| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
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Written records began being kept from the seventh century. The church created many of the earlier documents such as ‘historical’ records of saints and annals as well as records of the royal family and genealogies. The Venerable Bede created many works including, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (c. 731 CE), verse and prose on the life and St. Cuthbert, and the Martyrology, a list of saints. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was created during the reign of Alfred the Great (r.871–899)
[1]
“This process of re-valuation has, however, encouraged several authors to imagine that sub-Roman Britain, in its entirety, retained a significant political, economic and military momentum across the fifth century and even the bulk of the sixth. This in large part stems from attempts to develop visions of an Arthurian era of British success against the incoming Anglo-Saxons, as suggested by the Historia Brittonum of 829–30, and the Annales Cambriae of the mid-tenth century.”
[2]
[1]: (Yorke 1990: 20, 22, 26) York, Barbara. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203447307. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YXTNCWJN [2]: (Higham 2004: 3) Higham, Nick. ‘From Sub-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Debating the Insular Dark Ages’, History Compass 2, no. 1 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2004.00085.x. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XZT7A79K |
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There was a disruption of literary works in the Turkic languages following the Black Death. After 1360 there appear to be no literary or religious works written in the Golden Horde language until the fifteenth century in Central Asia.
[1]
[1]: Schamiloglu 2017: 337. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YI8W94QB |
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"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition."
[1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3. |
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SCCS variable 149 ’Writing and Records’ is coded as ‘1’ or ‘None’, not ‘Mnemonic devices’, or ‘Nonwritten records’, or ’True writing, no records’, or ‘True writing; records’
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SCCS variable 149 ’Writing and Records’ is coded as ‘1’ or ‘None’, not ‘Mnemonic devices’, or ‘Nonwritten records’, or ’True writing, no records’, or ‘True writing; records’.
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SCCS variable 149 ’Writing and Records’ lists no mnemonic devices or nonwritten records or ’True writing, no writing’
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SCCS variable 149 ’Writing and Records’ lists no mnemonic devices or nonwritten records or ’True writing, no writing’ We need to ascertain what Shira means by ’secular literature’.
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There are lack of evidences suggesting that the writing system has been already invented.
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"The great organisations of the first phase of urbanisation rose to prominence without writing. The latter developed relatively quickly as a response to these institutions’ needs."
[1]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 73) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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"The great organisations of the first phase of urbanisation rose to prominence without writing. The latter developed relatively quickly as a response to these institutions’ needs."
[1]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 73) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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After the introduction of Christianity, historiographic literature developed: ’According to most authors writing was introduced to Iceland when the country was Christianized in the year 1000. In the two centuries that followed, writing was used for many purposes: religious works, a grammar, a law book and a short history. Most of the family sagas were written in the thirteenth century. The saga with which I am concerned, Eyrbyggja saga (ÍF 4), is commonly believed to have been written between 1230-1250 (Schach & Hollander 1959:xx). I shall deal only with a part of this saga, which I have called the Þórgunna story (ÍF 4, ch. 49-55). I consider the Þórgunna story a myth. Anthropologists believe that myths contain hidden messages in symbolic forms. According to Malinowski (1926) myths are social charters. Lévi-Strauss (1963) argues that myths have a binary structure and that their oppositions explore contradictions in social and other relations.’
[1]
The Book of Icelanders is one example: ’Ari Thorgilsson lived from 1068 to 1148. A priest, he wrote the Book of Icelanders, a chronicle of events and people from the first settlement in 870 to 1120. He mentioned the names of his informants and that he selected them for their clearness of mind, good memories, and relationship to the events, much as Lewellyn and Hoebel (1941) assessed their sources for accounts of Cheyenne trouble cases. Ari recorded that in 1117 the general assembly decided to revise and record the laws at the house of Haflidi Másson according to what Bergÿórr, the lawspeaker, responsible for memorizing and reciting the body of law, and other knowledgeable men agreed was law. They would announce the law the next summer and would keep those which were not opposed by a majority. This lawbook has not survived. There were several written versions of law because Grágás specifies that what is found in books is to be taken as law. If the books differ, then the books of the bishops are to be preferred. If their books differ, then the longer would prevail. If both were equally long and differed, then the book at Skálholt would be used. It specified that everything in Haflidi’s book would be accepted unless it had been modified since (Stein-Wilkeshuis 1986).’
[2]
’The writing of history in Iceland is thought to have commenced with Íslendingabók written between 1122-1133. From then on there was a growing abundance of native written historical works (sagas), both about Icelandic and Scandinavian history (and even some examples of European/world history).’
[3]
[1]: Odner, Knut 1992. “Þógunna’S Testament: A Myth For Moral Contemplation And Social Apathy”, 125 [2]: Durrenberger, E. Paul 1992. “Law And Literature In Medieval Iceland", 32 [3]: Árni Daniel Júlíusson and Axel Kristissen 2017, pers. comm. to E. Brandl and D. Mullins |
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Detailed documentation of life in the Valley of Oaxaca were written only after the Spanish conquest in the 1520s.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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The first written records in the Valley of Oaxaca are from the Rosario phase (700-500 BCE).
[1]
[2]
Written records are therefore coded as absent for this period.
[1]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (1983). "The Cloud People." New York. [2]: Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London. |
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Written records were introduced by colonial authorities and missions.
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Certainly absent.
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One of the first known Arab historians Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (737 AD-819 CE) relied on oral traditions of the Arabs, Biblical and Palmyran sources.
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"None of the native peoples developed a system of writing comparable to that of the Mayas, and much less would the Spaniards encounter a native empire such as that of either the Aztecs or Incas. By 1500 A.D., the most advanced of the indigenous peoples were two Chibcha groups: the Taironas and the Muiscas."
