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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