Two ways to make history
Characters:
Theme: Main classical authors and literary genres: representative excerpts (Historiography)
Competencies
Competence in Linguistic Communication
Personal, social and learning to learn competence
Competence in cultural awareness and expressions
Subjects and year by Educational System
Spain > Classical culture > 3rd ESO > Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art and science
Enunciation
1.- The word history comes from the Greek ἱστορία and means "investigation or narration of what has been seen and is therefore known".
a.- Look up the definition in a dictionary and check if any of the meanings are close to the original meaning.
The first people who narrated their own travels and adventures were called logographers (λόγος "account" and γράφω "to write").
b.- Write down five words that derive from each Greek etym.
2.- The main authors of the classical period are Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon. Find the name of their works and, in the case of Xenophon (he produced a wide range of works), the work that continues the historical events narrated by Thucydides. Give a brief description of each.
3.- In the 12th century, Anna Comnena, a Byzantine princess of very wide culture, wrote in Attic Greek a history book about the reign of her father Alexius I, the Alexiad. In the preface she sets out her conception of history, as Thucydides did in chapters 1 and 22 of his book 1.
a.- Read the following fragment and establish a comparative table regarding the what, why and what for of their respective works.
For the latter, the object of his history is to narrate the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians (object), given the importance that Thucydides conjectures at the beginning that it was going to have because of the power that both contenders had achieved and because sooner or later it involved the whole of Greece and even the barbarians (motive), and to be of some use to those who wish to know what happened and what will happen according to the rules of human nature (aim). For Anna Comnena her Work narrates the deeds of her father (object), since if no one cares to preserve the memory of important events, they will be forgotten (motive) and so that future generations will know of his tasks and deeds (purpose).
Díaz Rolando, Emilio (1992). “Ana Comnena y la historiografia del periodo clásico: aproximacion a un debate”, Erytheia, 13, pp. 29-44, (retrieved on 19/11/2022),
b.- Which of the two works do you think is more objective and why?
c.- Both works are a reflection of the political and cultural situation in which their author and authoress lived. Thucydides lived, in the 5th century, in the polis of Athens and Ana Comnena, in the 12th century, at the court of Constantinople. Add next to each historical or social characteristic the political entity to which it refers: Athens , Sparta or Byzantine Empire.
- The regime of government was a military oligarchy headed by two kings.
- Flowering of philosophy, oratory, drama and historiography.
- Aristocratic women were noted for their artistic patronage: they commissioned luxurious manuscripts and founded churches and monasteries.
- The system of government was democratic.
- Society had a pyramidal structure with the basileus at the top.
- Women had more rights and more autonomy than women in any other city-state.
- They faced two powerful enemies: the Seljuk Turks and the Christian kingdoms of Western Europe.
- The five ephors controlled the other magistrates and the two kings.
- The Assembly was a gathering of citizens with full rights, excluding metecos, slaves and women.
Observations and context
Anna Comnena (12th century) was surrounded by a family circle of great women such as Irene Ducas (mother), Maria of Bulgaria (maternal grandmother), Anna Dalasena (paternal grandmother), and Maria of Alania (mother-in-law), who taught her everything she needed to know to stand out in the world of power and knowledge, thinking that she would be the empress of the great Byzantine Empire, a goal for which she fought all her life, without achieving it.
However, many other women achieved this rank and enjoyed immense political power, such as Theodora, the co-regent empress with Justinian, defender of women's rights (6th century); Irene, the first Byzantine empress to occupy the throne on her own (8th century) or Zoe, co-ruler with three different emperors and, for a short time, with her sister Theodora Porphyrogenet (11th century).
Aristocratic and imperial women also played an important role in Byzantine culture through their artistic patronage, some of them being writers: Anicia Juliana (5th-6th c.) sponsored the construction and decoration of the church of San Polieucto; Anna Comnena, besides being the author of the historical work the Alexiad, sponsored other scholars such as Eustratius of Nicaea; her contemporary Irene Sevastokratorissa commissioned the famous historian Constantine Manasses to write the text Synopsis Chronike, an account of the history of the world; the religious poet Cassia (9th c.) was one of the first female composers from whose works we preserve notated transcriptions, and Theodora Raulena (13th c.) wrote the Life of the iconodule brothers Theodore and Theophanes Grapti.
In the 12th century, outside the Byzantine sphere, we find innumerable women who excelled in different fields: the polymath Hildegard of Bingen, the philosopher Eloise of Paraclete, the writer of the Lais Mary of France, the troubadour Countess of Dia, the great scientist Trotula of Salerno or Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, among others.
The activity is proposed for 3rd of ESO in the block Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art and science, but it could also be done in 2nd of ESO. As Greek civilisation is studied in first year History and the Byzantine Empire is studied in second year, it would be a cross-cutting way of bringing both cultures, works and characters together.
Description
Introduction to historiography, reflection on its aims and comparison of two important figures: Thucydides and Anna Comnena.