[1]
[1]: (Hudson 2010, 5) |
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None of the native peoples developed a system of writing comparable to that of the Mayas, and much less would the Spaniards encounter a native empire such as that of either the Aztecs or Incas. By 1500 A.D., the most advanced of the indigenous peoples were two Chibcha groups: the Taironas and the Muiscas."
[1]
[1]: (Hudson 2010, 5) |
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The earliest phonetic hieroglyphic writing was found in the tomb J at the Abytos Cemetary U - on the pottery vessels and small bone/ivory labels
[1]
. They are dated to Naqada IIIA. But it should be noticed that already in Naqada I, signs similar to hieroglyphs have been found, especially on the pottery vessels (pot marks). However "none of these signs hints at the existence of phonograms, phonetic complements or detenninatives" and "the absence of an important component of the hieroglyphic writing system does not allow us to designate these signs as "hieroglyphic writing""
[2]
. It can be rather treated as an abstract symbolic system
[3]
[1]: Köhler, E. C. "Theories of State Formation". [in:] Wendrich, W. [ed.]. Egyptian Archaeology. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing. pg: 41. [2]: Kahl, J. "Hieroglyphic Writing During the Fourth Millennium BC: an Analysis of Systems". Archeo-NiI 11 (2001); 122, 124. [3]: Meza, A. 2012. ANCIENT EGYPT BEFORE WRITING: From Markings to Hieroglyphs. Bloomington: Xlibris Corporation. pg: 25. |
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The earliest phonetic hieroglyphic writing was found in the tomb J at the Abytos Cemetary U - on the pottery vessels and small bone/ivory labels
[1]
. They are dated to Naqada IIIA. But it should be noticed that already in Naqada I, signs similar to hieroglyphs have been found, especially on the pottery vessels (pot marks). However "none of these signs hints at the existence of phonograms, phonetic complements or detenninatives" and "the absence of an important component of the hieroglyphic writing system does not allow us to designate these signs as "hieroglyphic writing""
[2]
. It can be rather treated as an abstract symbolic system
[3]
[1]: Köhler, E. C. "Theories of State Formation". [in:] Wendrich, W. [ed.]. Egyptian Archaeology. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing. pg: 41. [2]: Kahl, J. "Hieroglyphic Writing During the Fourth Millennium BC: an Analysis of Systems". Archeo-NiI 11 (2001); 122, 124. [3]: Meza, A. 2012. ANCIENT EGYPT BEFORE WRITING: From Markings to Hieroglyphs. Bloomington: Xlibris Corporation. pg: 25. |
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SCCS variable 149 ’Writing and Records’ is coded as ‘1’ or ‘None’, not ‘Mnemonic devices’, or ‘Nonwritten records’, or ’True writing, no records’, or ‘True writing; records’
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"The great organisations of the first phase of urbanisation rose to prominence without writing. The latter developed relatively quickly as a response to these institutions’ needs."
[1]
Liverani says the so-called "urban revolution" of the Uruk phase occurred 3800-3000 BCE.
[2]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 73) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 69-70) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
"The great organisations of the first phase of urbanisation rose to prominence without writing. The latter developed relatively quickly as a response to these institutions’ needs."
[1]
Liverani says the so-called "urban revolution" of the Uruk phase occurred 3800-3000 BCE.
[2]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 73) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 69-70) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
"The great organisations of the first phase of urbanisation rose to prominence without writing. The latter developed relatively quickly as a response to these institutions’ needs."
[1]
Liverani says the so-called "urban revolution" of the Uruk phase occurred 3800-3000 BCE.
[2]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 73) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 69-70) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
"The great organisations of the first phase of urbanisation rose to prominence without writing. The latter developed relatively quickly as a response to these institutions’ needs."
[1]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 73) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
"The great organisations of the first phase of urbanisation rose to prominence without writing. The latter developed relatively quickly as a response to these institutions’ needs."
[1]
Liverani says the so-called "urban revolution" of the Uruk phase occurred 3800-3000 BCE.
[2]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 73) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 69-70) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
"The great organisations of the first phase of urbanisation rose to prominence without writing. The latter developed relatively quickly as a response to these institutions’ needs."
[1]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 73) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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|
"To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche."
[1]
perhaps with Buddhism from 552 CE? "The earliest Japanese imperial chronicles, that is, the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, were completed in AD 712 and 720, and included compilations of various historical records as well as ancestral legends dating back to ancient times".
[2]
[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11) [2]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 32) Mizoguchi, Koji. 2013. The Archaeology of Japan: From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge University Press. |
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Glyphs dating to this period have been deciphered as either calendrical dates or the names of prisoners. Sources do not suggest that evidence for other types of writing has been found.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D."
[1]
"The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events."
[2]
Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao.
[3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York. [3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D."
[1]
"The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events."
[2]
Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao.
[3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York. [3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D."
[1]
"The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events."
[2]
Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao.
[3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York. [3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D."
[1]
"The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events."
[2]
Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao.
[3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York. [3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. |
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"According to the Sanguo zhi [Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms], because Kebineng’s lands were near the Chinese border, many Chinese people (Zhongguo ren 中國人) fled the warlord depredations of late Han and Three Kingdoms China to join Kebineng, teaching the Xianbei how to make Chinese-style arms and armor, and even introducing some literacy."
[1]
[1]: (Holcombe 2013, 7-8) |
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|
"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D."
[1]
"The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events."
[2]
Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao.
