What is An Historian?
Herodotus – Father of History
On My Own
With A Partner
As A Class
Who is Herodotus?
What did he do?
Why is that important?
Methodology of an Historian
How did they each study history?
What did they examine?
Where did they get their information?
How would they handle it if information conflicted?
Herodotus
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Thucydides
8-Feb-16
Which Version is Better?
Herodotus:
How were the pyramids built?
Draw an image
Diodorus Siculus:
How were the pyramids built?
Draw an image
Professor Redford:
How were the pyramids built?
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Draw an image
8-Feb-16
Herodotus – Father of History
Ἡροδότου Ἁλικαρνησσέος ἱστορίης ἀπόδεξις ἥδε, ὡς μήτε τὰ γενόμενα ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τῷ χρόνῳ
ἐξίτηλα γένηται, μήτε ἔργα μεγάλα τε καὶ θωμαστά, τὰ μὲν Ἕλλησι, τὰ δὲ βαρβάροισι
ἀποδεχθέντα, ἀκλεᾶ γένηται, τὰ τε ἄλλα καὶ δι' ἣν αἰτίην ἐπολέμησαν ἀλλήλοισι.
Translation:
Herodotus of Halicarnassus, his Researches are here set down to preserve the memory of the past
by putting on record the astonishing achievements both of our own and of other peoples; and
more particularly, to show how they came into conflict.
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Methodology of an Historian
Herodotus
The Greek writer Herodotus is considered the
world's first historian, "the father of history."
Others have called him "the father of lies."
Herodotus explored centuries of contacts
between the ancient Greeks and the Persian
Empire, culminating in the Persian Wars of the
early fifth century B.C.
In dramatic land and sea battles, the Greeks
managed to repel invaders from the much
larger, richer, and more powerful Persian
Empire to the east. Later historians have said
these Greek victories saved Western
Civilization.
To compile his history, Herodotus relied on oral
accounts and he included gossip, myths, and
rumors. Sometimes he would provide conflicting
accounts of events and invite the reader to
decide which to believe.
Herodotus wrote, "No one is so foolish as to
prefer war to peace: in peace children bury their
fathers, while in war fathers bury their children."
Historians are undocumented elsewhere in the
world until the first century B.C. in China.
_____________________
© 2001 - 2011 michael g. maxwell - maxwell learning l.l.c.
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Thucydides
The Greek writer Thucydides (thoo-SID-uhdees) is credited with writing the first "scientific"
history. Gods and legends played no role in his
history of the Pellopenesian War between
Athens and Sparta, which took place in the late
fifth century B.C. After 27 years of conflict,
Sparta won and Athens went into decline.
Thucydides wrote only about events that
occurred during his lifetime that he could verify
through examination of written records and
eyewitness accounts. He strived for complete
objectivity, and in this way he pioneered the
historical method used by historians today.
Thucydides wrote, "So adverse to taking pains
are most men in the search for the truth, and so
prone are they to turn to what lies readily at
hand." He said truth could be distinguished from
fiction "only after investigating with the greatest
possible accuracy each detail."
He tried not only to recount events, but to make
sense of them. Thucydides records one of his
figures as observing that men go to war out of
"honor, fear, and interest," a formulation not
improved upon in subsequent centuries.
He determined that war could be avoided if
humans would base their choices on reason
rather than force. According to Thucydides, it
was because the Athenians violated this
principle that they eventually suffered defeat.
8-Feb-16
Which Version is Better?
Herodotus explains how the pyramids were built:
This pyramid was made like stairs, which some call steps and others, tiers. When this, its first
form, was completed, the workmen used short wooden logs as levers to raise the rest of the
stones; they heaved up the blocks from the ground onto the first tier of steps; when the stone had
been raised, it was set on another lever that stood on the first tier, and the lever again used to lift
it from this tier to the next. It may be that there was a new lever on each tier of steps, or perhaps
there was only one lever, quite portable, which they carried up to each tier in turn; I leave this
uncertain, as both possibilities were mentioned. But this is certain, that the upper part of the
pyramid was finished off first, then the next below it, and last of all the base and the lowest part.
Hundreds of years later Diodorus Siculus wrote this account of how the pyramids were
built:
And 'tis said the stone was transported a great distance from Arabia, and that the edifices were
raised by means of earthen ramps, since machines for lifting had not yet been invented in those
days; and most surprising it is, that although such large structures were raised in an area
surrounded by sand, no trace remains of either ramps or the dressing of the stones, so that it
seems not the result of the patient labor of men, but rather as if the whole complex were set down
entire upon the surrounding sand by some god. Now Egyptians try to make a marvel of these
things, alleging that the ramps were made of salt and natron and that, when the river was turned
against them, it melted them clean away and obliterated their every trace without the use of
human labor. But in truth, it most certainly was not done this way! Rather, the same multitude of
workmen who raised the mounds returned the entire mass again to its original place; for they say
that three hundred and sixty thousand men were constantly employed in the prosecution of their
work, yet the entire edifice was hardly finished at the end of twenty years.
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How Were The Egyptian Pyramids Built?
ScienceDaily (Mar. 28, 2008)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328104302.htm
The ancient Egyptians probably chose that distinctive form for their pharaohs' tombs because of their
solar religion, explained Donald Redford, professor of Classics and ancient Mediterranean studies at
Penn State. The Egyptian sun god Ra, considered the father of all pharaohs, was said to have created
himself from a pyramid-shaped mound of earth before creating all other gods. The pyramid's shape is
thought to have symbolized the sun's rays.
…
Said Redford, the image most people have of slaves being forced to build the pyramids against their will
is incorrect. "The concept of slavery is a very complicated problem in ancient Egypt," he noted, "because
the legal aspects of indentured servitude and slavery were very complicated." The peasants who worked
on the pyramids were given tax breaks and were taken to 'pyramid cities' where they were given shelter,
food and clothing, he noted.
…
Teams of oxen or manpower were used to drag the stones on a prepared slipway that was lubricated with
oil. Said Redford, a scene from a 19th century B.C. tomb in Middle Egypt depicts "an alabaster statue 20
feet high pulled by 173 men on four ropes with a man lubricating the slipway as the pulling went on."
Once the stones were at the construction site, ramps were built to get them into place on the pyramid,
said Redford. These ramps were made of mud brick and coated with chips of plaster to harden the
surface. "If they consistently raised the ramp course by course as the teams dragged their blocks up, they
could have gotten them into place fairly easily," he noted. At least one such ramp still exists, he said.
When answering to skepticism about how such heavy stones could have been moved without machinery,
Redford says, "I usually show the skeptic a picture of 20 of my workers at an archaeological dig site
pulling up a two-and-a-half ton granite block." He added, "I know it's possible because I was on the ropes
too."
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