The History of Herodotus and the History of Thucydides as Two Archetypes of History-Making and Examples of their Influence on Biblical Historiography

Abstract

. In the Greek world it is only in the early 5th century BC that we may speak of what we today understand as proper ancient historiography. This paper consists of three parts. The first part focuses on Herodotus of Halicarnassus, who can be regarded as the first Western historian. The second part is devoted to the work of Thucydides of Athens, the first historian to explain the causes of events, analyze political developments, and evaluate leaders. Much like modern historians, Thucydides was rigorous in his search for truth and rejected information he could not verify. Herodotus and Thucydides created two archetypes of historical practice, or at least historical writing.

The third part of the article highlights examples of the influence that biblical historiography drew from the achievements of ancient Greek historiography as developed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Thucydides of Athens.