How History Emerged from Myth
According to author Donald R. Kelley, history emerged from myth and forced itself into stories and legends until it gained full insight (Kelley, 1) But when exactly did this happen? Was it during the time of Machiavelli, the well-known Italian Renaissance historian? Or Voltaire, the famous French writer and historian during the Enlightenment era? Or is there an understanding of it still being gained in the current century? This question will probably never gain a definite answer. As long as there are people around to record it, the subject of history will forever be changing and gaining wisdom and knowledge by those studying and trying to perfect the art of crafting it (Kelley, 1). The main purpose of this essay is to take a closer look at how the mythologies of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks influenced their ways of writing history. It will also discuss a few of the key players that are attributed with the founding of history and the creation of what we now know as historiography.
What is History?
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What specifically qualifies as history? Arguably, the biggest form of history is myth. A myth or traditional story by definition, concerns the early history of a group of people, and helps to explain some sort of natural or social occurrence. Another example of this would be an epic poem, primarily associated with the ancient Greek author Homer, in which they typically discuss heroic deeds and events that are significant to the culture of the poet. Lists of priests and kings are also important forms of recorded history, because they each kept track of significant people within various societies. Finally, the last noteworthy form of history is chronology, which observes the arrangement of events and keeps them all in order by the dates they occurred on. All of these genres became a form of history before the term and concept of “history” even existed (Kelley, 3). Another point that Kelley makes is that we are never fully able to see past our own prejudices with either history or myth, but when it comes to “working on myth” or “historicizing”, our prejudices allow us to remain critical of our work and question the sources we are using. Without our deepest prejudices in our minds, we wouldn’t be able to write history in the clearest way possible, especially when including mythologies in the mix (Kelley, 1).
The Art of Writing History
The ability to write history effectively involves three important factors: scope, method, and purpose. The first important factor, Scope, implicates subject matter, chronology, geography, and historical evidence that has been passed down through the generations verbally(oral histories), or was written down by scribes, which historians have found to be worthy or useful of making note of. The second factor, method, comprises the means of gathering the above-mentioned information and making sense of it; Even re-writing it if necessary, primarily to bring it into the public sphere. Finally, the third important factor is purpose. Purpose involves the value claimed for the study of history, which would later become known as the philosophy of history. That is, history that takes a more theoretical approach. All three of these aspects can be projected on a small or large scale and can be intended for local or global usage, dependent on the historian and what his/her goals are for their work (Kelley, 7). These three concepts are important because they help us to understand and figure out the central beliefs and customs of different cultures across a broad timeframe.
The Ancient Egyptians
Historians have always attempted to relate human behavior and human nature with its environment, which also includes social and natural contexts that help to locate and distinguish it from other cultures and communities (Kelley, 8). The ancient Egyptians are considered one of the main groups who have supplied many examples of historical inquiry and interpretations for historians over the course of time because they were a society that held a vast interest in the origins of the universe. More specifically, the ancient Egyptians placed great value in their gods, genealogies, chronologies, victories over their enemies, and the afterlife. The Palermo Stone is one example of their efforts to record their history. The stone contains inscriptions of regnal lists on one of six fragments of a giant slab. If the slab were to be put back together today, it would undoubtedly contain a series of annals, in which, it would display the most prominent events of ancient Egyptian culture up to the middle of the fifth dynasty, which would include monarchs, important festivals, and even information on the Nile River (Brown, 10). Social memory during the time of the ancient Egyptians was embodied in architecture and funeral remains. Pyramids and monuments (such as the Palermo Stone) were also used as a way of recording ancient Egyptian myths, which ultimately aided in the preservation of memories (Kelley, 13-14).
