Who are the three great historians of ancient Greece?

The three great historians in ancient Greece were Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon.

The following is a detailed introduction about them:

herodotus

He is a great historian in ancient times and is known as the "father of history".

In more than 400 BC, a new tomb faced the sea on the highland near Tallinn Bay in southern Italy.

Passers-by will silently stand in front of the grave to pay tribute.

The stone tablet in front of the tomb is engraved with this inscription:

"This tomb is buried with the remains of Herodotus, the son of Lucretius.

He is the best historian who writes in Ionian dialect. He grew up in Victoria, but in order to escape the unbearable gossip, he made turio his home. "

The man who died in a foreign land was Herodotus, a great historian and author of history in ancient Greece. He was greatly respected by people for his book History.

Herodotus has been honored as "the father of history" since ancient Roman times, and this name has been used to this day.

Herodotus was born in an ancient city on the southwest coast of Asia Minor in about 484 BC.

It is a colonial city established by the ancient Greeks during their early overseas exploration.

Herodotus' father was a slave owner with great wealth, and his uncle was a famous local poet.

Herodotus studied hard since childhood and loved epics.

At that time, the ruler of their city-state was a guy who usurped power through conspiracy.

Herodotus, as an adult, actively participated in the struggle to overthrow the usurper with his uncle and others.

The struggle was suppressed, his uncle was killed and he was exiled.

Later, the usurper was overthrown and he once returned to his hometown.

Soon, he was forced to leave again and never went back.

From about the age of 30, Herodotus began a wide-ranging trip, from the northern shore of the Black Sea in the north to the southernmost tip of Egypt in the south, to the lower reaches of the two river basins in the east, and to the Italian peninsula and Sicily in the west.

In order to make a living, he also sells goods from long-distance merchants.

Wherever Herodotus went, he visited places of interest, investigated the geographical environment and learned about local customs. He also likes to listen to local people telling folk stories and historical stories. He wrote all this down and kept it with him.

Around 445 BC, Herodotus came to Athens, the political, economic and cultural center of Greece.

At that time, Athens experienced the Greek (Greek)-Polish (Slovak) War, with highly developed politics and economy, and a thriving scene, and academic culture was the best in the Greek world.

Herodotus was very excited. He took an active part in various political and cultural activities, and soon forged a deep friendship with statesman Pericles and tragic writer Sophocles.

Once, he wrote a poem and won an award.

Won the unanimous praise of everyone.

Herodotus worshiped the democratic politics of Athens, and admired that the Greek city-state headed by Athens defeated the invasion of the slave country Persia in the Greek-Persian War that ended not long ago. He kept asking people about all aspects of the war and collected a lot of historical materials.

With the encouragement and support of Perikles and his friends, Herodotus decided to write a complete historical work about the Persian war for future generations. This is the famous historical work History, also known as the History of the Greek Persian War.

In the spring of 443 BC, the Athenians established the city-state of Turrion on the coast of Tallinn Bay in southern Italy. Herodotus followed Athens to immigrate there and became a citizen of this city-state.

He began to devote his main energy to writing history.

Unfortunately, history is inconclusive. Herodotus died in 425 BC.

Herodotus' History is the first work in the history of Greek historiography.

This book is basically divided into two parts according to the content.

The first half describes the history, geography, nationalities and customs of sicilian, Greek city-states and Persian Empire on the northern shore of the Black Sea, and describes the reasons for the outbreak of the Persian War.

The second part mainly describes the process and results of the Sino-Persian war, from the anti-Persian uprising held by the Greek city-states in Asia Minor to the Greek occupation of Cestos before 478 BC.

Later, this book was divided into nine volumes, and each volume was named after the nine muses in charge of literature and art in ancient Greek mythology according to the practice at that time, so this book was sometimes called the Muse Book.

