History writing has evolved much over time with the contributions of many people. In the modern sense, it can be traced back to ancient Greece and China, where historians Herodotus and Sima Qian began keeping records of human existence. Although they were not literally the first people to write history, together they are named the first great historians of the Western world and the East because of their individual innovations and extensive work that has long affected history writing up until this day. There is much to debate when it comes to the greatness of these ancient historians, and although some believe they were both important and successful in what their works, The Histories and The Records of a Historian, accomplished, others believe the total opposite. Thomas R. Martin, the author of Herodotus and Sima Qian: The First Great Historians of Greece and China, argues that the two men were indeed vital to the progression of history writing over time. In my opinion, Herodotus and Sima Qian made huge advancements in history writing, and their titles as the first great historians of the Western world and the East are very fitting.
Martin makes it clear that the importance of analyzing the greatness of Herodotus and Sima Qian is based on the fact that neither one of these historians had any idea about the other ones work, but developed their history in similar ways. Common insights and themes emerged in both of their styles of history writing. It’s also important to understand their personal accomplishments and the differences in their works as well to show what individually makes them great. Herodotus and Sima Qian lived during vastly different historical time periods, but Martin explains that the nature of their history wri...
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...stions about the restrictions of women’s roles in Chinese society.
Herodotus and Sima Qian were undoubtedly great historians due to their substantial advancements in history writing. Thomas R. Martin concludes that the link between Herodotus and Sima Qian is their common goal to create history as a guide to the past, and that the history they create is left up to individual interpretation. Although the time period, backgrounds, and situations between the two historians were vastly different, comparing both of their work is an opportunity to view the writing of history across cultures and around the world. Their ability to write intricate and lengthy histories during the time in which they lived and under the circumstances they faced make them great historians. The way they composed their material and shared it with the world should be recognized and accounted for.
When I was in High School, my history teacher once said to me, “history is written by the victors.” In other words, those who win, decide how they will be remembered. For instance, the history of the United States and their interactions with Native Americans. Old (bias) history textbooks will tell us you how the white European “discovered” America and saved the native “savage” from himself or herself. However, this old way of thinking, only allows us one perspective. We never hear the Native Americans’ point of view. This is why historians, and the work they do, are so important to our society. Historians depend on evidence to develop a narrative and arguments about the past. Yet the arguments that they develop are strictly based on the primary
It is in this instance, and others like it that we see another example of the importance of historicity. By studying these works, we can gain insight into ancient cultures, and even hypothesize about the past. If a work is highly historically accurate in other respects, it might lead one to believe that the other accounts in the work are accurate. Through this method, we may discover some of history through works of literature, history that records may not contain. Yet through this method we can only speculate, we cannot be certain of the accuracy of our results.
In the text Columbus the Indians and human progress Zinn has put forward clearly the journey of Columbus along the islands in search of gold and treasures. Throughout the text zinn has argued how the history is written and how historians have distorted it. Zinn has plainly discussed Columbus reactions towards the people he met on the islands. Also, he has tried to show the pictures of history writing. Zinn clears that history has been written only from the prospective of leaders, warriors and elites, by showing their achievements and struggle. But it is not written from the view of suppress and powerless people that become the victim of the leading historians. Such that historians have showed a bias work. The historians only write history in their prospective where it sounds and seems good for them, but that cannot be accepted by other people in the world. He has specified that, writers have written half truth of history and gone quickly over the dark truth of historians in terms of atrocities made by them on the weak people. Zinn has said that, historians put much attention on thei...
Herodotus was an interesting historian. His way of displaying a historical event such as the Persian War is different from how I expect a modern day historian to write it. He does not try to focus only on the Persian war but he goes into detail some times of the lineage of the rulers of the city-states even though that serves little relevance to the actual war. The accounts of history I am used to reading are more focused on the bigger issue and the historians do not deviate on long trains of side thoughts such as Herodotus does. Herodotus style of writing had me confused because he often would start on one topic and in the next couple of sentences move on to another topic before coming back to his main point about a paragraph down. I had to
Many people consider him the father of history; others prefer to call him the father of lies. Whatever may be your perception of Herodotus’ work, the truth is that Herodotus began a new manner of writing history in which human psychology takes a fundamental place. He was the first historian who really considered the reasons why things happen and did not limit his narrative to just facts. His book The Histories evidences all the distinctive features that he employs through his description of facts as well as the intrinsic analysis that he includes to his storyline about controversial topics like the definition of what heroes really are. Indeed, The Histories’ book 7 reveals Herodotus’ astonishing and unique view of heroism. During his description of the facts that took place during the war between Persians and Greeks, Herodotus presents the qualities and attributes which, for his understanding, make a real hero. In his book, Herodotus talks about Xerxes, the king of the Persians who led the offense against the Greeks, and Leonidas, the king of the Spartans who fought with honor and bravery against the Persians. According to Herodotus, although Xerxes won the war with big advantage, Leonidas was the real hero of the story because he confronted the enemy with great passion, humility, strength, and bravery.
