The Birth of History
From the Third Millennium to Herodotos
By (author) R.T. Ridley
This book is a bold attempt to survey narratives from the beginning of written records in Egypt and Mesopotamia through the major pre-classical cultures. The fascinating pre-classical cultures, usually neglected by classicists, were certainly interested in the past and recording the present, but never asked questions about them. The narrative was already fixed, governed overwhelmingly by divine control and designed usually to glorify the ruler in question. An entirely new world is revealed by Herodotos, who never stopped asking questions. History was born.
One of the not frequently mentioned characteristics of us as humans is both an interest in the past and a desire to leave records of our own time, place or selves. This is not necessarily, however, the same thing as ‘history’, which has a very clear meaning, namely ‘enquiry’. The very essence of history is the asking of questions and the search for answers to them. These questions concern especially causation (why?), or responsibility (who?). This book is a bold attempt to survey narratives from the beginning of written records in Egypt and Mesopotamia through the major pre-classical cultures down to Herodotos, whom Cicero named ‘The Father of History’, to test the accuracy of that epithet, against a current fashion of denigration of the Greek’s achievement. The fascinating pre-classical cultures, usually neglected by classicists, were certainly interested in the past and recording the present, but never asked questions about them. The narrative was already fixed, governed overwhelmingly by divine control and designed usually to glorify the ruler in question. An entirely new world is revealed by Herodotos, who never stopped asking questions. History was born.
- By (author) R.T. Ridley
Other Titles in this Series
Functional Aspects of Egyptian Ceramics in their Archaeological Context
Proceedings of a Conference held at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, July 24th - July 25th, 2009
Volume 217
Identity and Christian-Muslim Interaction
Medieval Art of the Syrian Orthodox from the Mosul Area
Volume 198
Profusion de la vaste sphère
Klong-chen rab-'byams (Tibet, 1308-1364). Sa vie, son oeuvre, sa doctrine
Volume 167
Remove that Pyramid!
Studies on the Archaeology and History of Predynastic and Pharaonic Egypt in Honour of Stan Hendrickx
Volume 305
The Mosaics of the Norman Stanza in Palermo
A Study of Byzantine and Medieval Islamic Palace Decoration
Volume 261, 15
Identifiers and Identification Methods in the Ancient World
Legal Documents in Ancient Societies III
Volume 229
Continuity and Change in the Realms of Islam
Studies in Honour of Professor Urbain Vermeulen
Volume 171
The Preacher Sought to Find Pleasing Words II
A Study of the Language of Qoheleth. Part II: Vocabulary
Volume 143
Economy and Society in Northern Babylonia in the Early Old Babylonian Period (ca. 2000-1800 BC)
Volume 109
Re-defining a Space of Encounter. Islam and Mediterranean
Identity, Alterity and Interactions: Proceedings of the 28th Congress of the Union Europeenne des Arabisants et Islamisants, Palermo 2016
Volume 283
Afrikanischstämmiger Lehnwortschatz im älteren Ägyptisch
Untersuchungen zur ägyptisch-afrikanischen lexikalischen Interferenz im dritten und zweiten Jahrtausend v.Chr.
Volume 211
Hamlet on a Hill
Semitic and Greek Studies Presented to Professor T. Muraoka on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday
Volume 118
Egypt at its Origins 4
Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference "Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt", New York, 26th-30th July 2011
Volume 252
Das Opferritual des ägyptischen Neuen Reiches
Band I: Texte. Band II: Übersetzung und Kommentar
Volume 222
Fictionalizing the Past
Historical Characters in Arabic Popular Epic: Workshop Held at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, 28th-29th of November 2007 in Honor of Remke Kruk
Volume 206
Coptic Studies on the Threshold of a New Millennium
Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies. Leiden, August 27 - September 2, 2000
Volume 133
Les divinités gréco-égyptiennes dans les textes magiques coptes
Une étude du syncrétisme religieux en Égypte tardo-antique et médiévale
Volume 327
Egypt at its Origins 5
Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference "Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt", Cairo, 13th-18th April 2014
Volume 260
Philae and the End of Ancient Egyptian Religion
A Regional Study of Religious Transformation (298-642 CE)
Volume 173
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