The Methods of Manetho
Manetho was a priest during the reigns of Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II, who lived in Sebennytos (the capital of ancient Egypt) during the thirtieth Dynasty, and is credited with writing the Aegyptiaca. Commissioned by Ptolemy II, the Aegyptiaca is a collection of three books that discuss the history of ancient Egypt. It has been said that Ptolemy II wanted Manetho to compose these books to attempt to bring the Egyptian and Hellenistic cultures together. Manetho’s writings referred to the Egyptian gods, demigods, the spirit’s of the dead, as well as chronicled the worldly kings who ruled over ancient Egypt (Manetho, 3). More specifically, he discusses five Egyptian societies that ended up creating thirty dynasties, all of which included gods, demigods, and mortal beings (Manetho, 11). Since Manetho was a priest, he had easy access to a vast amount of different writings, most likely including myths, folklores, and even information on magical practices. For this reason, it is easy to see why Manetho mixed his available sources of the factual history of Egypt together with its mythologies. Perhaps the most special thing about the Aegyptiaca is that it has not yet been found; but rather, has been mentioned by the reputable early Christian historian, Josephus. This is most likely because Hebrew chronologies and ancient Egyptian chronologies tend to match up almost precisely (Manetho, 7), which could indicate why someone like Josephus refers back to Manetho in his own works.
Ptahhotep and Ancient Egyptian Wisdom Literature
Ptahhotep was an ancient Egyptian vizier who lived during the late twenty-fifth and early twenty-fourth centuries BC, during the reign of Pharaoh Djedkare. He is known today for his writings in ancient Egyptian wisdom literature. He is credited with writing The Maxims of Ptahhotep, which was used mostly by the young men of powerful families who would someday hold high political positions within their societies. Ptahhotep’s sayings stressed the importance of achieving one’s own obligations, remaining humble, being faithful, and being able to speak up or remain silent when necessary.Because the ancient Egyptians believed that age meant authority, with the idea that, the oldest members of society were the most knowledgeable; Ptahhotep portrayed in his maxims that, the young men receiving his instructions were therefore receiving the ancient wisdom and philosophies of their ancestors, just as he had done before them, and so on and so forth (Asante, 44). The Maxims of Ptahhotep is arguably the oldest and largest piece of ancient Egyptian wisdom literature still in existence, and is therefore a very important work to modern-day historians and scholars alike. It is just one example of ancient Egyptian recorded history that places importance on chronology, and it also gives evidence to the morals that the ancient Egyptians placed great value on within their culture.
The Greeks
Philosophy and science made Greece the starting point for the story of the human condition in time (Kelley, 13). Proto-historiographical forms of writing in Greek culture included: Genealogy, a line of descent traced continuously from a specific ancestor. Geography, the study of human activity, including the distribution of populations and resources over time, Ethnography, the scientific description of the customs of different cultures and groups of people, and local history, the study of the patterns and behavior of the people in one’s own community. Like the Egyptians, the Greeks also expressed an interest in chronology. The objective for many of the first Greek historiographers was to go back as far as they possibly could, and attempt to combine both mythological events from the past with more recent events. By doing this, they were attempting to create a more harmonized chronology of their culture (Calame, 19). [Hellanicus] (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hellanicus-of-Lesbos), a contemporary Greek writer, attempted to create a comparative study of the chronologies of the Greeks and barbarian tribes, but was ultimately unable to remove the mythical aspects from his work to make it more historically accurate (Kelley, 15). This tells us that although the ancient Greeks were aware of the issues of myth early on, it was sometimes so difficult to break away from including it in their histories, that many had to ultimately abandon their work. Some examples of Greek mythology in literature that are still important today include both myths and teachings about Greek gods and heroes (think back to Homer), as well as the origins and importance of their own rituals and culture, and the nature of the world.
Herodotus and the Founding of History
Herodotus, known as the “father of history” and the “father of lies,” was a Greek historian who greatly enjoyed recording history by means of story-telling. The fact that he was a little too ambitious with his writings and made up many inaccurate details about different cultures heavily links him to the subjects of both myth and history. He was, however, the first historian to systematically collect sources, test the legitimacy of them (to an extent), and arranged his materials into well-constructed narratives/tales. He was also the first person to present the concept of a thesis into his writings. His large-scale historical narrative has managed to survive throughout the centuries, and still influences the ways in which history is recorded today (Kelley, 2-6). Herodotus was born in the Greek city of Halicarnassus in the year 484 BC to a wealthy merchant family. As an adult, he spent most of his time traveling through many Persian territories including Egypt, Babylon, Syria, and Palestine. Herodotus made a point of keeping track of and recording all the different myths, legends, and oral histories from the countries he visited. He spent the majority of his life working on The Histories, originally published in 440 BC. In his works, Herodotus attempted to explain why the Persian Wars happened, or more specifically, what exactly caused both sides to want to fight against one another. He tried to explain the how and the why of the Persian Wars by giving firsthand accounts of the events of the war, but he also included myths and legends that he had recorded during his travels with his historical writings. Although it can be interpreted that Herodotus did realize that the memories and stories that he was writing down were not always entirely true, he believed nonetheless, that they needed to be told so that they would be preserved for others to inquire about in the future (Mali, 1).
