Greek Historiography

• Ancient Greece is considered the cradle of historiography, as the concept of history itself is of Greek origin.
• Clio, one of the Muses in Greek mythology, was the Muse of History.
• The geographical location, the genius of the people, and their trade contact with the outside world played a significant role in the development of historical writing.
• The kaleidoscopic changes in the political system and the evolving lifestyles of the people further contributed to the foundation of Greek historiography.
• Ionia, a Greek trade center in the Mediterranean, is recognized as the birthplace of Greek history.

Homer

• The religious imagination of Greece produced a rich and diverse mythology, where every object or quality was personified as a deity.
• These myths became integral to the faith, philosophy, literature, and history of early Greeks.
• Up to 600 B.C., most Greek literature was poetic, transmitted through verse, conveying the lore, glory, and traditions of the race.
• Wandering bards recited the heroic deeds of gods and men in epic measures.
• Homer, the “blind bard,” was the oldest poet of the 9th century B.C. and is known for his immortal epics: Iliad and Odyssey.
• Homer is credited with laying the foundation of historical writing in poetic form.
• In Homer’s epics, the gods are portrayed as intervening agents in human affairs, similar to the theocratic histories of India.
• Homer’s epics served as the core of Greek education, influenced dramas, provided a foundation for moral training, and contained a wealth of historical material.
• However, Homer’s epics are not history but rather legends.
• “The work of Homer is not research, it is legend; and to a great extent, it is a theocratic legend.”

Hesiod

• Hesiod was another prominent 9th century B.C. epic poet, second only to Homer in the esteem of classical Greeks.
• Like Homer, Hesiod had a deep interest in the marvels of mythology.
• His Theogony was the genealogy of gods, outlining their origins and family relationships.
• Works and Days dealt with the theology of history, combining elements of mythology and practical life.
• Hesiod aimed to provide a respectable ancestry for the Greek gods, contributing to the development of their names and shapes.
• “Homer and Hesiod… made the gods for the Greeks and gave them their names and shapes.”
• Hesiod sought to systematize the genealogy of the deities, introducing causality into their family structure and establishing a consistent character of action for the gods.
• This effort dealt a significant blow to traditional mythology and opened the door to Greek science.

Dionysius

• Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a historian of the 6th Century B.C..
• His work, Persica, in five volumes, narrated the history of Persia.
• Dionysius defined history as philosophy teaching by examples.
• He was the earliest Greek historian to emphasize the value and function of history.
• Dionysius is credited with laying the true foundation of Greek historical writing.
• Charon, a contemporary of Dionysius, authored two historical works: History of Greece and History of Persia.
• Both Dionysius and Charon wrote narrative history, focusing on storytelling rather than analysis.
• Although they freed history from myths and legends, they were uncritical in their approach and unconcerned with accurately detailing past events.

Hecataeus (6th – 5 th B.C)

• Hecataeus of Miletus was an Ionian historian, geographer, and logographer.
• He was a proud product of the heyday of Miletus and wrote two significant works: Historiai (Inquiries) and Gesperiodos (Circuit of Earth).
• Hecataeus advanced both history and geography through his writings.
• Historiai begins with a skeptical note: “I write what I deem true, for the stories of the Greeks are manifold and seem to be ridiculous.”
• His Gesperiodos divided the known world into two continents, Europe and Asia, and included Egypt in Asia.
• In his Travelers Around the World, Hecataeus described the Persian World.
• He criticized ancient myths in his Book of Local Genealogies.
• Hecataeus boasted to the Egyptian priests that he could trace his ancestry through fifteen generations.
• His famous phrase, “Egypt is the gift of the Nile,” is attributed to him.

Herodotus (C.484-425 B.C)

• The outbreak of the Persian War in the 5th Century B.C. was a turning point in the development of Greek historiography.
• “When Ionia fell, her cities bequeathed their culture to the Athens that had fought to save them and transmitted to it the intellectual leadership of Greece.”
• The Ionians who migrated to Athens during the war brought with them the tradition of chronicle writing and criticism to the mainland.
• The Greco-Persian War, the most momentous conflict in European history, freed Greece from the rule of oriental despots and eastern mysticism.
• The war secured for Greek enterprise full freedom of the sea and stimulated the pride and spirit of the people.
• As a result, Greece entered its Golden Age.
• The new spirit of victory and freedom found expression in historical writing.
• One of the great achievements of Periclean prose was the development of history as a form of writing.
• A new kind of historical writing reached its culmination in the immortal works of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Polybius.

First Sight – Seer

• Herodotus was a native of Halicarnassus, a Dorian settlement in Asia Minor.
• He was born into a family of considerable political clout.
• As a student, Herodotus studied Greek poetry and was impressed by Homer’s epics.
• He was also influenced by the chronicles of Hecataeus.
• At the age of 32, Herodotus became excited due to his uncle’s involvement in political intrigue.
• Along with his uncle, Herodotus embarked upon extensive travels across the known world.
• He was the first to set out to travel as far as man could go, facing difficulties, discomforts, and dangers without hesitation.
• Herodotus’s travels took him as far east as Persia and as far west as Italy.
• He knew the Coast of the Black Sea and had been to Arabia.
• In Egypt, he traveled up the Nile to Assouan.
• He likely visited Thrace, Scythia, Babylon, Cyrene, Libya, Sicily, and possibly even India.
• Herodotus was thus considered the first sight-seer of the world.
• After completing his period of exile, he settled in Athens and lived in the court of Pericles for forty years.
• Later, Herodotus moved to Thurii, an Athenian colony in Italy, where he spent his final years.

His Histories

• Herodotus embarked on his travels with an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
• He observed and enquired with the eye of a scientist and the curiosity of a child.
• Armed with a rich assortment of notes on geography, history, and manners of the people, he meticulously collected information during his far-reaching travels.
• He composed his monumental work, Histories, based on his collected notes.
• The Histories consist of 9 books, each named after one of the 9 Muses, with the first book presided over by Clio, the Muse of History.
• The first five books recount the early conflicts between the East and the West and developments in Greece.
• The sixth book describes the Ionian revolt and the campaign of Marathon.
• The last three books focus on the Graeco-Persian Wars.
• Two-thirds of the work is devoted to his travels and what he learned from them.
• The remaining one-third deals with the events of the Persian Wars.
• His travels provided the stage setting for the central theme of his work.