A hero in literature, as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica, is the main character of a literary work that is celebrated through ancient legends of a society. Most heroes, especially of ancient lore, have extreme and unlimited strength, skill in battle, and courage, while partaking in war or dangerous adventures regularly. They are always studied in literature, which makes them timeless, because they can help us learn different messages about our actions even in today’s world. In comparison it is concluded that even though Achilles and Sir Gawain were created at different time periods they still have similarities and both show us today how society was in the past. These heroes represent more than just a work of literature, but the value systems of entire societies, which is invaluable knowledge for
Herodotus was a true historian. He observed and documented as many cultures, and traditions that he could throughout his life. He also gathered information about science and religion, especially the Egyptians and the Persian Empire; although he described them as peculiar he also credited them as a prideful civilization that refuse...
In 1403, Yongle planned construction of a fleet to deepen their knowledge of the world. The governance of the fleet was given to his good friend Zheng He. Two years later, sixty boat had been built. The final armada had roughly 300 boats.
Heroes have formed an important part of literature since the ancient and medieval times. They represent the dominant values and ideals in a culture that only a few human beings could live up to. While the cultures understood the value of abiding by their virtues and ideals, they were also inherently aware of the challenges and strength of character required to accomplish such a task. Heroes were regarded as the embodiment of this struggle and a true reflection of people who had given it all to achieve the unattainable. In ancient and medieval epics, heroes played the same role of representing the dominant values and beliefs of a culture. As this values and beliefs changed, the character of heroes in the story also changed to embrace the new perspective. Sometimes, the characters represented ideals shared by
While preparing to write this paper, I thought it would be great just to focus on the heroes of these two great epics many differences. Although during the course of my research I found that they also had just as many similarities. In this paper I will focus on the two characters by expressing their differences, as well as their similarities, and I will also give a bit of history about our two heroes.
The two Greeks writing primarily about Greece, Herodotus and Thucydides, were predominantly writers that concerned themselves mostly with wars and the data surrounding Greek and the combatant’s life during the time of war. Herodotus is considered the father of history, while Thucydides is in turn considered to have modified his method of writing to more exacting standards of accuracy. Herodotus, from Halicarnussus (a city in now-modern Turkey, then a city in the Greek province of Caria), wrote about the origins and customs of people, towns, regions, constitutions, politics of Egypt, Arabia and India, Scythia, Libya, and Thrace (Breisach 2007). His writing style is best described as a self-styled historian, convinced of his self-importance and knowledge, sure to insert his personal viewpoint wherever he deemed it necessary so as to impar...
For the social and literary historian it provides over a hundred year record of the relationship between literature and history.
Greek mythology is a beloved part of literature that has given humans thousands of stories to tell. From stories about deadly quests, powerful deities, to the even more famed aspect of Greek Mythology, its epic heroes. One of the many authors who took inspiration from Greek Mythology, and will serve as reference for this paper, is Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. 1988. The most well known epic heroes from Greek Mythology which Edith Hamilton writes about in her book are Hercules, Jason, Perseus, and Theseus, but the debate lies in which of these heroes is the best. To which the answer is, Theseus is the better epic hero because he possessed superior strength, intelligence, and courage, he was the most just from all other heroes,
“History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books-books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, 'What is history, but a fable agreed upon?” -Dan Brown.
History is shaped by the historian’s perspective on different events and oftentimes is written to relay various messages to those in which the reading aims at reaching. Herodotus is a prime example of a historian passing on important events in Greece’s history with the purpose of spreading the concept of the good values the people of Greece should be conducting themselves with. Herodotus was referred to by many historians as the “father of history” and often wrote his records based off of the stories that he heard in his travels. Because Herodotus was known to ramble in his wri...