HE: Historiography Study – Flashcards
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What can't you do to ancient historians?
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You cannot apply 20th century criteria to the first historians
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What is Herodotus considered to be?
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"The father of history" (cicero) "father of lies" (plutarch)
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What is Thucydides considered to be?
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The father of scientific history
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What are the 6 things to assess historians by?
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Identify Context Purpose Type of history Methodology Objectivity
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Why did Herodotus do it?
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"To preserve the memory of the past"
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How was Herodotus' histories spread?
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Intended to be read aloud for an audience
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How did Herodotus get his information?
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Observations, inquiries, oral histories due to lack of other types
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What view did Herodotus have?
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He was Athenocentric,but gave some credit to Sparta
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How did Thucydides gather his information?
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Eyewitnesses, personal observations
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What is the one bad thing about Thucydides information?
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He constructed and added speeches which he had heard, which he thought the situation demanded
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What did Thucydides cover?
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The Peloponnesian War
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Why did Thucydides write history?
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He thought that the Peloponnesian War was the most important war in history Posterity To Teach lessons
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Why is Thucydides called the first scientific historian?
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Believed in a balanced view and recorded the facts
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What is Historiography a matter of?
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Perspective
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What prior works guided Herodotus?
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only epic poetry; Homer
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How does Herodotus acknowledge his oral sources?
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Names them precisely
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How did Herodotus sort through his information?
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cross referenced accounts when faced with info he doubted; thus coming to his own conclusions; evidence of distortion
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Herodotus and literary techniques?
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Used them to convey his personal opinion
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Herodotus and the speeches?
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The speeches in his work are made up because he had no way of recording them, word for word
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How did Herodotus make his work suit an audience?
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Exploited the techniques of oral delivery to keep an audience interested
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Sum up 'Herodotus':A History"
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A unified narrative w/ Persian Wars as his central theme
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Herodotus and causes?
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Divine intervention; but was maybe just appealing to his audiences (how could it be enjoyed in it's context?)
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What did Herodotus explore in his work?
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customs, manners, myths, geography
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Warren on Herodotus?
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doesn't think he was trying to teach in his work
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Hartog on Herodotus?
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"even though he is the father of history, he is not really a historian"
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Thucydides's sources?
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Oral evidence. Found, assessed, compared.
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Thucydides's propose of history?
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wanted to tell the truth about PP war reveal things about human nature, that people in power should know
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Momigliano on Thucydides purpose?
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"he wasn't attempting to list, but to enter the mind of his character and discuss his feelings and behaviour"
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Thucydides contribution to historiography?
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tight, direct, based on eyewitness, political/military narrative. influences renaissance writers
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Purpose of christian history?
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To convert pagans. Propagandist
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Venerable Bede's context?
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200 years after Rome. Anglo-Saxon christian. Teacher. Propagandist.
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Venerable Bede's awesomness?
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First consistent attempt to date events using the incarnation of Christ as focal point
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Venerable Bede's sources?
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Cites them, using a wide range. Frequent divine causation/miracles. Access to monastery libraries
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Venerable Bede's evidence?
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manipulated it to prove a point; i.e. on a list of kings, he missed out two pagan one's in purpose
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Venerable Bede's bias?
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Propagandist. Bias to Bernicia; showed patriotism towards it
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Historians and the past?
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they draw a picture, which is close but can never be the ultimate truth
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Historians and objectivity?
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Herodotus "My history"
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Herodotus's years?
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5th Century
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The influence of epics on Herodotus?
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ring composition
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Thucydides's speechs?
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"whatever seemed appropriated to me for each spark to say in the particular circumstances"
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Thucydides's years?
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Also 5th century
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What does Thucydides characterise history as?
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the realm of politics and war
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Herodotus' context?
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Wrote just after PP war Greece was Athens and Sparta
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Herodotus' credentials?
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exiled from Halicarnassus for plotting against Persian rule
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Herodotus' personal beliefs?
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All myths and legends based in reality Explained some things through divine intervention
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Herodotus' philosophy on history?
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to record great dead for future generations explain events through analysis of personal relationships; how people came into conflict
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Herodotus' methodologies?
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Travelled and personally collected data through interviews Questioned sources Offered myth, legend and fact
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Herodotus' bias?
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concentrated on main characters, their movies and actions wrote for a greek audience
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Mark Twain on history?
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"the very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice"
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What was Bede?
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A hagiographer
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When did Bede work?
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7th-8th century England
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Bede's context?
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violent, disunited, lawless England. It used to be under Roman rule, but by the end of the century Roman rule had been consolidated
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Bede's work's title?
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Ecclesiastical History
