What is History

Resource type: this resource is a homework assignment.

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Outline

History. Read the introductory part above the Contents and Etymology and Description.
Herodotus, Histories. Read the introduction and the first three paragraphs from History of Herodotus/Book 1.
Thucidides, History of the Peloponnesian War. Read paragraphs 20-23 from History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 1.

Where does the word ‘history’ come from?
What were the uses of the word ‘history’ in ancient and modern times?
Give a definition of history as a discipline.
Name some of the complementary disciplines that historians use in order to understand the past?
Why did Herodotus write his Histories?
How did Herodotus learn about the events he refers to?
Identify the part(s) of Herodotus writing in the first three paragraphs that he makes reference(s) to different versions of the same event.
Identify the part(s) of Herodotus writing in the first three paragraphs that he makes reference(s) to stories he heard.
Should historians, according to Thucydides, take for granted whatever they are told? Give examples of his opinion from the assigned paragraphs.
What is the method that Thucydides used in order to find the true course of events?
Why does Thucydides believe that his account may not attract much interest?
Why has he written his account?
Does Thucydides make any differentiation among the causes of the Peloponnesian War he is going to describe?

Write a short paragraph explaining what history is.
In a short essay compare and contrast the methods that Herodotus and Thucydides used in order to write their accounts.