The purpose of ancient Greek History during the time of Herodotus and Thucydides was a period of developing methods for the study of the past, documentation of wars, and creating historical and entertaining stories for the people. It was the time of initial inquiry of developing an understanding of the beginning of the story as well as the methods to gain this information. Roman historians of Polybius, Titus Livius Patavinus, Publius Tacitus, benefited from the previous establishment of historical methods and some generally accepted stories of ancient era. They were advancing historical lessons into philosophical theory, documenting the influences of clashing cultures and the dominance of a new empire.
The Greek historians purpose focused …show more content…
With multiple empires developing, merging of cultures, further advances in the understanding of time they were more able to bridge the gap between history and philosophy. Tacitus clearly links philosophical education and discussion to history in his documentation of regular cycle of constitutional revolutions in histories 6.6-6.9 (3) and again in his reasoning for the fall of the Greek empire in Histories 6.3.(4) Similar to the Greeks before them, the Roman historians also were skewed in objectivity by their love of Rome. As stated by Livy in some of the translation of his Preface of Book I, The history of Rome “now, if any nation ought to be allowed to claim a sacred origin and point back to a divine paternity that nation is Rome”. Although their objectivity was skewed by this admiration, their purpose was to document a more physiological approach as to why Rome was eternal and how to preserve or restore its greatness. The purpose of the history was more of a philosophical explanation of the origins of Rome. With a focus more on the documentation of current political and cultural events there was less pressure, desire, and acceptance too fill in gaps of history during their periods of documentation. All three believed history was an orderly process and disputed albeit at times succumbed to the dramatic Hellenistic history. (5)69. The purpose also differed in that the Roman …show more content…
Despite modern technology we still have areas of the world with limited visual access either due too political alignment, lack of technical advancements, and geographic isolation or any combination of the three. Information collected from third world, communist, or geographically isolated areas is limited and often from sources lacking in objectivity. In these situations we have to use the Greek methodology of the best guess of what happened in order to make current political or military decisions for the purpose of national security, providing aid, as well as committed alignments of our nation. We document wars extensively for the purpose of creating a desired response from the people, which further supports governmental agendas, elections, and the needs of the
The Greek historians purpose focused …show more content…
With multiple empires developing, merging of cultures, further advances in the understanding of time they were more able to bridge the gap between history and philosophy. Tacitus clearly links philosophical education and discussion to history in his documentation of regular cycle of constitutional revolutions in histories 6.6-6.9 (3) and again in his reasoning for the fall of the Greek empire in Histories 6.3.(4) Similar to the Greeks before them, the Roman historians also were skewed in objectivity by their love of Rome. As stated by Livy in some of the translation of his Preface of Book I, The history of Rome “now, if any nation ought to be allowed to claim a sacred origin and point back to a divine paternity that nation is Rome”. Although their objectivity was skewed by this admiration, their purpose was to document a more physiological approach as to why Rome was eternal and how to preserve or restore its greatness. The purpose of the history was more of a philosophical explanation of the origins of Rome. With a focus more on the documentation of current political and cultural events there was less pressure, desire, and acceptance too fill in gaps of history during their periods of documentation. All three believed history was an orderly process and disputed albeit at times succumbed to the dramatic Hellenistic history. (5)69. The purpose also differed in that the Roman …show more content…
Despite modern technology we still have areas of the world with limited visual access either due too political alignment, lack of technical advancements, and geographic isolation or any combination of the three. Information collected from third world, communist, or geographically isolated areas is limited and often from sources lacking in objectivity. In these situations we have to use the Greek methodology of the best guess of what happened in order to make current political or military decisions for the purpose of national security, providing aid, as well as committed alignments of our nation. We document wars extensively for the purpose of creating a desired response from the people, which further supports governmental agendas, elections, and the needs of the