[3]
[1]: (Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York. [3]: (Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. |
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|
Glyphs dating to this period have been deciphered as either calendrical dates or the names of prisoners. Sources do not suggest that evidence for other types of writing has been found.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Glyphs dating to this period have been deciphered as either calendrical dates or the names of prisoners. Sources do not suggest that evidence for other types of writing has been found.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Glyphs dating to this period have been deciphered as either calendrical dates or the names of prisoners. Sources do not suggest that evidence for other types of writing has been found.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Genealogical registers of noble ancestry (including important marriages, and sometimes important life events of individuals) were recorded in stone during this period. Also carved glyphs denoting calendrical dates. Sources do not suggest that evidence for other types of writing has been found.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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|
Glyphs dating to this period have been deciphered as either calendrical dates or the names of prisoners. Sources do not suggest that evidence for other types of writing has been found.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Spencer, C. S. and E. M. Redmond (2004). "Primary state formation in Mesoamerica." Annual Review of Anthropology: 173-199, p179 [2]: Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London, p130 |
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|
The first written records in the Valley of Oaxaca are from the Rosario phase (700-500 BCE).
[1]
[2]
Written records are therefore coded as absent for this period.
[1]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (1983). "The Cloud People." New York. [2]: Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London. |
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|
SCCS variable 149 ’Writing and Records’ is coded as ‘1’ or ‘None’, not ‘Mnemonic devices’, or ‘Nonwritten records’, or ’True writing, no records’, or ‘True writing; records’
|
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|
Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley.
[1]
While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing.
[2]
[1]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51. [2]: , C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. |
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|
"The Indus civilization flourished for around five hundred to seven hundred years, and in the early second millennium it disintegrated. This collapse was marked by the disappearance of the features that had distinguished the Indus civilization from its predecessors: writing, city dwelling, some kind of central control, international trade, occupational specialization, and widely distributed standardized artifacts. [...] Writing was no longer used, though occasionally signs were scratched as graffiti on pottery."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2008, 91-92) Jane McIntosh. 2008. The Ancient Indus Civilization. Oxford; Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio. |
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|
"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition."
[1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZMFH42PE. |
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|
One of the first known Arab historians Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (737 AD-819 CE) relied on oral traditions of the Arabs, Biblical and Palmyran sources.
|
||||||
|
"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition."
[1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3. |
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|
The following quote suggests that a Yoruba written alphabet was invented in the nineteenth century. "Àjàyí[...] returned in 1841 to the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Biafra. Now officially known as Samuel Crowther, he [...] was the architect of Yorùbá modernization through his efforts as a linguist to reduce the Yorùbá language to writing, a major revolution in Yorùbá cultural and intellectual history. His accomplishments in this regard included the translation of the Bible into Yorùbá and the development of the first Yorùbá dictionary."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 391) |
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The following quote suggests that a Yoruba written alphabet was invented in the nineteenth century. "Àjàyí[...] returned in 1841 to the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Biafra. Now officially known as Samuel Crowther, he [...] was the architect of Yorùbá modernization through his efforts as a linguist to reduce the Yorùbá language to writing, a major revolution in Yorùbá cultural and intellectual history. His accomplishments in this regard included the translation of the Bible into Yorùbá and the development of the first Yorùbá dictionary."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 391) |
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|
The following quote suggests that a Yoruba written alphabet was invented in the nineteenth century. "Àjàyí[...] returned in 1841 to the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Biafra. Now officially known as Samuel Crowther, he [...] was the architect of Yorùbá modernization through his efforts as a linguist to reduce the Yorùbá language to writing, a major revolution in Yorùbá cultural and intellectual history. His accomplishments in this regard included the translation of the Bible into Yorùbá and the development of the first Yorùbá dictionary."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 391) |
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“Unfortunately, the Jukun people recorded their history neither in writing nor in ’drum history’.66 [Footnote 66: Drummers and singers are the bearers of the oral traditions of many communities in West Africa. Historical accounts are usually preserved in the form of songs and citations, and are passed down from father to son in the families of the traditional bards of griots.]”
[1]
[1]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann ; University of California Press: 282. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection |
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“In Allada the local people, it was noted in 1670, in the absence of writing used knotted strings to keep records of various matters, including commercial transactions (“the price of goods”).”
[1]
[1]: Austin, Gareth, et al. “Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, 2001, p. 144: 33. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SPXH2IUW/collection |
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|
The following quote suggests that a Yoruba written alphabet was invented in the nineteenth century. "Àjàyí[...] returned in 1841 to the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Biafra. Now officially known as Samuel Crowther, he [...] was the architect of Yorùbá modernization through his efforts as a linguist to reduce the Yorùbá language to writing, a major revolution in Yorùbá cultural and intellectual history. His accomplishments in this regard included the translation of the Bible into Yorùbá and the development of the first Yorùbá dictionary."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 391) |
||||||
|
The following quote suggests that a Yoruba written alphabet was invented in the nineteenth century. "Àjàyí[...] returned in 1841 to the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Biafra. Now officially known as Samuel Crowther, he [...] was the architect of Yorùbá modernization through his efforts as a linguist to reduce the Yorùbá language to writing, a major revolution in Yorùbá cultural and intellectual history. His accomplishments in this regard included the translation of the Bible into Yorùbá and the development of the first Yorùbá dictionary."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 391) |
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|
“The question as to the manner in which a record of the age of these children was kept by a people who had no writing, poses itself here.”
[1]
[1]: HERSKOVITS, M. J. (1932). POPULATION STATISTICS IN THE KINGDOM OF DAHOMEY. Human Biology, 4(2), 252–261: 258. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/8T74FM7D/collection |
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It seems that the earliest historical writing produced in Uganda dates to the beginning of the British colonial period. "There developed some rich early historiographies in Africa and some, namely the early historical writing which had started to be produced in the kingdom of Buganda and to a lesser extent in the kingdom of Bunyoro and among some other neighbouring peoples since the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, have continued to thrive."
