Livy As A Source For Roman History Flashcards
Why do we have to be careful when referring to Livy as a ‘historian’ ?
He didn’t gather evidence in the same way as modern historians and doesn’t make references to his sources for information
How did Livy recount hisotry ?
With the sources available to him at the time
What was the significant event that distrusted the documenting of Hisotry for Livy ?
After Rome was destroyed by the Gauls in 386/7BC meaning tones of records where lost (Livy didn’t live through this however it certainly made his job difficult)
What was another difficult aspect of recounting Romes history ?
Many of its legends and important myths where orally recounted meaning over time they where adapted and changed due to human error or manipulation
What is another curical detail about Livy that makes it hard to trust him as a source ?
He didn’t differentiate between fiction and fact which leads to confusion with the accuracy of his documents
