Roman Historiography

1. ROMAN
HISTORIOGRAPHY

2. The Romans did not develop a genuine
historical writing of their own, instead they
imitated the historical writings of the Greeks.
Most of the early Roman historians were wrote
not in their own language Latin but in Greek. It
was with the Greek historian Polybius that the
tradition of historical writing passed over to the
Romans.

3. The general historical approach of the
Romans was imitative, pragmatic,
descriptive and utilitarian. It is often stated
that the Romans made history, but not
recorded history.When they started writing
history all they could do was to put the
Roman history in the Greek framework.

4. Early Roman Historians

5. Fabius Pictor
The Roman historical writing was started with the
work called ‘History’ by Fabius Pictor of the third
century BC.Though the work was intended to
depict the history of Rome, it could only narrate
the genealogy of the nobles of his family.
However his work proved quite useful for the
later historians of Rome.

6. Porcius Cato (Cato the Elder) (234-149 BC)
Porcius Cato was another early Roman
historian who initiated the real Roman
historical writing. He was a high Roman
official in the Roman Government and so
he had easy access to official
documents.

7. His work ‘Origines’ in seven volumes was
considered as a national work. He stated that the
main aim of his work was to inculcate patriotism,
morality and good habits among the youth. He
confined his narrative to political affairs only and
ignored all other aspects. His work throw light
upon the contemporary Roman customs,
topography, law, language,institutions,religion etc.

8. Sempronius Asellio
Asellio wrote more than a dozen books
during first century BC., in which he tried
to analyse the causes and results of the
historical events that took place in the
early Roman Empire.

9. Julius Ceasar
The versatile Julius Ceasar was a historian
also. His ‘Commentaries on the Gallic War’ in
seven books is the deliberate political
propaganda of influencing public opinion in his
favour.The period followed Ceasar’s death was
rich in historical literature in Rome.

10. Great Roman Historians
Titus Livy and Cornelius Tacitus were the
two great Roman historians and are
generally regarded as the Herodotus and
Thucydides of Rome, respectively

11. Titus Livy (BC 59-AD 17)