[Historiography] Useful Quotes and Notes
I'm hoping others can contribute to this, but here's what I've got so far...
Notes:
The closest word for truth that the Greeks had was "alēthēs", which meant ‘not forgetting’ or ‘being in a state of not forgetting.’
Very few historical interpretations were ever recorded during classical times because History was discounted as an intellectual pursuit. (Note that Aristotle and other great minds disagreed with this believing it to be trashy).
Fernand Braudel is one of the key historians who embraced the scientific approach by pioneering economically and geographically focused views.
The Greeks had a different meaning for the words history and truth and the Romans had a very similar understanding of them. Truth is a concept that must be reviewed in context for each of the authors. The modern definition of truth is real, factual, accurate and definite . So for the modern works to be entirely truthful, each work would have to be unopinionated, unassuming and entirely accurate as well as seeing all opinions of history as they happened.
Also note... The Greek's heavy reliance on oral tradition makes it impossible to discriminate between the truth and myth as they were treated as the same thing – the most commonly told or most beautiful one was the most “true” because it wouldn’t be forgotten.
Quotes:
“Ancient writers, like historians ever since, could not tolerate a void [in their history], and they filled it in … ultimately by pure invention.”
-- Sir Moses Finley
"To history has been given the function of judging the past, of instructing men for profit of future years. The present attempt does not aspire to such lofty undertaking. It merely wants to show how, essentially, things happened."
-- Ranke.
And the last few words in German are, “wie es eigentlich gewesen” (how, essentially, things happened.)
-- Leopold von Ranke
“most people will not take trouble in finding out the truth”
-- Thucydides
The historical period “[was] not an artificial creation for the convenience of the historians … [but it had a] separate existence and even a ‘life cycle’ of their own.”
-- Murray
“The future is dark, the present burdensome; only the past, dead and finished, bears contemplation.”
-- Sir Geoffrey Elton
“… those historians who … tried to distinguish their profession by its own series educative purpose, nevertheless used a variety of devices the purpose which can only have been to add literary colour.”
-- Stephen Usher
“Herodotus may have been the father of history … a good many centuries the child he begot was to enjoy but a restricted and intermittent life.”
-- G.R. Elton
My personal conclusion (Note this may well be wrong)
Ultimately the differences between the ancient and modern studies of history are that modern writers attempt (as futile as it may be) to analyze label and organise a world which has long since departed and the ever changing perspectives are directly proportional to the contextual changes.
I'm hoping others can contribute to this, but here's what I've got so far...
Notes:
The closest word for truth that the Greeks had was "alēthēs", which meant ‘not forgetting’ or ‘being in a state of not forgetting.’
Very few historical interpretations were ever recorded during classical times because History was discounted as an intellectual pursuit. (Note that Aristotle and other great minds disagreed with this believing it to be trashy).
Fernand Braudel is one of the key historians who embraced the scientific approach by pioneering economically and geographically focused views.
The Greeks had a different meaning for the words history and truth and the Romans had a very similar understanding of them. Truth is a concept that must be reviewed in context for each of the authors. The modern definition of truth is real, factual, accurate and definite . So for the modern works to be entirely truthful, each work would have to be unopinionated, unassuming and entirely accurate as well as seeing all opinions of history as they happened.
Also note... The Greek's heavy reliance on oral tradition makes it impossible to discriminate between the truth and myth as they were treated as the same thing – the most commonly told or most beautiful one was the most “true” because it wouldn’t be forgotten.
Quotes:
“Ancient writers, like historians ever since, could not tolerate a void [in their history], and they filled it in … ultimately by pure invention.”
-- Sir Moses Finley
"To history has been given the function of judging the past, of instructing men for profit of future years. The present attempt does not aspire to such lofty undertaking. It merely wants to show how, essentially, things happened."
-- Ranke.
And the last few words in German are, “wie es eigentlich gewesen” (how, essentially, things happened.)
-- Leopold von Ranke
“most people will not take trouble in finding out the truth”
-- Thucydides
The historical period “[was] not an artificial creation for the convenience of the historians … [but it had a] separate existence and even a ‘life cycle’ of their own.”
-- Murray
“The future is dark, the present burdensome; only the past, dead and finished, bears contemplation.”
-- Sir Geoffrey Elton
“… those historians who … tried to distinguish their profession by its own series educative purpose, nevertheless used a variety of devices the purpose which can only have been to add literary colour.”
-- Stephen Usher
“Herodotus may have been the father of history … a good many centuries the child he begot was to enjoy but a restricted and intermittent life.”
-- G.R. Elton
My personal conclusion (Note this may well be wrong)
Ultimately the differences between the ancient and modern studies of history are that modern writers attempt (as futile as it may be) to analyze label and organise a world which has long since departed and the ever changing perspectives are directly proportional to the contextual changes.
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