published around 710 by the Tang Chinese historian Liu Zhiji (661–721), was the first work to provide an outline of the entire tradition of Chinese historiography up to that point, and

15960-412: Was contemporary with this war", whereas earlier, on the question of Hannibal's numbers, he says that "the most authoritative account should be that of Lucius Cincius Alimentus...but Cincius makes a mess of the numbers". After Pictor wrote, many other authors followed his lead, inspired by the new literary form: Gaius Acilius , Aulus Postumius Albinus , and Cato the Elder . Cato the Elder is credited as

16093-412: Was critical of the emperors and believed that they were one of the reasons for the decline of Rome, and even wrote disparagingly of Augustus the most revered of the emperors. In Roman historiography commentarii is simply a raw account of events often not intended for publication. It was not considered traditional "history" because it lacked the necessary speeches and literary flourishes. Commentarii

16226-399: Was especially evident in the 70s BC when the social wars were going on between the populists led by Marius , and the senatorials led by Sulla . Several authors wrote histories during this time, each taking a side. Gaius Licinius Macer was anti-Sullan and wrote his history, based on Gnaeus Gellius in 16 books, from the founding of the city until the 3rd century BC, whereas Valerius Antias who

16359-666: Was made for Amda Seyon I (r. 1314–1344), depicted as a Christian savior of his nation in conflicts with the Islamic Ifat Sultanate . The 16th century monk Bahrey was the first in Ethiopia to produce a historical ethnography , focusing on the migrating Oromo people who came into military conflict with the Ethiopian Empire. While royal biographies existed for individual Ethiopian emperors authored by court historians who were also clerical scholars within

16492-424: Was never content with secondhand accounts when the primary sources were accessible (though most of these were drawn from well-known printed editions). He said, "I have always endeavoured to draw from the fountain-head; that my curiosity, as well as a sense of duty, has always urged me to study the originals; and that, if they have sometimes eluded my search, I have carefully marked the secondary evidence, on whose faith

16625-547: Was not a "spokesman for the regime". He believed that Augustus was necessary, but only as a short term measure. According to Quintillian , Livy wrote lactea ubertas , or "with milky richness". He used language to embellish his material, including the use of both poetical and archaic words. He included many anachronisms in his work, such as tribunes having power that they did not have until much later. Livy also used rhetorical elaborations, such as attributing speeches to characters whose speeches could not possibly be known. Though he

16758-558: Was not called philosophia historiae anymore, but merely history ( historia ). Muslim historical writings first began to develop in the 7th century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet Muhammad 's life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his companions from various sources, it was necessary to verify which sources were more reliable. In order to evaluate these sources, various methodologies were developed, such as

16891-552: Was not organized chronologically. Not all of it has survived to the present day, but there are a number of references in other sources to attribute fragments to this collection. His most famous work, though, is the De Vita Caesarum . This collection of twelve biographies tells the lives of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian Emperors, spanning from Julius Caesar to Domitian. Other than an introductory genealogy and

17024-411: Was not thought of as a first-rate research historian, being overly dependent on his sources, his work was so extensive that other histories were abandoned for Livy. It is unfortunate that these other histories were abandoned, especially since much of Livy's work is now gone, leaving holes in our knowledge of Roman history. C. Sallustius Crispus, more commonly known as Sallust , was a Roman historian of

17157-412: Was pro-Sulla, wrote a history in 75 books, from the founding of the city until 91 BC: both were used subsequently by Livy to create a more evenly balanced account. The historiography we most readily identify with the Romans, coming from sources such as Caesar , Sallust , Livy , Tacitus , and other minor authors, owes much to its early roots and Greek predecessors. However, contrary to the Greek form,

17290-428: Was the work of several different writers: it was started during the reign of Alfred the Great in the late 9th century, but one copy was still being updated in 1154. Some writers in the period did construct a more narrative form of history. These included Gregory of Tours and more successfully Bede , who wrote both secular and ecclesiastical history and who is known for writing the Ecclesiastical History of

17423-472: Was twofold. The first was to memorialize history and the second was to challenge his generation to rise to that same level. He was preoccupied with morality, using history as a moral essay. He connects a nation's success with its high level of morality, and conversely a nation's failure with its moral decline. Livy believed that there had been a moral decline in Rome, and he lacked the confidence that Augustus could reverse it. Though he shared Augustus' ideals, he

17556-531: Was usually turned into "history" later on. Many think Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars , Commentarii Rerum Gestarum (Commentaries on Things Done), was called commentarii for propagandistic purposes. They believe that it is actually "history" since it is so well written, pro-Roman and fits the traditional patterns of historiography. Ancient Roman historians did not write for the sake of writing, they wrote in an effort to convince their audiences. Propaganda

17689-484: Was written in Latin , in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. It marked the beginning of Latin historical writings . Hailed for its lucid style, Julius Caesar 's (103–44 BC) de Bello Gallico exemplifies autobiographical war coverage. The politician and orator Cicero (106–43 BC) introduced rhetorical elements in his political writings. Strabo (63 BC – c.  24  AD)

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