Rich in history, it vividly describes the geographical environment, ethnic distribution, economic life, political system, historical past, local customs, religious beliefs, places of interest and so on in West Asia, North Africa and Greece, and shows us the national life picture of nearly 20 countries and regions in ancient times, just like a small "encyclopedia" of ancient society. Herodotus obtained a lot of information from epics, official archives, stone carvings and various works at that time, and more used a lot of information obtained from his personal travels and field investigations.

History is the first monument of western historiography, which "opens up a new era" for western historiography.

Herodotus' narrative analysis of historical events and social phenomena has some advantages.

Regarding the Persian war, he condemned the Persian expedition to Greece, saying that Persia "should no longer covet any other land and should no longer enslave those who are not provocative at all." It is believed that Persia failed because its military composition is too complicated and it is difficult to fight on exterior lines.

Athens won, because it practiced democracy, and everyone fought for freedom "wholeheartedly".

Herodotus admired Greece, praised Athens and yearned for the democratic politics of slave owners, but he did not completely deny Persia.

What he opposed was the unjust behavior of Persians invading Greece and the system of group owners.

So sometimes he even described Persia as a heroic country, choosing and praising its culture.

For the first time in history, "everyone is equal before the law" was mentioned.

According to Records of the Historian, around 522 BC, when Persia focused on the choice of political forms, the three factions advocated the adoption of democratic politics, aristocratic politics and monarchical politics respectively, and the three factions held their own opinions and did not give way to each other.

In a fierce emergency, a Persian named Otanes said, "The advantage of the rule of man lies in its best reputation, that is, everyone is equal before the law."

Herodotus paid more attention to the ancient oriental civilization and its influence on Greece.

The Egyptian solar calendar recorded in history is more accurate than the Greek solar calendar. The Greek alphabet was learned from the Phoenicians; The sundial used by Greeks was first invented by Babylonians, and so on.

The literary value of history is also very high, and it is often regarded as the first western prose masterpiece.

Herodotus adopted the common structural form in oriental literature, that is, a group of short stories in a big story, which are interlocking, endless and charming.

He is also good at portraying characters. Most kings, ministers, politicians, scholars, soldiers, etc. There is a distinct personality and vivid image in his works.

For example, the first volume describes the dialogue between the Greek politician Solon and King Clos of Lydia. King Lydia, who is short-sighted, is in sharp contrast with Solon, who is intelligent and talented, and his personality characteristics are vividly displayed.

Due to the limitations of the times and classes, Herodotus' history is still fatalistic and fatalistic in many places, which is also mixed with many unfounded myths and legends and nonsense. However, he created a genre of historical works and preserved a lot of precious historical materials for future generations, some of which have been confirmed by the research or achievements of modern archaeology, anthropology and history.

Herodotus is worthy of the glorious title of "Father of History".

Thucydides (about 460~ 400 BC/396 BC), a famous historian in ancient Greece, plays an important role in the history of western historiography with the History of the Peloponnesian War.

We know little about Thucydides' life.

The limited material mainly comes from the occasional mention of oneself in his own works.

In addition, there are sporadic records from Greek and Roman writers.

Thucydides was born in a wealthy aristocratic family in Athens.

His father, Aurora, is a descendant of Mittayat, the main commander of the marathon, and a relative of the royal family of Thrace.

He and some outstanding figures who were active on the political and social stage in Athens in the middle of the 5th century BC, such as Meng Ke, Pericles and another Thucydides (son of Mercia), all had more or less relatives and friends.

Thucydides himself mentioned that he had the right to mine gold along the coast of Thrace, which had a great impact on local residents (Ⅳ.105).

We don't know how he got these gold mines.

But in any case, such a family background undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for him to write a famous historical masterpiece later.

There have been different opinions about the age of his birth since ancient times.

According to Thucydides' own records, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, he had already started writing this historical work (Ⅰ. 1); At that time, he was in the prime of life and could understand the significance of the development of things (ⅴ.26).

Obviously, he is in the prime of life.

