Thucydides and the Perfection of Historical Writing

 

Thucydides (460-400 BCE) was the greatest historian of ancient Greece. He was an Athenian and served as a general during the Peloponnesian War, a conflict between Athens and Sparta that lasted for about thirty years. After his failure as a general, Thucydides was exiled and spent several years in exile. His work reflects his rich experience in a variety of ways.

History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides was the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which records the struggle between Athens and Sparta in the 5th century BC. His work was the first recorded political and moral analysis of a nation’s war policies. The book was later divided into eight books according to the narration of the events.

Sources and Method

Thucydides used oral evidence, visual testimony, archaeological or material remains, inscriptions, and earlier accounts by Herodotus and Homer as his sources. Apart from these, he used speeches of his contemporaries like the originals in his work. Further, as a military general, he was able to collect all the primary military documents. This helped him to write an authentic history of the war.

Thucydides confined himself to relating events that he was able to observe from beginning to end during his lifetime. He used critical analysis of the sources to separate truth from fiction. He claims that he has achieved such accuracy because he includes facts ‘only after investigating with the greatest possible accuracy each detail’. He also framed his conclusions after analysing the events. He denied rumours, traditions, and myths in his accounts. He even tried to make certain generalisations. He avoided the storytelling method of Herodotus.

Merits of his work

ü  Thucydides used an analytical method to reach possible objectivity.

ü  He kept a strict chronological scheme and tried to present a truthful description.

ü  Thucydides gives priority to primary documents and frames possible conclusions and generalisations.

ü  Thucydides was not only concerned with individuals but also with the actions, sufferings, and the characters of states.

ü He also studied the technical aspects of war. He detailed the strategies of war, the equipment, and naval warfare.

Conclusion

Thucydides brought history to its full perfection. He pioneered the scientific method in historical writing with the strict evaluation of sources. R.G. Collingwood considered him the “Father of scientific history”. It can be said that Thucydides with Herodotus founded the writing of history.

Herodotus and the Beginning of Historical Inquiry

Herodotus, the father of history, probably lived between c. 484-425 BCE. He was born in Halicarnassus, a Greek colony in Asia Minor. He travelled widely, through the regions of West Asia, including Palestine and Babylon, North Africa, especially Egypt, through several islands in the Mediterranean Sea, and mainland Greece. These travels helped him to personally observe the living conditions of various regions.

The Book Histories

Herodotus wrote the book Histories. The book begins with the opening sentence: “Herodotus of Halicarnassus here displays his inquiries”. Thereby he set the first rule for historians – to inquire. The subject matter of his book is the wars between the Greeks and Persians (Greco-Persian Wars). Herodotus dedicated this book to Clio, the muse of History. Herodotus starts his work by saying that he has two purposes for writing his Histories. The first is “to preserve the memory of Greeks and barbarians in their struggles”. The second is "to give the cause of their fighting one another." By this he set ‘Why’ as the fundamental question of inquiry for every historian. The book Histories is later divided into nine books for further study and analysis.

§  Books I–V describes the background of the Greco-Persian Wars;

§  Books VI-IX contains the history of the wars.

Herodotus’s History has two parts. The first part is a systematic narrative of the war with its preliminaries. The second part gives the story of the growth and organization of the Persian Empire. It also describes its geography, social structure, and history.

Sources and Method of Narration

Herodotus’s wide travels helped him to collect a variety of sources. He used the following sources to write his Histories.

ü  Opsis:  Eye witness accounts

ü  Akoe: Hearsay

ü  Talegomena: Tradition

Herodotus in his book declared “I wrote what I saw and what I heard”. This method is known as ‘autopsy’ meaning seeing for oneself. The majority of his work was eyewitness observations. In his work, he included whatever he heard. He also used other sources of information, derived from tradition, religious centres, chronicles, and interviews. Herodotus is a remarkable storyteller. He used the storytelling method with dialogues and speeches to narrate his history.

Merit as a Historian

Herodotus wrote military history. He narrated the war between Greece and Persia and also traced the causes and results. He traced war strategies, planning, organization, and provided different views on the war. He also traced the establishment of the Persian Empire and its various aspects of life. He wrote, “Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.”

Demerits of his Work

Herodotus was blamed for subjectivity and mythical presentation. In narrating the events of the war, he favoured the Greeks against the Persians. Occasionally, he mixed folk traditions with his narrations. He narrated fanciful stories about the war. He accepted whatever he heard as truth without any kind of analysis. He was not bothered about the chronology of events.

Conclusion

Herodotus inaugurated historical tradition and influenced the later historians of his period. He pioneered historical inquiry and traced the causes. Accepting his merit as a historian, Cicero called him the “Father of History”.