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FOREIGN HISTORIANS
&
THEIR
CONTRIBUTIONS
HERODOTUS
Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born
in Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire (modern-day
Bodrum, Turkey) and lived in the fifth century, a
contemporary of Thucydides, Socrates, and Euripides. He
is often referred to as “The Father of History”, a title first
conferred by Cicero; he was the first historian known to
have broken from Homeric tradition to treat historical
subjects as a method of investigation—specifically, by
collecting his materials systematically and critically, and then
arranging them into a historiographic narrative. He wrote
the Histories that established Western historiography.
The Histories is the only work which he is
known to have produced, a record of his “inquiry”
(ἱστορία historía) on the origins of the Greco-Persian
Wars; it primarily deals with the lives
of Croesus, Cyrus, Cambyses, Smerdis, Darius,
and Xerxes and the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae,
Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale; however, its
many cultural, ethnographical,
geographical, historiographical, and other degressions
form a defining and essential part of the Histories and
contain a wealth of information.
Some of his stories are fanciful
and others inaccurate; yet he states
that he is reporting only what he was
told; a sizable portion of the
information he provided was later
confirmed by historians and
archaeologists. Despite Herodotus'
historical significance, little is known
of his personal life.
THUCYDIDES
Thucydides (460 – c. 400 BC) was
an Athenian historian and general. His History of
the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century
BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year
411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the “father
of scientific history" by those who accept his
claims to have applied strict standards of
evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and
effect, without reference to intervention by the
gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work.
He has also been called the “father of the school
of political realism”, which views the political
behavior of individuals and the subsequent
outcomes of relations between states as ultimately
mediated by and constructed upon the emotions
of fear and self-interest. His text is still studied at
both universities and military colleges
worldwide. The Melian dialogue is regarded as a
seminal work of international relations theory, while
his version of Pericles' Funeral Oration is widely
studied in political theory, history, and classical
studies.
More generally, Thucydides
showed an interest in developing
an understanding of human nature
to explain behaviour in such crises
as plague, massacres, as in that of
the Melians, and civil war.
PTOLEMY
Ptolemy was a Greek writer, known as
a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrol
oger, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek
Anthology.
He wrote several scientific treatises, three of
which were of importance to
later Byzantine, Islamic and European science. The
first is the astronomical treatise now known as
the Almagest, although it was originally entitled
the Mathematical Treatise and then known as
the Great Treatise.
The second is the Geography, which is a
thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge
of the Greco-Roman world.
The third is the astrological treatise in which
he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to
the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day. This is
sometimes known as the Apotelesmatika but more
commonly known as the Tetrabiblos from the Greek
meaning "Four Books" or by the
Latin Quadripartitum.
He lived in the city of Alexandria in
the Roman province of Egypt, wrote in Koine Greek,
and held Roman citizenship. Beyond that, few reliable
details of his life are known. His birthplace has been
given as Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid in an
uncorroborated statement by the 14th-century
astronomer Theodore Meliteniotes. This is a very late
attestation, however, and there is no other reason to
suppose that he ever lived elsewhere than
Alexandria, where he died around AD 168.
Gaius Julius Caesar mostly
known as Julius Caesar was
a Roman politician, general, and
notable author of Latin prose. He
played a critical role in the events that
led to the demise of the Roman
Republic and the rise of the Roman
Empire.
In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed a political
alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years.
Their attempts to amass power as Populares were
opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate,
among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support
of Cicero. Caesar's victories in the Gallic Wars, completed
by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English
Channel and the Rhine. Caesar became the first Roman
general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when
he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the
Channel to invade Britain.
These achievements granted him unmatched military
power and threatened to eclipse the standing of
Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate
after the death of Crassus in 53 BC. With the Gallic
Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step
down from his military command and return to
Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked
his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with
the 13th Legion, leaving his province and illegally
entering Roman Italy under arms. Civil war resulted,
and Caesar's victory in the war put him in an
unrivalled position of power and influence.
After assuming control of government, Caesar began a
programme of social and governmental reforms, including the
creation of the Julian calendar. He centralised the bureaucracy of the
Republic and was eventually proclaimed "dictator in perpetuity",
giving him additional authority. But the underlying political conflicts
had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March (15 March)
44 BC, Caesar was assassinated by a group of rebellious senators led
by Marcus Junius Brutus. A new series of civil wars broke out, and
the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully
restored. Caesar's adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus,
rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the civil war.
Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman
Empire began.
Much of Caesar's life is known from his
own accounts of his military campaigns, and
from other contemporary sources, mainly the
letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical
writings of Sallust. The later biographies of
Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major
sources. Caesar is considered by many historians
to be one of the greatest military commanders in
history.
XENOPHON
Xenophon of Athens (430–354 BC) was an ancient
Greek philosopher, historian, soldier and mercenary, and a
student of Socrates. As a historian, Xenophon is known for
recording the history of his contemporary time, the late-5th
and early-4th centuries BC, such as the Hellenica, about the
final seven years and the aftermath of the Peloponnesian
War (431–404 BC); as such, the Hellenica is a thematic
continuation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian
War. As a mercenary soldier of the Ten Thousand, he
participated in the failed campaign of Cyrus the Younger, to
claim the Persian throne from his brother Artaxerxes II of
Persia, and recounts the events in Anabasis (An Ascent), his
most notable history.
Despite being an Athenian citizen, born to
Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, Xenophon
was also associated with city-state of Sparta, the
traditional enemy of Athens. As such, his pro-
oligarchic politics, military service under Spartan
generals, in the Persian campaign and elsewhere,
and his friendship with King Agesilaus II endeared
Xenophon to the Spartans; thus, some of his works
have an admiring pro–Spartan bias, especially the
royal biography Agesilaus and the Constitution of
the Spartans.
Along with Plato (427–347 BC), Xenophon
of Athens is an authority on Socrates, about whom
he wrote the dialogue Apology of Socrates to the
Jury, which recounts the Trial of Socrates (399 BC).
The works of Xenophon are in several genres, and
are written in plain-language Attic Greek, for which
reason they serve as translation exercises for
contemporary students of the Ancient
Greek language. In the Lives and Opinions of
Eminent Philosophers, Diogenes Laërtius said that,
as a writer, Xenophon of Athens was known as the
“Attic Muse”, for the sweetness of his diction.
Prepared by: Teacher Heidi
History 4
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