Shi Xiu became a general in 424 BC, which is a reliable era.

According to Athenian law, the person who holds this position must be at least 30 years old.

Accordingly, he should have been born at the latest in 455 BC or shortly before.

Some scholars estimate that he may have been born between 47 1 year and 455 BC. Some scholars calculate that he was born between 460 BC and 455 BC.

Like many aristocratic children in Athens, he received a good education when he was young.

In the 5th century AD, Marcellinus mentioned a story. Thucydides was moved to tears when he listened to Herodotus recite his and his father's historical works in his childhood.

Herodotus saw this and said to his father, "Aurora, your son was deeply moved by his thirst for knowledge." The details of this story are not credible, but it is conceivable that Herodotus had a certain influence on Thucydides, who was quite familiar with the former's works and seemed to confirm this point.

Thucydides lived in Athens for about seven years from the outbreak of the war in 43 1 BC to his appointment as a general in 424 BC.

He said that at this time, he had begun to collect relevant materials to write the history of war (ⅰ. 1).

He clearly pointed out that when the plague raged in Athens in 430 BC, he himself was infected with the disease (Ⅱ. 48), and at that time, it seemed that the disease was rarely prevalent in other parts of Greece.

He added that some remarks quoted in his works were heard by himself. 22), especially Pericles's speech, he must have heard it many times.

This is only possible when you live in Athens.

In the meantime, he may live in Thrace and run his gold mine.

In 424 BC, he was elected as one of the ten generals in Athens (Ⅳ.104).

He may have participated in some battles before, otherwise he wouldn't have suddenly reached such a high position.

This winter, the famous Spartan Brasida commanded an expeditionary force, and with the help of the Thracians, launched an attack on the strategic town of the Athenians in Thrace.

Thucydides was stationed in Tassos at this time.

Ulysses, the commander of the Dark Princess Boli, asked him for help, and he immediately led seven warships to help.

However, when he arrived, the garrison commander had surrendered, and the secret princess Boli had fallen (Ⅳ.106).

Obviously, Thucydides was not responsible for the fall of the secret princess Indianapolis.

However, in Athens, Shi Xiu was falsely accused of collaborating with the enemy, so the people of Athens decided to exile him.

In the next 20 years, he made full use of his spare time to travel widely in the Greek world, especially in those hostile countries, and collected all kinds of historical materials (ⅴ.26).

During this period, he must often visit all parts of the Peloponnesus and Sicily, paying special attention to those places where major battles have taken place.

The contents of the treaties signed by Athens with Argos, Mandinia and Alice (Ⅴ. 47) It may be that he personally copied the inscription from the stone pillar of Olympia, because the contents recorded in his works are basically the same as those in archaeological excavations.

Historical materials about the Battle of Mandinia (V). 69 ~ 74) was completely obtained from the Peloponnesian Peninsula.

He must have been to Sicily, otherwise he would not be so familiar with the terrain of Sicily when describing the war in Sicily; About the Athenian fiasco in Sicily, he got it from the prisoners in Athens.

Thucydides returned to Athens after 20 years in exile (ⅴ. 26), and know that the Great Wall of Athens and Piraeus was demolished in 404 BC (Ⅰ. 93).

He didn't mention anything after 396 BC, but he mentioned the reform (Ⅱ. King of Macedonia who died in 399 BC. So between 400 BC and 396 BC, he failed to finish his work as planned and died suddenly.

Thucydides' book is a masterpiece in the world history library.

The whole structure of the History of the Peloponnesian War is reasonable and compact, and the text is concise, fluent and vivid, full of philosophy and appeal, which shows the author's outstanding historical talent and good cultural accomplishment.

The book is divided into eight volumes by later scholars, and the historical events are unfolded in strict chronological order, and there is an inevitable connection between volumes.