[1]
[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2016: 193) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WMEMW3T7. |
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|
"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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|
It seems that the earliest historical writing produced in Uganda dates to the beginning of the British colonial period. "There developed some rich early historiographies in Africa and some, namely the early historical writing which had started to be produced in the kingdom of Buganda and to a lesser extent in the kingdom of Bunyoro and among some other neighbouring peoples since the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, have continued to thrive."
[1]
[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2016: 193) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WMEMW3T7. |
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|
The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which Karagwe formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic."
[1]
[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection. |
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Languages spoken in this polity were turned into "written artefacts" only in the colonial period: "Before the arrival of the Europeans, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi were already employed in both kingdoms – Ikinyanduga in southern Rwanda and Ikiruundi in central Burundi – yet with a lot less linguistic unity in the two kingdoms than in (post)colonial times. The missionary and colonial interventions, therefore, rather focused on lexicon, resulting in status planning initiatives and contributing to the compilation of dictionaries, favouring a specific dialect over others. [...] The most salient and visible adaptations were a part of the primarily orthographic alignments of textualisation processes (turning languages into written artefacts)."
[1]
[1]: (Nassenstein 2019: 16-17) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/QUT3P5UT/collection. |
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It seems that the earliest historical writing produced in Uganda dates to the beginning of the British colonial period. "There developed some rich early historiographies in Africa and some, namely the early historical writing which had started to be produced in the kingdom of Buganda and to a lesser extent in the kingdom of Nkore and among some other neighbouring peoples since the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, have continued to thrive."
[1]
[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2016: 193) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WMEMW3T7. |
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Languages spoken in Rwanda were turned into "written artefacts" only in the colonial period: "Before the arrival of the Europeans, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi were already employed in both kingdoms – Ikinyanduga in southern Rwanda and Ikiruundi in central Burundi – yet with a lot less linguistic unity in the two kingdoms than in (post)colonial times. The missionary and colonial interventions, therefore, rather focused on lexicon, resulting in status planning initiatives and contributing to the compilation of dictionaries, favouring a specific dialect over others. [...] The most salient and visible adaptations were a part of the primarily orthographic alignments of textualisation processes (turning languages into written artefacts)."
[1]
[1]: (Nassenstein 2019: 16-17) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/QUT3P5UT/collection. |
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|
"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
Languages spoken in this polity were turned into "written artefacts" only in the colonial period: "Before the arrival of the Europeans, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi were already employed in both kingdoms – Ikinyanduga in southern Rwanda and Ikiruundi in central Burundi – yet with a lot less linguistic unity in the two kingdoms than in (post)colonial times. The missionary and colonial interventions, therefore, rather focused on lexicon, resulting in status planning initiatives and contributing to the compilation of dictionaries, favouring a specific dialect over others. [...] The most salient and visible adaptations were a part of the primarily orthographic alignments of textualisation processes (turning languages into written artefacts)."
[2]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. [2]: (Nassenstein 2019: 16-17) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/QUT3P5UT/collection. |
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|
Languages spoken in Rwanda were turned into "written artefacts" only in the colonial period: "Before the arrival of the Europeans, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi were already employed in both kingdoms – Ikinyanduga in southern Rwanda and Ikiruundi in central Burundi – yet with a lot less linguistic unity in the two kingdoms than in (post)colonial times. The missionary and colonial interventions, therefore, rather focused on lexicon, resulting in status planning initiatives and contributing to the compilation of dictionaries, favouring a specific dialect over others. [...] The most salient and visible adaptations were a part of the primarily orthographic alignments of textualisation processes (turning languages into written artefacts)."
[1]
[1]: (Nassenstein 2019: 16-17) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/QUT3P5UT/collection. |
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|
Languages spoken in Rwanda were turned into "written artefacts" only in the colonial period: "Before the arrival of the Europeans, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi were already employed in both kingdoms – Ikinyanduga in southern Rwanda and Ikiruundi in central Burundi – yet with a lot less linguistic unity in the two kingdoms than in (post)colonial times. The missionary and colonial interventions, therefore, rather focused on lexicon, resulting in status planning initiatives and contributing to the compilation of dictionaries, favouring a specific dialect over others. [...] The most salient and visible adaptations were a part of the primarily orthographic alignments of textualisation processes (turning languages into written artefacts)."
[1]
[1]: (Nassenstein 2019: 16-17) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/QUT3P5UT/collection. |
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|
The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic."
[1]
[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection. |
||||||
|
Languages spoken in Rwanda were turned into "written artefacts" only in the colonial period: "Before the arrival of the Europeans, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi were already employed in both kingdoms – Ikinyanduga in southern Rwanda and Ikiruundi in central Burundi – yet with a lot less linguistic unity in the two kingdoms than in (post)colonial times. The missionary and colonial interventions, therefore, rather focused on lexicon, resulting in status planning initiatives and contributing to the compilation of dictionaries, favouring a specific dialect over others. [...] The most salient and visible adaptations were a part of the primarily orthographic alignments of textualisation processes (turning languages into written artefacts)."
[1]
[1]: (Nassenstein 2019: 16-17) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/QUT3P5UT/collection. |
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|
It seems that the earliest historical writing produced in Uganda dates to the beginning of the British colonial period. "There developed some rich early historiographies in Africa and some, namely the early historical writing which had started to be produced in the kingdom of Buganda and to a lesser extent in the kingdom of Nkore and among some other neighbouring peoples since the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, have continued to thrive."
[1]
"While there were no official historians or court genealogists, men of good memory were present to advise on matters of precedent and propriety."
[2]
[1]: (Pawliková-Vilhanová 2016: 193) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WMEMW3T7. [2]: (Steinhart 1978: 143) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection. |
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The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which Buhaya formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic."
