HERODOTUS

1
HERODOTUS

• The Histories
• Story of the Greek wars against Persia in the
  third decade of the 5th century BC
• First portion explores the historical background
  of the war while the remainder recounts the
  details of the Persian expedition against Greece

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THUCYDIDES

• Wrote The Peloponnesian War
• Account of the struggle between Athens and Sparta
  during the last 30 years of the 5th century BC

3
POLYBIUS

• Greek Second Century BC
• Insisted that a historian must travel to see the
  sites, participate in public events, and utilize
  public records
• Wrote Universal History
• About Romes expansion over the Mediterranean
  world
• Intended to be practical instruction and equip
  readers to better act in the future

4
SALLUST

• Late first century BC
• Wrote from an outsiders point of view about
  affairs of state
• Took leaders to task for their mistakes and
  misdeeds and warned of the effects of decadence
  and decay

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TITUS LIVY

• Wrote History of Rome
• Early years of first century AD
• 142 volumes
• Emphasized the role of civic virtue in the
  expansion of the Roman Republic
• Never held public office and devoted his life to
  research and writing

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JULIUS CAESAR

• Wrote Commentaries
• Firsthand account of his military exploits
  against the Gauls, Germans, and Britons in the
  middle of the first century BC
• Established a stylistic model for Latin prose and
  also a new literary genre
• Not as much interested in character and
  personality as he was in action

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TACITUS

• Most notable work was Annales of Imperial Rome
• Written around 100 AD
• Described affairs of the Roman Empire from the
  reign of Tiberius (14 AD) to the death of Nero
  (68 AD)
• Commended public virtue and condemned immorality
  and evil, especially the excesses of the emperors
  and the self-serving cliques around them

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EUSEBIUS OF CAESARA

• Wrote History of the Church
• Tried to demonstrate how all previous history led
  to the triumph of Christianity
• Argued that the traditions of Christianity
  stretched backward in time to a glorious past
  before the Greeks

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SAINT AUGUSTINE

• Wrote City of God
• In response to Alarics sack of Rome in 410 AD
• Led to charges that Christians had led people
  away from old gods and that the gods had now
  taken their revenge
• He absolved Christians from blame by showing that
  similar catastrophes had happened before
  Christianity
• Also developed new and unique approach to
  universal history

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ST. AUGUSTINES APPROACH TO THE PAST

• History has a purpose
• History moves in a straight line towards a
  specific end point (the Day of Judgment)
• The end point of the historical process is good
  and therefore the movement of history represents
  progress
• God is the external force propelling the
  historical process
• Humans can find out aspects of this process by
  using their intellect
• To understand history, humans must comprehend the
  Divine revelations contained in the Bible
• Humans are active agents, though often unwitting
  ones, in the development of history

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PROCOPIUS

• Byzantine writer of 6th century AD
• Major works were History of Wars and The Secret
  History
• Well versed in classic Greek historiography
• Very high quality of writing
• But he may not be especially trustworthy

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VENERABLE BEDE

• One of the most learned men of the early Middle
  Ages
• Wrote An Ecclesiastical History of the English
  People
• First reliable description of early Britain
• Had a high regard for valid sources

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OTTO OF FRESING

• Nephew of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
• Became bishop of Salzburg
• Wrote The Deeds of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
• Laudatory political biography of his uncle
• Wrote Chronicle or History of Two Cities
• Universal history modeled on work of St.
  Augustine

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MATTHEW PARIS

• An English monk of 13th century
• Wrote Great Chronicle
• Began with an edited version of Flowers of
  History
• Written earlier by Roger of Wendover
• Rest of book described events in England and
  elsewhere after 1236
• Including Western Europe, the Papal States, the
  Byzantine Empire, the Holy Land, and Russia
• Paid special attention to politics and
  international intrigue

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JEAN FROISSART

• Wrote Chronicles
• 14th century
• Wrote with a self-conscious detachment and tried
  to tell the truth
• Assumed God played a role in human affairs but
  worked hard to obtain accurate information

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SUMMARY

• Medieval historians modified the Greek approach
  by putting the supernatural back into history
• By the 14th century, such writings became
  formalistic and repetitive
• Medieval chroniclers lacked the intellectual and
  methodological means to employ original sources
  and recover their meaning and significance.
• They instead depended on the veracity of their
  predecessors