The first volume has a preface at the beginning, which expounds the author's writing motivation and methods, then summarizes the history of Greece before the war and traces the development process of the contradiction between Athenians and Raj dreamers. The second, third and fourth volumes to the fourth section of the fifth volume record the first 10 year of the war (the so-called "Archie Daams War"), that is, from the outbreak of the war to the signing of the Nikias Peace Treaty; Section 25~ 1 16 of the fifth volume describes the historical events from the signing of the Nikias Peace Treaty to the Sicilian expedition, that is, the so-called "peace" period; The sixth and seventh volumes describe the whole story of the Sicilian expedition; The eighth volume describes the last stage of the war, namely the Deckaria War and the Ionian War.

According to Thucydides' own plan, his historical works will be written until the Great Wall of Athens was demolished and the port of Piraeus was occupied in 404 BC.

But his works were only written in the winter of 4 1 1 BC, and then they were suddenly interrupted, and the last sentence was not complete (ⅷ. 109), indicating that his works have not been completed.

Thucydides lived in an era of prosperity and decline in his native Athens.

After the Persian War, especially after the mid-1960s BC, Athens used its powerful maritime power to control the traffic arteries and strategic locations in the eastern Mediterranean, and gradually reduced the original country of the Tyrol Union to the status of a vassal country. The relationship between Athens and its original allies changed in essence, forming the first large-scale maritime hegemony in ancient world history-the Athenian Empire.

Since then, the development of Athens has entered a new stage. It has jumped from a small country in Attica Peninsula to a big country that spans Europe and Asia and includes the Aegean Sea. The brand-new Athens has become the political, economic, land and sea transportation and cultural center of the eastern Mediterranean region, and has become a "Greek school".

The Athenians' oppression and exploitation of the former Tyrol League people, including slaves, was the most fundamental reason for the political stability, economic prosperity, cultural prosperity and sufficient military resources in Athens in Pericles' era.

Thucydides, who grew up in such an environment, as a member of the upper class of the ruling class and the real beneficiary of Athens' foreign aggression and expansion war, naturally has a profound understanding of this.

In the field of ideology and culture, the unremitting exploration of Greek naive materialist philosophers and natural scientists, and the popularity of humanistic thoughts, such as Demok Park Jung Su's "atomism", Hippocrates' medical achievements, protagoras's "man is the measure of everything", Herodotus' achievements in historical research, eloquence and sophistry, and tragedies and comedies are frequently staged ... All these can not but give Thucydides a world outlook and comedy.

Democracy in Athens provides a good social environment for talents, letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend.

Thucydides' historical achievements reached the peak of Greek classical historiography.

Xenophon

Xenophon (about 444-354 BC) was a historian, strategist and political commentator in ancient Greece.

About Xenophon's life, besides his own works, we mainly rely on the records of some writers who lived in the Roman Empire.

Due to the lack of information, many problems related to the specific era can not be completely solved, including his political activities and the writing time of his works.

As for his date of birth, there are at least three different opinions in academic circles.

If we put aside the chronological order for a while.

Then, we made clear the main experience of Xenophon's life.

Xenophon was born into a noble family in Athens, and his father's name was Grulos.

He received a good education in many aspects, was familiar with military and riding, and was once a student of Socrates.

According to some data, in 424 BC, he took part in a battle between Athens and its neighboring countries. According to this calculation, he is at least 20 years old at this time.

In Athens, people aged 18-20 have to serve in the domestic garrison for two years before they can go abroad to fight at the age of 20.

In 420 BC, during the Pan-Athena Festival, he and Socrates went to the home of Calias, a famous rich man.

Xenophon tended to optimates politically, opposed Athenian democracy and admired the aristocratic regime of Sparta.

In 40 1 BC, there was civil strife in Persia, and Kurus, the younger brother of King Atta Xue Xisi, fought in Asia Minor in an attempt to seize the throne.

Spartans supported Kurus and provided him with a large number of Greek mercenaries.

Xenophon joined the army on the recommendation of a friend.

