The farther away the history is from the present, the less credible it is. Even if there is relevant archaeological evidence, the content recorded on some cultural relics may not be the real "history" -
To take the simplest example, since Sima Qian could not have watched the "Hongmen Feast", how did he know about the secret dialogue between the characters in the famous "Records of History"?
Yes, even if it is a Taishan-level "History" in the history books, there must be a problem of fabrication and exaggeration. Not to mention the reversal of right and wrong, the exchange of cause and effect, and the transfer of flowers and elder trees in other official or folk historical materials.
However, blindly emphasizing "pseudo-", it is inevitable that we will fall into a kind of "historical nihilism" when we look at history today. Therefore, I personally agree that the attitude towards history is: to read history with an attitude of criticism and questioning, "it is better to believe in books than to have no books."
In the field of Western historiography, the equivalent of the "History", must be Herodotus's "History".
Herodotus
This set of 9-volume masterpieces, such as the Shanghai People's Publishing House's "History", which is more than 1,100 pages long, is recognized as the first narrative historical masterpiece in the history of Western historiography. The ancient Roman thinker Cicero called him "the ancestor of historiography" and "the father of history".
However, although "History" is regarded as the first cornerstone of the Western historical edifice, the doubts about the content of later generations have never stopped, and Herodotus has also been crowned as the "father of lies".
If you are interested in reading the History, you will inevitably notice that throughout the book, in addition to the history of the Persian-Greek War, "the geography, ethnic distribution, economic life, political system, historical past, customs, religious beliefs, and places of interest in the Greek Aegean region" that run through the book, "the geography, ethnic distribution, economic life, political system, historical past, customs and customs, religious beliefs, places of interest and monuments, etc. throughout the book, there are too many absurd legends or exaggerated descriptions.
Xerxes in 300
One of the passages that I was very impressed with was about Xerxes' expedition when the Persian Empire army totaled more than 5 million people, OMG! Let's assume that 5 logistics are in charge of 1 soldier, then the total number of soldiers will reach a staggering 1 million!
This utterly impossible exaggeration always reminds me of Marco Polo's "A Million Lines", which is commonly known as "Marco Polo's Travels". The most frequently used modifier for descriptions of China in this book is "million."
These strange things that emerge from time to time make "History" present a very shining "hypocrisy", the more elegant statement is that the book is like "Heavenly Night", and the more secular saying is the "story meeting" sold on the stall.
At the same time, what is incomprehensible is that such a well-known and famous person has very little reliable information that has been handed down. If it is forgivable that he himself did not recount his experience in Historia—as in today's writings, writers do not necessarily dwell on their past in the Preface—it is strange that herodotus's contemporaries either rarely mentioned him or did not speak of him in detail.
We can even venture to suppose that history may have been a masterpiece, that it might have been done by one man, but that person was not necessarily called Herodotus; it may have been done by several people.
Gilgamesh Epic Clay Tablet
We should also recall Herodotus's time, a period of eloquence, drama, philosophy, etc., when great men were more interested in disseminating what they thought than in their own little study, as some contemporary scholars do.
So, if you are an observer, a listener "citizen", do you want to be exposed to some ups and downs, unheard of, strange, mixed true and false stories, or a kind of self-talking, bland and boring recitation?
If we think about it, the ancient works that have been handed down to this day seem to be mostly poetry, right? China has the Book of Verses, ancient Greece has the Homeric Epic, and ancient Babylon has the Gilgamesh Epic. They can circulate, on the one hand, content, on the other hand, form – rhythmic, form is sometimes more important than content, the extreme example is the "picture does not match the real thing" on the cover of modern advertising.
In addition, today we refer to Herodotus's work as "History", which actually has many problems.
We can find a relatively simple version of the cover on the Internet, and we will notice that the title of the book is "histories" instead of the "history".
Let's look at "History" published by Shanghai People's Publishing House in April 2018, the title of the book is "historiae", why is this?
The reason is that [historiae] and [histories] (should be hisstoriês, as if few books in China will be marked) are actually just different forms of a word, but in any case, they are related to the modern sense of "history" (historical works) - an additional sentence, if there is a domestic version that really uses the word "history" on the cover, it is enough to highlight the "internal force" of the publishing house!
