A Brief History of History

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Early Develeopment
Greek History before Herodotus & Thucydides Homers Iliad- mixed with legend & myth credited with authorship of the major Greek epics Iliad and Odyssey, tells part of the story of the Trojan War usually dating Homers poems to the 9th or 8th century BC
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History of History
Homers Iliad isnt a history of the Trojans war a record of dramatic highpoints with fictional emphasis on gods intervention. The work is highly moralistic & offers mythical explanations based on divine action. Ancient Greeks believed that the events Homer related were basically true. They believed that this war took place in the 13th or 12th century BC, and that Troy was located in the vicinity of north-western Turkey.
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The Father of History

Ca. 5 BC Herodotus -father of history He recorded the events in ancient Greece in a way acceptable to the standard of modern historymoving away from myth His works based on his travels in the ancient world. emphasized the rational approach in explaining why the Greeks and Persians fought? What motivates human to take action?
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Herodotus (fifth century BCE)

The Greek Scholar, Herodotus regarded as the world's first historian.

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History of History
He is regarded as the father of history. Another Greek scholar, Thucydides analyzed the Peloponnesian War in a realistic manneremphasizing the need to understand the complexity of human motivations He carefully chronicled the war between Athens & the Persians with great accuracy. He participated in the war as an eyewitness to much of it
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History of History
He spoke with other participants and had access to documents. His work was less interpretative than Herodotus but rather a realistic portrayal of the event.

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A Closer Look At Greek Tradition/Philosophy of History: Cyclical View of History

No longer perceived h as wholly directed by divine ordination. Rather, they look at other causes and effects Classical Greek historians believed in cyclicality of history (history is cyclical)

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 The ancient Greeks considered that just as the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter repeat themselves year after year, so does history follow a cyclical course H repeats itself through a series of events

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 The two Greek historians provided narratives of wars by men who fought in the wars. Herodotus (485-425 BCE) on the Persian War Thucydides (460-400 BCE) the Peloponnesian Wars Method- to narrate the story of events that actually happened. Relied on the facts They clearly revealed the sources of their info.
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 Representative historians of this view (H is cyclical) were Herodotus (ca. 484-425 BC and Thucydides (ca. 460-400 BC) Herodotus & Thucydides somewhat shared this view Herodotus depicted the Persian war in the epic manner, whereas Thucydides depicted the Pelponnesian War from beginning to end in a manner that was closer to the historical facts What these two men had in common, though, was the idea that history repeats itself
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 They both found repeating pattern in history: a rise of civilizations that was inevitably followed by a fallthe result of increasing pride & arrogance E.g. power led to wealthindulgence & pride. These in turn led civilization to believe itself exempt from universal laws of human behavior Result=downfall This is Thucydides opinion on the rise & fall of the Persian Empire By the same process, He stated that Athens was doomed to a similar fate
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 Other modern historians would be influenced by this cyclical view of history too e.g. Spangler (more under approaches/philosophies of H)

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Middle Ages
The Greek version of history attempted to tell true/realistic account about what happened in the past. Truth was based on evidence Christian historylinearhas a clear beginning a definitive ending. Christian hist in the Middle Ages was often a chronicle a listing of wars, kings, plagues, marriages, etc Behind eventsstood the causethe will of Gods and battle between God and Satan for the control of human souls.
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 Events conveyes and values and moral meaning. Medieval histories are full of stories of good and bad humans, saintly women and wicked ones

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St. Augustine & Linear view of history What is linear view of history?
The common thread among the linear historians is the notion of fate - that there is a pre-ordained conclusion to the everything happening in the world is propelling us toward that end. History is like a straight line with a beginning moving toward a pre-ordained conclusion E.g. Karl Marx believed that after feudalism comes capitalism and after capitalism comes communism -- in that order
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St. Augustine 354-430 CE

one of the most outstanding theologians in the history of the Catholic Church, born in North Africa In City of God developed a Christian formulation of history that is 1)Teleological (a product of divine creation) 2) directed by the logic of Gods law 3)tragic, tragic points in history demonstrate human failings & instruct Christians to adhere to Gods plan
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Linear View of History

St Augustine-linear design of history- history as the work of divine plan guiding events towards the fulfillment of final purpose. H is moving in a definite direction and by a definite design, all imposed by Gods will. Hist was going somewhere-it was an irreversible process moving along a predetermined course. The primary concern of historian is to reveal/investigate this divine plan-primary concern of scholars through renaissance. Progress over earlier time was inevitable. The notion of progress that each civilization represents a higher order of development than its predecessor. History has purpose that was directed toward a progressive development. Hafiz bin Zakariya, IIUM 18