He described the process of the expedition in detail in his book Adventure.

Kurush led Greek mercenaries across Asia Minor to Kunak Sa near Babylon.

Ju Lushi himself was killed here.

The Greek mercenaries who lost their employers retreated to Greece under the leadership of their elected leaders.

During the retreat, Xenophon was easily chosen as one of the main leaders of this army, because the previous leaders were lured and killed by Persians.

He gave full play to his leadership, overcame the difficulties of lack of materials and enemy attacks, and finally brought thousands of mercenaries back to Europe at the end of 400 BC.

In the process of the Greek army marching along the south bank of the Black Sea, Xenophon twice took advantage of the opportunity of the army waiting for the ferry for a long time and put forward the idea of establishing a new town on the spot to settle down, but both were rejected.

The main reason is that most Greek mercenaries want to go home.

When Xenophon and his army stayed in Byzantium, the leader of the local Spartan garrison tried to arrest him and hand him over to the Persian governor of Asia Minor.

In view of this situation, in the winter of 400 BC, Xenophon took refuge in theseus, king of Thrace, to help him in the civil war.

According to their agreement, theseus would protect Xenophon if the Spartans continued to pursue him.

Besides, Setus should set aside a place for Xenophon to rule.

But when theseus beat his opponent with Xenophon's help, he broke his word.

At this time, Xenophon planned to return to Athens. At the firm invitation of Greek mercenaries, he led them to work for Spartans in Asia Minor.

At this time, the Spartans were at war with the Persians.

The Spartans didn't pay the mercenaries in time, so Xenophon made a living by robbing the rich.

In 396 BC, King Agesilaus of Sparta was ordered to lead the Spartan army to fight the Persians in Asia Minor.

Xenophon soon became his friend, either directing mercenaries to serve him or serving as his staff.

In a word, the friendship with Agesilaus had a great influence on Xenophon's political career.

During the Corinthian War (395-38s BC), Xenophon joined the Spartans in the battle against Athens.

To this end, the Athens citizens' assembly passed the resolution of banishing Xenophon.

Instead, the Spartans rewarded him for his loyalty.

Because of Xenophon's merits, Sparta gave him a piece of real estate in Skilos near Olympia.

Since then, Xenophon's life has entered a new stage.

There is a lack of reliable information about his specific life in Skillos.

According to the opinions of most scholars, this period was the most peaceful period in Xenophon's life, and it was also the period when he wrote the most.

Education in Ju Lushi and Expedition were probably written at this time.

In Schillos, Xenophon bought himself a piece of land in addition to the property given to him by Spartans.

It is worth saying a few words about the origin of this land.

Greek mercenaries once distributed money to sell prisoners somewhere on the south bank of the Black Sea. They put forward a tenth of the total amount and gave it to several leaders at that time for safekeeping, who were responsible for giving it to Apollo and Artemis.

Xenophon, as one of the leaders, also got a piece of the action.

Xenophon sent half the money to Delphi, which was stored in the sacred library in Athens and dedicated to Apollo.

The other half is in the hands of the abbot of the temple of themis in Ephesus.

After he settled in Skillos, he took the money back and bought a piece of land for the goddess themis, and all the actual income was at his disposal.

It's just that he takes out one-tenth of the harvest of this land every year to sacrifice to God.

In Skillos, Xenophon lived the life of a big slave owner, and many slaves cultivated for him.

Spartans sometimes gave some prisoners of war slaves to him for use.

Judging from his book Home Economics, he has practical experience in managing large-scale real estate.

These experiences may have been gained here.

He lived here for more than ten years and kept close contact with the dignitaries of Sparta.

In 37l BC, war broke out between Sparta and Thebes, and Sparta was defeated.

Skiros was reintegrated into the territory of its original owner Ellis.

Xenophon lost his wealth and went to live in Corinth until he died of old age.

During Xenophon's settlement in Corinth, the political situation in Greece changed again.

