Document analysis is a very important method in historical interpretation. In this paper I will analyze four readings and discuss the motivation, intent, and purpose of each document within a specific historical context while focusing on author bias as well as the value of the document itself. The four historical documents that will be analyzed are as followed; “Perpetua’s Diary”, “Procopius’ Secret History”, “The Women from the Suras”, and “Pact of Kumar”. The first document, “Perpetua’s Diary”, is a section from a prison diary kept by a young woman, Vibia Perpetua, martyred in Carthage around the time of 202 or 203 CE. Being a diary entry and written in first person, the author of this document was Perpetua herself. She was a young woman,
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The document was a chronicle of events written by Procopius, a historian close Justinian the Emperor of Byzantium, he worked for him and was also an official in his court. Procopius wrote the history of Justinian’s reign but in a rather harsh way. This account was written as a, like the title states, “secret history”, and was written for posterity so that everyone will know the ‘real’ account of his reign; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Through Procopius’ viewpoint, Justinian was never truthful, a treacherous enemy, hypocritical faithless, and nothing more than average (Procopius’ Secret History”). Whereas Procopius, who comes from a rich family, is a Roman aristocrat and feels as if he is higher class than Justinian. Although there is clear author bias and the reader is only getting the viewpoint of Justinian through a workers eyes, the pros of analyzing and reading documents such as this one can help us understand the covered lies about historic emperors and leaders. We mainly get the positives about leaders but Procopius was very truthful in his words and went on to discuss the downfalls of Justinian’s rule. He discusses howJustinian was the cause of poverty, how he abolished religious beliefs and replaced them with an orthodox dogma, executed if people did not convert, and so on (“Procopius’ Secret History”). This document helps the reader analyze and …show more content…
When analyzing, I took into account the value behind each document and how it contributes to our knowledge of the world at the time it was written. By doing so, I was able to understand more clearly why these events happened and the purpose for passing the information down to other generations and releasing it to the public (in reference to the diary document and the secret history account). By analyzing these documents I was able to connect ways in which our society and culture still act in such fashions and are influenced by similar factors and also how they differs from those expressed in the
The document was a chronicle of events written by Procopius, a historian close Justinian the Emperor of Byzantium, he worked for him and was also an official in his court. Procopius wrote the history of Justinian’s reign but in a rather harsh way. This account was written as a, like the title states, “secret history”, and was written for posterity so that everyone will know the ‘real’ account of his reign; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Through Procopius’ viewpoint, Justinian was never truthful, a treacherous enemy, hypocritical faithless, and nothing more than average (Procopius’ Secret History”). Whereas Procopius, who comes from a rich family, is a Roman aristocrat and feels as if he is higher class than Justinian. Although there is clear author bias and the reader is only getting the viewpoint of Justinian through a workers eyes, the pros of analyzing and reading documents such as this one can help us understand the covered lies about historic emperors and leaders. We mainly get the positives about leaders but Procopius was very truthful in his words and went on to discuss the downfalls of Justinian’s rule. He discusses howJustinian was the cause of poverty, how he abolished religious beliefs and replaced them with an orthodox dogma, executed if people did not convert, and so on (“Procopius’ Secret History”). This document helps the reader analyze and …show more content…
When analyzing, I took into account the value behind each document and how it contributes to our knowledge of the world at the time it was written. By doing so, I was able to understand more clearly why these events happened and the purpose for passing the information down to other generations and releasing it to the public (in reference to the diary document and the secret history account). By analyzing these documents I was able to connect ways in which our society and culture still act in such fashions and are influenced by similar factors and also how they differs from those expressed in the