Thucydides and the Perfecting of History
Thucydides, known as the “second founding father of history,” concentrated his efforts on politics and the military. His writings on the History of the Peloponnesian War rejected the story-telling narrative that Herodotus was so fond of, and eventually coined the term the Thucydidean Model, which included eyewitness testimony, personal experience, and observable facts (amongst other things) as a way of recording history. He approached his studies in a more analytical manner, thus allowing his readers to come up with their own conclusions from his works. Thucydides can be seen as the first historian who really attempted to distinguish myth from history through his work (Kelley, 2-6). Not much is known about Thucydides except for what is mentioned in his own works. He was born in the year 460 BC in Halimos, a suburb of Athens. In 424 BC, he was put in charge of a military fleet, but failed to reach the city of Amphipolis in time to stop the Spartans from seizing it, and was exiled for 20 years. It was during these 20 years that Thucydides was able to research, collect data, and really perfect his historical analysis of the Peloponnesian War. Unlike Herodotus, Thucydides makes little to no references of the interference of the Greek gods in important historical events, instead choosing to look specifically at the human causes of war and conflict. By using this method, he determined that the only logical reason for Athens falling to the Spartans was because of poor leadership and his societies moral decline. Arguably, it was Thucydides who set the path for future historiographers who concerned themselves with only recording what they believed to be true and disregarding anything that could not be proven through a series of tactics created to attain the facts.
Truth, Memory, and the Issues They Pose
The most essential theme to survive constant changes in language, culture, ideology, and human values is the issue of truth, but can we ever discover what truth really means? For starters, truth has always exhibited different natures and histories, but each meaning is somehow always united into one single idea. That idea is that truth is not a static value, and therefore, it has its’ own kind of purpose (Kelley, 10-11). Concluding the truth depends on one’s perspective, and how they interpret the information that is given to them. What one person views as the truth could be another person’s proof of a lie. We see this within the aforementioned ancient Egyptian and Greek cultures.
The experience of passing time cannot be captured, except for in language, which unfortunately offers a poor representation of individual memories and knowledge. History is often regarded to as a combination of different memories, but this causes more problems than it solves because memory is selective. For example; A huge problem that modern-day historians have to take into consideration is that stories that have been passed down through different generations have been changed multiple times, which makes it difficult to distinguish the made-up parts from the parts that actually did occur (Kelley, 11). This is an especially difficult task to undertake, considering we now know that many ancient historians/historiographers such as Manetho and Herodotus were aware that they were including mythologies in their narratives and still called it “history” because they felt that both factual and fictional aspects of their cultures and experiences needed to be chronicled. Keeping that in mind, it is vital for aspiring modern-day scholars to investigate as many sources as possible, and question the legitimacy of almost everything. If there is one thing we can all surely learn from the founding of history and historiography, it is that the absolute truth of an event may not ever be completely attainable, but we must still do our best to tell the story with the evidence that we do have.
Works Cited
Asante, Molefi Kete. 2000. The Egyptian Philosophers: Ancient African Voices from Imhotep to Akhenaten. Molefi Asante.
Brown, Brian. 1923. The Wisdom of the Egyptians. Brentano’s Inc.
Calame, Claude. 2003. Myth and History in Ancient Greece: The Symbolic Creation of a Colony. Translated by Daniel W. Berman. Princeton University Press.
Kelley, Donald R. 1998. Faces of History: From Herodotus to Herder. Yale University Press.
Mali, Joseph. 2003. Mythistory: The Making of a Modern Historiography . The University of Chicago Press.
Manetho. 1940. Manetho. Translated by W.G. Waddell. Harvard University Press.
Images
Figure 1: courtesy of History.com.
Figure 2: courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
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