Ancient Historiography
Ancient historiography, founded by Herodotus and Thucydides and continued by Roman writers, established traditions of historical narrative whose conventions and biases must be understood to use them as evidence.
Definition
The study of historical writing in antiquity, including its authors, genres, methods, and the critical interpretation of ancient historical texts as sources.
Scope
This topic covers the practice and conventions of historical writing in the Greek and Roman worlds: the origins of history with Herodotus and Thucydides, the development of Hellenistic and Roman historiography, the genres and rhetorical conventions of ancient history, the aims and methods of ancient historians, and the critical assessment of their reliability.
Core questions
- How did history emerge as a distinct genre with Herodotus and Thucydides?
- What aims, methods, and conventions governed ancient historical writing?
- How did rhetoric and literary art shape ancient historiography?
- How should historians critically use ancient historical narratives as evidence?
Key theories
- Rhetoric in historiography
- A. J. Woodman's argument that ancient historiography was governed by rhetorical conventions and aimed at plausibility and literary effect as much as factual accuracy, requiring careful critical reading.
- Authority and tradition
- John Marincola's analysis of how ancient historians constructed their authority through claims of autopsy, inquiry, and engagement with predecessors within an evolving tradition.
History
Western historiography traces its origins to Herodotus and Thucydides in fifth-century Greece, followed by Hellenistic historians and Roman writers such as Livy and Tacitus. Modern study, shaped by scholars including Momigliano, examines both the value of these works as evidence and their character as literary and rhetorical compositions reflecting their authors' aims and contexts.
Debates
- Truth versus rhetoric in ancient history-writing
- Scholars debate how far ancient historians were committed to factual accuracy as opposed to rhetorical persuasion and moral instruction, and what this implies for using them as sources.
Key figures
- John Marincola
- Arnaldo Momigliano
- A. J. Woodman
- Herodotus
Related topics
Seminal works
- marincola1997
- momigliano1990
- woodman1988
Frequently asked questions
- Who is the 'father of history'?
- Herodotus is traditionally called the father of history for his inquiry into the Greco-Persian Wars, though Thucydides is often credited with a more rigorous, analytical approach.
- Can ancient historians be trusted?
- Ancient historians provide valuable evidence but wrote according to rhetorical and moral conventions and held biases, so modern historians read them critically and check them against other sources.