[1]
[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection. |
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In discussing available sources, Green only mentions oral traditions and accounts written by outsiders.
[1]
Note, too, that no written records exist of as significant an event as the fall of this polity at the so-called "Battle of Kansala", which perhaps also suggests the absence of a written historical tradition: "So far as is known, no Mandinka or Fula who Kansala" recorded their experiences, nor did European officials or traders mention the conflict in contemporaneous government records or commercial accounts."
[2]
[1]: (Green 2009) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/V2GTBN8A/collection. [2]: (Brooks 2007: 57) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TT7FC2RX/collection. |
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The following quote implies that indigenous writing emerged in the region in the 19th century. "The first documented autochthonous, Mande script to appear in West Africa was the one created by Duala Bukere from Grand Cape Mount County in Liberia who created a Vai syllabary in 1833, which has been standardized to 212 characters (Dalby, 1967: 14-18). [...] Appearing first in the region, the Vai syllabary became the prototype for other writing systems that were created in the inter-wars among indigenous peoples in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Speakers of southern Mande languages such as the Mende (1921) and the Kpelle (1935), and speakers of the Kru languages such as the Bassa (1920-25) have based their writing systems on the syllabary (Dalby, 1967: 2-4)."
[1]
[1]: (Oyler 2001: 75) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/X7HQWWH9/collection. |
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The following quote implies that indigenous writing emerged in the region in the 19th century. "The first documented autochthonous, Mande script to appear in West Africa was the one created by Duala Bukere from Grand Cape Mount County in Liberia who created a Vai syllabary in 1833, which has been standardized to 212 characters (Dalby, 1967: 14-18). [...] Appearing first in the region, the Vai syllabary became the prototype for other writing systems that were created in the inter-wars among indigenous peoples in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Speakers of southern Mande languages such as the Mende (1921) and the Kpelle (1935), and speakers of the Kru languages such as the Bassa (1920-25) have based their writing systems on the syllabary (Dalby, 1967: 2-4)."
[1]
[1]: (Oyler 2001: 75) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/X7HQWWH9/collection. |
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The following quote implies that indigenous writing emerged in the region in the 19th century. "The first documented autochthonous, Mande script to appear in West Africa was the one created by Duala Bukere from Grand Cape Mount County in Liberia who created a Vai syllabary in 1833, which has been standardized to 212 characters (Dalby, 1967: 14-18). [...] Appearing first in the region, the Vai syllabary became the prototype for other writing systems that were created in the inter-wars among indigenous peoples in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Speakers of southern Mande languages such as the Mende (1921) and the Kpelle (1935), and speakers of the Kru languages such as the Bassa (1920-25) have based their writing systems on the syllabary (Dalby, 1967: 2-4)."
[1]
[1]: (Oyler 2001: 75) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/X7HQWWH9/collection. |
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No writing system in Allada the year before Whydah became independent, so likely the same in Whydah: “Another question arising from the incidence of credit in both the local economy and the overseas trade is the nature of the indigenous system of recordkeeping. In Allada the local people, it was noted in 1670, in the absence of writing used knotted strings to keep records of various matters, including commercial transactions (“the price of goods”). Several later accounts allude to other mechanical devices for keeping financial (and fiscal) records in Dahomey.”
[1]
[1]: Austin, Gareth, et al. “Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, 2001, p. 144: 33. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SPXH2IUW/collection |
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No references found in the consulted literature to a written form of Nri that doesn’t use the Latin alphabet. “If these are the problems to be faced in languages that have written form hundreds of years ago one cannot imagine what problems there are in dealing with languages whose written forms are yet to be established.”
[1]
[1]: Onwuejeogwu, M. A. (1975). Some Fundamental Problems in the Application of Lexicostatistics in the Study of African Languages. Paideuma, 21, 6–17: 10. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/IISK3KCM/collection |
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“Since the end of the 15th century, a great deal of material about Benin has been supplied by sailors, traders, etc., returning to Europe. However, information on the Edo people before this date is very difficult to obtain, as there was no written record and the oral record is at best rather fragmentary.”
[1]
“The theme of this study presses the sources for the reconstruction of Benin military history to its limits because written documents scarcely exist, except for the reports and accounts of European visitors.”
[2]
[1]: Bondarenko, Dmitri M., and Peter M. Roese. ‘Benin Prehistory: The Origin and Settling down of the Edo’. Anthropos 94, no. 4/6 (1999): 542–52: 542. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Y4V3D623/collection [2]: Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 27–28. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection |
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The following quote implies that indigenous writing emerged in the region in the 19th century. "The first documented autochthonous, Mande script to appear in West Africa was the one created by Duala Bukere from Grand Cape Mount County in Liberia who created a Vai syllabary in 1833, which has been standardized to 212 characters (Dalby, 1967: 14-18). [...] Appearing first in the region, the Vai syllabary became the prototype for other writing systems that were created in the inter-wars among indigenous peoples in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Speakers of southern Mande languages such as the Mende (1921) and the Kpelle (1935), and speakers of the Kru languages such as the Bassa (1920-25) have based their writing systems on the syllabary (Dalby, 1967: 2-4)."
[1]
[1]: (Oyler 2001: 75) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/X7HQWWH9/collection. |
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“Although the ancient people of the Southwest didn’t have a written language, they had effective ways to communicate.”
[1]
[1]: (“Chaco Culture - Communication”) “Chaco Culture” NPS Museum Collections, accessed May 8, 2023, https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/chcu/index6.html. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NMRVDA5I |
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The Funj Sultanate had a detailed account of its history written in the Funj Chronicle. “The Funj Chronicle, however, speaks of an expedition to El Obeid in Kordofan by King Sa’d in 1772-3, and Sa’d appears to have been a son of Idris.”
