Herodotus and Greek Historiography

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the origin of history as a form of writing and a discipline beginning with the Greeks. The paper points out that, before the first Greek historical writers, stories of great battles and historical events were certainly told, often in fanciful form, in the historical epics attributed to Homer. History was told as part of an oral tradition, not written down until long after the epic poems were shaped and told by the poet and those who followed him. The paper focuses particularly on Herodotus, considered to be one of the first to record western history in writing. The paper concludes by asserting that his writings had much influence on his successors.

From the Paper:

"Herodotus has been called the father of history, and Thucydides would follow his lead. In the Greek world into which Herodotus was born, prose writing was becoming more and more common for technical works on such subjects as philosophy, law and politics, and science and technology. The Greeks were interested in their past, but what passed for history was really a stock of myths and legends which were thought to be true. The interest was not historical in the sense we use the term, as an inquiry into the facts of such events as the Trojan War or any other occurrence or period. It was something quite different from that, a form of Hellenic or regional consciousness and pride and a search for community solidarity. The past could reinforce these social elements, and the old tales could in fact be revised when needed by new historical developments or political and social changes."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Breisach, Ernst. Historiography: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
• Collingwood, R.G. The Idea of History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1946.
• Finley, M.I. The Ancient Greeks. London: Penguin Books, 1977.
• Fornara, Charles W. Herodotus: An Interpretative Essay. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.
• Van Seters, John. In Search of History: Historiography in the Ancient World and the Origins of Biblical History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.

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