St Augustines
All events that happened are related to Gods purpose, unfolding of events dictated by divine will. History moves towards specific goals. Reasons and rationale are subject to study. This perspective dominated both medieval and Renaissance historical writing This view was influential during the medieval up to Renaissance
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St Augustine
Around 5th century CE, non-Christian scholars blamed the fall of Rome on the turning away from pagan gods. In The City of God, argued there was a different cause. The fall of Rome was part of a divine purpose in history- one that was to lead to a new Christian civilization (Eastern Roman Empire@ Byzantine)
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Linear View of History: Comparing Providential (manifestation of Divine guidance) and Marxist
Providential View of H Marxist

Beginning of H
Characteristic of H Driving Force
Laws of Change

Creation & fall of human

H of Salvation Gods Providence None Good & bad

Primitive Society
H of class struggle dialectical materialism same Bourgeoisie versus proletariat Violent revolution H of class struggle/oppression Communist society

Struggle in the last days Events in d last days History that comes to an end Ideal world to come

Last Judgment (separation of good and bad) Sinful history

Gods Kingdom

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Islam
As early as the eighth century, when the last members of the companion were dead, the second generation, Tabiin had started to collect some isolated narratives about the prophet and wrote it down Muhammad Shihab az-Zuhri of Medina (d.741 CE) a great muhaddith, faqih, and historian. -None of his works survived in original form. His work forms the basis of Ibn Ishaq(d. c. 773 CE it represents the document closest to the time of al-Rasul

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Al-Tabari (ca. 838-870)

A prolific muhaddith, mufassir, historian. Limited his Tafsir of the Qur'an and his great history to thirty volumes each out of compassion for his students, as he originally intended to write three hundred volumes respectively. Al-Khatib heard the linguist `Ali ibn `Ubayd Allah al-Lughawi say: "Muhammad ibn Jarir spent forty years writing forty pages a day."

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Statue of Ibn Khaldun in front of a cathedral in Tunis

ISLAMIC, IBN ISHAQ, Al-Tabari (ca. late 8th CE)chronicle 15th CE Muslim historian, Ibn Khaldun

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Ibn Khaldun
1332- 1406) was a famous Tunisian historiographer and historian born in what is modern day Tunisia, and is widely acclaimed as a forerunner of modern historiography, sociology and economics. He is best known for his Muqaddimah

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What is historiography
The analysis usually focuses on the interpretations, worldview, use of evidence, or method of presentation of other historians Historiography- "the study of the way history has been and is written--the history of historical writing When you study 'historiography' you do not study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians."
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Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun wrote the work in 1377 as the preface or first book of his planned world history, the kitab al-ibar, but already in his lifetime it became regarded as an independent work. Ibn Khaldun starts the Muqaddimah with a thorough criticism of the mistakes regularly committed by his fellow historians and the difficulties which await the historian in his work. He notes several critical issues
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Ibn Khalduns Criticism

All records, by their very nature, are liable to error... partisanship towards a creed or opinion... over-confidence in one's sources... the failure to understand what is intended... the inability to place an event in its real context the common desire to gain favor of those of high ranks, by praising them, by spreading their fame...

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Ibn Khaldun
British historian Arnold J. Toynbee called the Muqaddimah "undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created by any mind in any time or place." Bernard Lewis describes Ibn Khaldun as "the greatest historian of the Arabs and perhaps the greatest historical thinker of the Middle Ages"
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Leopold von Ranke

It was during the 19th century that a modern way of thinking and writing history emerged The first in the West to provide philosophy of history and a guide how it is done was Leopold von Ranke, a German scholar His first book, History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations (1824), included an appended section critique of modern historical writing
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 It presented a convincing criticism of contemporary historiography condemning its reliance on tradition and proposed, instead, Ranke's own more objective method. Ranke's aim was to reconstruct the unique periods of the past as they actually were and to avoid injecting the history of former times with the spirit of the present
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 Ranke distrusted historical textbooks and turned to the study of original sources. This method Ranke later developed to feature a primarily reliance on the "narratives of eyewitnesses and the most genuine immediate documents. He considered that "the strict presentation of the facts, contingent and unattractive though they may be, is undoubtedly the supreme law."
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 Ranke attempted to put aside prevailing theories and prejudices and by the rigorous use of primary sources to present an unvarnished picture of the facts. Nevertheless, because he viewed political power as the principal agent in history he tended to emphasize political history, dwelling upon the deeds of kings and leaders and ignoring economic and social forces He introduced the seminar as a method of teaching history and trained a generation of influential scholars.

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 Rankes methods which became the standard for historian: rigorous examination/critical evaluation of primary sources Then, it is synthesized into a scholarly presentation in a seminar. Since Ranke's time the seminar method of teaching history has become very widely adopted. Ranke's method has largely pioneered the modern insistence on rigorous analysis of firsthand documents. He has variously been described as "The greatest German historian", "The father of the objective writing of history", and "The founder of the science of history."
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Rankes photo

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Ranke
History should be studied scientifically (objectively) No interjection of personal emotion & feelings into history, and a commitment to writing history "as it actually was" The task of historians gather al the evidences let the reader make his/her own conclusion
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