[1]
[1]: (Holt 2008, 49) Holt, P.M. 2008. ‘Egypt, the Funj and Darfur’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c. 1600 – c.1790. Edited by Richard Grey. Vol. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/WC9FQBRM/collection |
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"The earliest Japanese imperial chronicles, that is, the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, were completed in AD 712 and 720, and included compilations of various historical records as well as ancestral legends dating back to ancient times"
[1]
[1]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 32) Mizoguchi, Koji. 2013. The Archaeology of Japan: From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge University Press. |
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There is a long tradition of historical recording in Japan. Japan’s oldest extant text is Kojiki (Record of ancient matters) written in 712CE although it deals with what today would be considered mythological themes it was treated as a historic text.
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.243. |
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Historiography and Islamic theology may have been present along with treatises on Islamic law. More material is needed on scholarly writings in the Qasimid period.
|
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Many sources consulted reference a local Arabic historical chronicle that discusses the history of the Mahzumite Dynasty of the Shoa Sultanate. “A local Arabic chronicle, edited and translated by Enrico Cerulli in 1941, preserves the tradition that the first Mahzumite prince of the so-called ’sultanate of Shoa’ began to rule in the last decade of the ninth century [...] Despite the above tradition of the chronicle, it is improbable that the state was actually formed as early as the ninth century.”
[1]
[1]: (Tamrat 2008, 106) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list |
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"To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche."
[1]
perhaps with Buddhism from 552 CE? "The earliest Japanese imperial chronicles, that is, the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, were completed in AD 712 and 720, and included compilations of various historical records as well as ancestral legends dating back to ancient times".
[2]
[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11) [2]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 32) Mizoguchi, Koji. 2013. The Archaeology of Japan: From the Earliest Rice Farming Villages to the Rise of the State. Cambridge University Press. |
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"In this section the life and work of Karamokho Ba is considered in detail, based on a chronicle of the Jabi-Gassama qabilah to which Karamokho Ba himself belonged. [...] The addendum is by a different hand and was appended after the main part of the chronicle was completed. It contains family details of the Touba clerics, including Karamokho Ba himself. It forms the third and concluding section of the document. The first part consists of a brief introduction describing how the document came to be written in the first place, with a laudatory preface providing something of a literary flourish. Then the second, major part opens with historical section. It is this second part which constitutes the substance of TKB. The style there is brisk and controlled, without any of the literary or thematic digressions so conspicuous in other documents like TKM. The firmness of the historical outlines enhances the narrative power of the document. It is an unpretentious piece of writing, careful to distinguish between firm historical fact and considerations of spiritual fame. Indeed pious embellishment hardly occurs in the text, except in terms of scholarly merit and saintly virtue. More care seems to have gone into details like travel, education, religious work and political relations, including the span of each clerical ’dynasty’. [...] The historical section ends on page ten, and by that stage we have covered approximately a hundred years of the Jakhanke in Futa Jallon. "
[1]
[1]: (Sanneh 1981b: 108-109) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/SU25S5BX/items/UUUAZKKE/item-list |
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|
There is a long tradition of historical recording in Japan. Japan’s oldest extant text is Kojiki (Record of ancient matters) written in 712CE although it deals with what today would be considered mythological themes it was treated as a historic text.
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.243. |
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“Historic Indian texts over the centuries, such as Valmiki’s Ramayana (400 BCE–400 CE), Kautilya’s Aarthashastra (400 BCE–200 CE) and stories of the Pandyan kingdom (600 BCE– seventeenth century), relate how famous emperors would visit their subjects incognito to observe and understand their lives and concerns first-hand (Jha, 2004). When particular issues were brought to their attention, exemplary kings would, reportedly, act to improve the welfare of their subjects both collectively and individually.”
[1]
[1]: (Kattumuri 2015, 191) Kattumuri, Ruth. 2015. ‘Evidence and the policy process from an Indian perspective’, Contemporary Social Science. Vol 10:2. Pp. 191-201. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/WEKK4R5I/collection |
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|
There is a long tradition of historical recording in Japan. Japan’s oldest extant text is Kojiki (Record of ancient matters) written in 712 although it deals with what today would be considered mythological themes it was treated as a historic text
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.243. |
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Abolfazi Beyhaqi (995-1077 CE): "Independent-minded court historian at Ghazni, Afghanistan. Author of a thirty-volume study of the reigns of Mahmud and Masud of Ghazni, only three volumes of which survive."
[1]
"History of Turkestan and a volume entitled Turkish Peoples and the Marvels of Turkestan."
[1]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. |
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’Sanskrit inspirit, in verse, praise the actions of kings and the elite, such as building Hindu temples, sponsoring Buddhist monasteries, winning wars, and offering gifts to monks and brahmans. Some of the speakers trace or doctor their genealogies, as is to cash in on or invent ancestral merit; many praise brahmans at the expense of other segments of society; and all are fulsome in praise of those in power, who have, after all, allowed the temples to be built and the stone inscriptions to be incised.’
[1]
’From now on [1327] the only sources of information are the Royal Chronicles of Cambodia, known in several recensions, but generally regarded as unreliable; they are supposed to date from 1346 and were drawn up as lists of kings with details of the main events of each king’s reign. However written on perishable palm-leaf, they were often rewritten and re-edited to suit later reigns.’
[2]
[1]: (Chandler 2008, p. 27) [2]: (Snellgrove 2004, pp. 182-183) |
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There are many prose histories from this period.
