Reliability of the Historians Flashcards
What was the reliability of Herodotus?
He was around at the time so the reliability is likely to be good with first or second hand information.
Herodotus was a very keen researcher and kept his data very methodically.
He is said to have over-exaggerated some of his stories.
Athenian so potentially biased.
Called both “the father of history” and “the father of lies.
What was the reliability of Plutarch?
Writing a long time after the events. Does not have a first-hand understanding.
Gives his own opinion and does not judge reliability.
Well educated.
He was a biographer not a historian.
What was the reliability of Xenophon?
?
What was the reliability of Thucydides?
He was an Athenian solider that was exiled and went to live in Sparta. Thus, his views on Athens may be somewhat unfair.
He enrolled his son in the agoge meaning he may have left out some of the less desirable details. e.g. he denied that older men often paired with younger men to teach them, but developed sexual relations at the same time.
He has firsthand accounts of the times.
What was the reliability of Diodorus?
Written a long time after the events.
There is very little known about him.
What was the reliability of Aristophanes?
Biased due to being Athenian
Exaggerated (satire).
