“The fact that is past in history varies from the present, rests upon the present and is present. What really happened must be replaced by what evidence obliges us to believe.” Have you ever wonder are the approaches of the history? It is true that the attitude of man is flexible there has always been changes in it, the approach of History has also altered from time to time. In…
Category: Historiography
The Trends towards scientific history
Q. Outline the trends towards scientific history in modern times The most significant trend in the historical writing of the modern times was the development of scientific history. With the growth of rationalism, theological conception lost its ground, sources came in for a critical study and nature of interpretation received due consideration. Presentation and style too assumed importance. Contributions made by more of writers and thinkers worked towards consolidating the…
Scientific Trends in Western Historical Writings
Q. Find out various schools and approaches in western scientific historiography? The philosophers of the Enlightenment treated the past as barbarian and ignore it as such. Also they considered human nature as uniform and static. These attitudes need to be changed so that further progress in historical writing could be attained. Romantic idealism, utilitarianism, materialistic interpretation and positivism contributed to changes in these approaches to the study of history. They…
Cartesianism School
The work and writings of three eminent thinkers, Rene Descartes, Sir Isaac Newton and John Locke initiated the Intellectual Revolution in Europe. The achievements in philosophy àn science in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, together with the new attitudes resulting therefrom, constitute what is commonly known as the Intellectual Revolution. Cartesianism, anti-Cartesianism and Enlightenment formed the different facets of this revolution. The impact of the Intellectual Revolution upon historical writings…
Modern Historiography: Renaissance and Reformation School
By the fifteen century Europe began to experience changes of a great magnitude. This three great institutions of the west-Holy Roman Empire, the Papacy and feudalism-drift towards decay. The eastern Roman Empire collapsed and Constantinople fell to the Turks. The classical scholars fled to the western countries, taught the literature of ancient Greece and Rome in their new homelands and created a new interest in classical learning. The result was…
Medieval Historiography: Religious
During the medieval period, the Christian clerics, monks and scholars in Europe wrote most of the historical literature. Guided by a conviction that Christianity was the true religion, they looked upon the church as the dominant factor in all human activity. While many of them wrote on the history of the church, others recorded the events of their own times or prepared copies of rare manuscripts of the classical works…
Q. Sketch the Character of Roman Historiography?
The Romam contribution to historical writing was considerable but not only as remarkable as the Greek’s. Rome had no glorious past, for it had little worthy of record in the humble story of its existence as a small group of villages. For long it struggle against the states of Litium until it gained recognition as a principal city. The registers of annual events prepared by the religious heads and the…
Cornelius Tactius Roman historian
Born around 54 CE, Tacitus studied law, served as a lawyer, held high positions in administration and wrote historical works. Tacitus began his literary career with his writing The Life of Agricola, his governor father-in-law. A historical biography, The Life of Agricola gives an account of the Roman wars in Britain, the condition of the Britons under the Roman rule and the administration of Agricola. More than of historical interest,…
Titus Livy (59 BCE-17 ce)
Livy, considered as the nationalist historian of Rome, was born at Padua and was a contemporary of Emperor Augustus Caesar. Wealthy and learned, he developed an aversion for public career and decided to seek a scholastic life at the imperial city. The glorious ascendancy of Rome in the great struggle against the formidable powers of Europe exercised an abiding influence upon Livy. Livy cherished an ambition to preserve the glory…
Roman Historians: Assess the contribution of Romans to the development of Historiography?
The Roman contribution to historical writing was considerable but not as remarkable as Greek. The Rome had no glorious past, for it had little worth in term of record in the humble story of its existence as a small group of villages. For long it struggled against the states of Latium until it gained recognition as the principal city. It was only after it began to conquer the Mediterranean region…