[1]
[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v |
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’Sanskrit inspirit, in verse, praise the actions of kings and the elite, such as building Hindu temples, sponsoring Buddhist monasteries, winning wars, and offering gifts to monks and brahmans. Some of the speakers trace or doctor their genealogies, as is to cash in on or invent ancestral merit; many praise brahmans at the expense of other segments of society; and all are fulsome in praise of those in power, who have, after all, allowed the temples to be built and the stone inscriptions to be incised.’
[1]
’From now on [1327] the only sources of information are the Royal Chronicles of Cambodia, known in several recensions, but generally regarded as unreliable; they are supposed to date from 1346 and were drawn up as lists of kings with details of the main events of each king’s reign. However written on perishable palm-leaf, they were often rewritten and re-edited to suit later reigns.’
[2]
’Here are the most salient traits of the Post-Classic: [...] Written royal chronicles, but few contemporary stone inscriptions.’ [3] ’The contents of Khmer temple libraries which may have been reproduced over the centuries, and the Khmer language royal chronicles, for which we have some evidence, are no longer extant (Jacques and Dumont [1990]1999: 17-18). This situation contrasts with that in some other parts of tropical Southeast Asia, where non-temple documents produced several hundred years ago still exist, having either been written on lasting materials such as copper plate or continuously reproduced (e.g. Wisseman 1977: 198-199; Aung Thwin 1985: 8-12; Wisseman Christie 1993: 180-181). These are sometimes able to provide alternative views of the society in which they were produced and can be compared with the temple inscription texts. In Burma, for example, the availability of a variety of historical text types (government archives, law codes, histories and administrative records, civil codes and chronicles giving narrative accounts) represent contemporary Burmese society somewhat more comprehensively (Aung Thwin 1983: 48; 1985: 8-12).’ [4] [1]: (Chandler 2008, p. 27) [2]: (Snellgrove 2004, pp. 182-183) [3]: (Coe 2003, p. 195) [4]: (Lustig 2009, p. 109) |
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After the introduction of Christianity, historiographic literature developed: ’According to most authors writing was introduced to Iceland when the country was Christianized in the year 1000. In the two centuries that followed, writing was used for many purposes: religious works, a grammar, a law book and a short history. Most of the family sagas were written in the thirteenth century. The saga with which I am concerned, Eyrbyggja saga (ÍF 4), is commonly believed to have been written between 1230-1250 (Schach & Hollander 1959:xx). I shall deal only with a part of this saga, which I have called the Þórgunna story (ÍF 4, ch. 49-55). I consider the Þórgunna story a myth. Anthropologists believe that myths contain hidden messages in symbolic forms. According to Malinowski (1926) myths are social charters. Lévi-Strauss (1963) argues that myths have a binary structure and that their oppositions explore contradictions in social and other relations.’
[1]
The Book of Icelanders is one example: ’Ari Thorgilsson lived from 1068 to 1148. A priest, he wrote the Book of Icelanders, a chronicle of events and people from the first settlement in 870 to 1120. He mentioned the names of his informants and that he selected them for their clearness of mind, good memories, and relationship to the events, much as Lewellyn and Hoebel (1941) assessed their sources for accounts of Cheyenne trouble cases. Ari recorded that in 1117 the general assembly decided to revise and record the laws at the house of Haflidi Másson according to what Bergÿórr, the lawspeaker, responsible for memorizing and reciting the body of law, and other knowledgeable men agreed was law. They would announce the law the next summer and would keep those which were not opposed by a majority. This lawbook has not survived. There were several written versions of law because Grágás specifies that what is found in books is to be taken as law. If the books differ, then the books of the bishops are to be preferred. If their books differ, then the longer would prevail. If both were equally long and differed, then the book at Skálholt would be used. It specified that everything in Haflidi’s book would be accepted unless it had been modified since (Stein-Wilkeshuis 1986).’
[2]
’The writing of history in Iceland is thought to have commenced with Íslendingabók written between 1122-1133. From then on there was a growing abundance of native written historical works (sagas), both about Icelandic and Scandinavian history (and even some examples of European/world history).’
[3]
[1]: Odner, Knut 1992. “Þógunna’S Testament: A Myth For Moral Contemplation And Social Apathy”, 125 [2]: Durrenberger, E. Paul 1992. “Law And Literature In Medieval Iceland", 32 [3]: Árni Daniel Júlíusson and Axel Kristissen 2017, pers. comm. to E. Brandl and D. Mullins |
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’All that remains, apart from all-important inscriptions on stone or metal, are those texts that were regularly recopied. These were mainly religious texts, the copying of which generated spiritual merit, various technical treatises on such subjects as agriculture, astrology and law, and court chronicles. In few of these, even the last, can be found any references, however, to political or even economic relations with China.’
[1]
’Court chronicles in the Theravada Buddhist kingdoms of mainland Southeast Asia were not composed as objective historical records. On the contrary, they formed part of the royal regalia of legitimation. They recorded the ruler’s genealogy, his marriage alliances and his meritorious deeds, all of which were intended to reinforce his right to rule in the eyes of his subjects.’
[2]
[1]: (Stuart-Fox 2003, 35) [2]: (Stuart-Fox 2003, p 35-36) |
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Guicciardini and Machiavelli’s contemporary histories of Italy, although written by Tuscans, circulated widely in Italy.
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Intellectual culture and Greek cultural inheritance.
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There is a long tradition of historical recording in Japan. Japan’s oldest extant text is Kojiki (Record of ancient matters) written in 712CE although it deals with what today would be considered mythological themes it was treated as a historic text.
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.243. |
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This is not history in the modern sense, but it is a particular telling of the past. ’All that remains, apart from all-important inscrip- tions on stone or metal, are those texts that were regularly recopied. These were mainly religious texts, the copying of which generated spiritual merit, various technical treatises on such subjects as agricul- ture, astrology and law, and court chronicles. In few of these, even the last, can be found any references, however, to political or even economic relations with China.’