In Herodotus's day, "historiae" and "histories" meant "travel, to investigate, to explore," and so on. At the same time, Herodotus makes it clear at the beginning that —
Presented below is the result of the investigation and study of Herodotus of Halicarnassus. The purpose of publishing these studies is to preserve the past deeds of mankind so that they will not be forgotten with the passage of time, so that the admirable exploits of the Greeks and foreigners will not lose their due glory, and especially to record the reasons for their struggle with each other.
Note that this is referring to "investigation results" and "investigation reports", not to the imperial works on history that later generations consider (acquiescence).
To put it bluntly, the "collector" Herodotus did indeed make a "collection of stories" that was true and false, and even said with a somewhat irresponsible attitude, "I have put here all the materials I have seen and heard, and as for whether you believe it or not, how much you believe, I can't control it!" “
Today we tacitly accept the fact that Herodotus himself created the science of "history", but Herodotus himself, there is no concept of "(modern) history" at all, Herodotus's "history" should be a verb, the core is "to understand the strange, the unknown, to discover new knowledge and new knowledge", as mentioned above, this is actually no different from what scientists and philosophers did at that time, philosophers pay attention to the partial spiritual world, scientists pay attention to the material world, Herodotus's concern for human society is a world in which spirit and matter coexist.
It was not until the late Classical period, almost the 4th century BC, that people began to refer to most of Herodotus's writings as "history"—at this time, "history" was relatively close to the meaning of later historical works.
Back to our topic "How much moisture does Herodotus' History really have?" “
In fact, this "moisture" can only be squeezed out by our descendants when they read and think. At least in Herodotus's view, this is the first-hand information of other worlds at that time, but it is 100% pure [dry goods], and Tong Sou is not deceived.
Next, I want to talk to you about the "Ancient Greek Thought General Studies Class" that should have been the protagonist.
Although the full name of this book is "Ancient Greek Thought General Studies Class, Herodotus", the reader can completely regard it as a dehydration guide to Herodotus's "History", and the "dehydration" here refers to the author Zhang Xingang stripping away the mysterious part of the "History" we mentioned above, focusing on historical events and philosophical thinking as much as possible; and "Introduction" refers to the macroscopic analysis of the nine chapters according to the order of the chapters in "History".
Like History, the first half of the Ancient Greek General Studies of Thought, Herodotus, focuses on the politics and culture of various regions (including empires, city-states, nations, etc.), which involves polity (dictatorship or democracy), custom (here focusing on moral considerations), and derived philosophical thinking (what is "happiness").
The second half focuses on the history-affecting event of the Persian War, which begins with the causes and backgrounds of the war, through the Battle of Marathon, the Battle of Salamis, and the End of the Battle of Plataea and the Battle of Mikale.
Overall, the book," The Ancient Greek Thought Lesson in Herodotus, sets Herodotus as a thinker who explores the origin of order, a concept that seems to have been born out of the old maxim "order comes from chaos"—I remember it came from a Latin, but the original source can't be found.
Apples associated with happiness
It is worth saying that the laws or customs on which rule depends are essentially the establishment of an order; a happy life can also be understood as an orderly life, because misfortune and accident can be classified as "abnormalities caused by disorder"; similarly, freedom is also to find a balance in an order that can be seen or not seen.
In the Ancient Greek Thought Lesson Herodotus, the questions such as "What kind of person can be called a happy person?" What are the basic principles of domination? What does freedom mean for people and city-states? What are the constraints of customs? Was the conflict between Persia and Greece a conflict of interests or a war of freedom and slavery? "Such [propositions] are not an almost boring preaching, but borrow (perhaps true or false) history to observe human nature, think about order, and return to a kind of "rational inquiry."]
This kind of inquiry can be called "philosophy". To add to the content not mentioned earlier, in Herodotus's time, there was no clear distinction between the words "history" and "philosophy", and what the Ionians called στορρ η (history) was exactly what the Athenians called φιλοσοφ α (philosophy).
Therefore, whether you are too lazy to read Herodotus's long works, or just want to get a glimpse of the humanistic spirit of Herodotus's time, "Ancient Greek Thought General Studies Class: Herodotus" is a "stepping stone" for in-depth and simple.