What is History?
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| Herodotus (484BC – 425BC) |
The study of the past
is called ‘History’. This English word ‘History’ is derived from the Greek word
‘historia’ , meaning research,
inquiry or investigation. The Greek historian Herodotus (484BC – 425BC) was the first real historian of the
world. He wrote only one book ‘The
Histories’ (430BC). ‘The Histories’ describes the background and events of
the Graeco-Persian/Greek-Iranian Wars.
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| Cicero (106BC - 43BC) |
It was the Roman philosopher Cicero (106BC
- 43BC) who first of all called Herodotus as ‘The Father of History’.
The
German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886AD) is also known as ‘The Father
of Modern History’. According to Ranke, the task of a historian is to describe
the past as it actually was [‘wie es
eingentlich gewesen’ (German words) - what it (the past) actually was (English
translation)].
The
German philosopher Hegel (1770-1831 AD) once said ‘History repeats itself’,
later on German economist and philosopher Karl Marx (1818-83AD) extended the line:
“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”.
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| E. H. Carr (1892-1982 AD) |
According
to British historian E. H. Carr (1892-1982 AD): “History is a continuous process
of interaction between the Historian and his facts, an unending dialogue
between the present and the past”.
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