Athens and Sparta United against Thebes, the former overlord.

Xenophon's two sons fought in the war against Thebes, and one of them died.

Therefore, the Athens citizens' assembly passed a resolution to abolish the previous decision to expel Xenophon.

After that, Xenophon sometimes returned to Athens for a short stay, but mainly lived in Corinth to write.

His series of works, such as Greek History, On the Duties of Cavalry Commanders, On Riding Horses, Agesilaus and On the Income of Athens, were all completed at this time.

Xenophon lived in an era of political upheaval and had rich and varied life experiences. He was a well-read and prolific writer in ancient Greece.

His works, with concise words and rich vocabulary, provide a lot of materials about the era in which he lived, which is a must-read for those who study the history of ancient Greece.

Xenophon's masterpiece Expedition is now divided into seven chapters.

It is said that it was published anonymously.

Scholars speculate that this book was compiled by Xenophon in March according to his own records.

Historians have always attached great importance to it because it tells personal experiences, covers all aspects of the life of Greek mercenaries, and records the geographical scenery and experiences along the way.

Although the book exaggerated Xenophon's role in the battle, it generally reflected the actual situation at that time.

Expedition is rich in content and vivid in words, and it is a must-read for learners of ancient Greek.

The history of Greece is also divided into seven chapters, describing the events from 4 1 1 BC to 362 BC.

Xenophon hopes this book can be a sequel to Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War.

In fact, it is different from Thucydides' works in style and viewpoint.

The narrative in the book is obviously pro-Spartan.

Xenophon deliberately described the history of the restoration of the democratic political system in Athens, including two main characters in Thirty Tyrants, Klesius and Tramenes.

He sympathized with Tramini and described the meanness and unscrupulous means of Cletias who was bent on killing Tramini.

He showed his political stance by exaggerating Agesilaus's role and deliberately avoiding certain things.

Xenophon has a group of works involving Socrates, including memoirs, defending Socrates, banquets and home economics.

In these works, there are not only Xenophon's account of Socrates' life story, but also many places where he uses topics to expound his philosophical and political views.

He expressed a series of opinions on how to train talents who meet the needs of real life and what qualities talents should have.

Education in Ju Lushi is a historical novel expressing political views.

Xenophon described the good education of Ju Lushi, the founding monarch of Persian Empire, to illustrate the importance of politician training and family education.

In this historical novel, he regarded Ju Lushi as the embodiment of his ideal king and moved his spartan education method to Persia.

This book provides a lot of practical knowledge about the military, such as the types of weapons, the arrangement of troops, the strategies of attack and retreat, and so on.

There are many vivid descriptions of a series of characters in the book.

The article "The Political System of Sparta" attempts to beautify the political system of Sparta and praise the educational system of Sparta.

He believes that Sparta's legislative system is the best, and its foundation is to cultivate a series of qualities that he thinks are commendable-restraint, courage, being good at obedience and command, and so on.

Xenophon listed some concrete facts in the article "On the Income of Athens" and demonstrated the ways to improve the financial situation of Athens.

He suggested that the state buy a group of slaves to engage in silver mining.

In Agasilaus, Xenophon praised his dead friend, which was obviously exaggerated.

He praised Agassilaus's excellent qualities: devotion to God, loyalty to friends, infinite loyalty to the motherland, generosity and kindness to subordinates, charge in battle, simple and diligent life.

The duties of cavalry commanders, riding horses, hunting with the help of hounds, and so on. It shows that Xenophon has extensive practical knowledge of horse training, cavalry organization and hunting.

As can be seen from the brief introduction of Xenophon's works listed above, his interests are very extensive.

But he lacks profound thoughts.

For Xenophon's position in the history of historiography, ancient and modern scholars are unable to agree.

Because of his biased political views, his relatives deliberately exaggerate, and the wicked avoid talking about it, we must carefully analyze the materials he provided.