[1]
’Court chronicles in the Theravada Buddhist kingdoms of mainland Southeast Asia were not composed as objective historical records. On the contrary, they formed part of the royal regalia of legitimation. They recorded the ruler’s genealogy, his marriage alliances and his meritorious deeds, all of which were intended to reinforce his right to rule in the eyes of his subjects.’
[2]
[1]: (Stuart-Fox 2003, p. 35) [2]: (Stuart-Fox 2003, pp. 35-36) |
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There is a long tradition of historical recording in Japan. Japan’s oldest extant text is Kojiki (Record of ancient matters) written in 712CE although it deals with what today would be considered mythological themes it was treated as a historic text.
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.243. |
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’All that remains, apart from all-important inscriptions on stone or metal, are those texts that were regularly recopied. These were mainly religious texts, the copying of which generated spiritual merit, various technical treatises on such subjects as agriculture, astrology and law, and court chronicles. In few of these, even the last, can be found any references, however, to political or even economic relations with China.’
[1]
’Court chronicles in the Theravada Buddhist kingdoms of mainland Southeast Asia were not composed as objective historical records. On the contrary, they formed part of the royal regalia of legitimation. They recorded the ruler’s genealogy, his marriage alliances and his meritorious deeds, all of which were intended to reinforce his right to rule in the eyes of his subjects.’
[2]
[1]: (Stuart-Fox 2003, p. 35) [2]: (Stuart-Fox 2003, pp. 35-36) |
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present for preceding Hepthalites. literate class under Roman and Indian influence.
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’Sanskrit inspirit, in verse, praise the actions of kings and the elite, such as building Hindu temples, sponsoring Buddhist monasteries, winning wars, and offering gifts to monks and brahmans. Some of the speakers trace or doctor their genealogies, as is to cash in on or invent ancestral merit; many praise brahmans at the expense of other segments of society; and all are fulsome in praise of those in power, who have, after all, allowed the temples to be built and the stone inscriptions to be incised.’
[1]
’From now on [1327] the only sources of information are the Royal Chronicles of Cambodia, known in several recensions, but generally regarded as unreliable; they are supposed to date from 1346 and were drawn up as lists of kings with details of the main events of each king’s reign. However written on perishable palm-leaf, they were often rewritten and re-edited to suit later reigns.’
[2]
’The contents of Khmer temple libraries which may have been reproduced over the centuries, and the Khmer language royal chronicles, for which we have some evidence, are no longer extant (Jacques and Dumont [1990]1999: 17-18). This situation contrasts with that in some other parts of tropical Southeast Asia, where non-temple documents produced several hundred years ago still exist, having either been written on lasting materials such as copper plate or continuously reproduced (e.g. Wisseman 1977: 198-199; Aung Thwin 1985: 8-12; Wisseman Christie 1993: 180-181). These are sometimes able to provide alternative views of the society in which they were produced and can be compared with the temple inscription texts. In Burma, for example, the availability of a variety of historical text types (government archives, law codes, histories and administrative records, civil codes and chronicles giving narrative accounts) represent contemporary Burmese society somewhat more comprehensively (Aung Thwin 1983: 48; 1985: 8-12).’
[3]
[1]: (Chandler 2008, p. 27) [2]: (Snellgrove 2004, pp. 182-183) [3]: (Lustig 2009, p. 109) |
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During the time of the Ifat Sultanate there were indigenous Arab writers who documented various historic events between the Ifat Sultanate and the Christian Ethiopian kingdoms. “In the meantime, the sons and grandsons of Yekunno-Amlak were deeply involved in bitter wars of succession, and a valuable Arabic document for 1299 reports what seems to have been a considerable territorial concession to an Ifat leader by one of the sons of Yekunno-Amlak.”
[1]
[1]: (Tamrat 2008, 143-144) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list |
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“One of the distinctive features of the literature of the Polonnaruva period was the continued vitality of Pāli as the language of Sinhalese Buddhism. The tradition was still very much in favour of writing in Pāli rather than Sinhalese. The Pāli works of this period were mainly expositions or summaries of the works of the Pāli canon. There were also the tīkās explaining and supplementing the commentaries composed in the Anurādhapura era. The Dāṭhavaṁsa, a history of the tooth relic, was one of the more notable literary in the Pāli language. Its author, Mahānāma, is also credited with the first part Cūlavaṁsa, the continuation of the Mahāvaṁsa. The Pāli literature of this period bears the impression of the strong tonic effect of Sanskrit, which had not a no less significant influence on contemporary Sinhalese writing.”
[1]
[1]: (De Silva 1981, 74) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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“On the history of the island up to the end of the first millennium, and indeed for three centuries of the second, there is a wealth of historical data. Of these the first category consists of the Pali chronicles, the Dīpavaṁsa and Mahāvaṁsa with its continuation the Cūlavaṁsa, which together provide scholars with a mass of reliable data, not available for other parts of south Asia for most the period under study. Next come the archaeological remains of the civilizations of Sri Lanka’s dry zone, the magnificent array of religious and secular monuments written about in the chronicles mentioned earlier, and the irrigation works.”
[1]
[1]: (De Silva 2005, 3) De Silva, K.M. 2005. A History of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka: Vijitha Yapa Publications. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/BHJ4G3V7/collection |
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"These early-seventeenth-century explorations and inventories were followed at the end of the century by diverse attempts by intellectuals in the Republic to collect and classify the enormous amount of new information by means of more systematic comparison, with the Bible and classical traditions as well as with some better-known experience of the neighbouring world. This is the period of the first Dutch ‘world historians’ such as Arnoldus Montanus and Olfert Dapper, who, in broad historical studies, showed a genuine curiosity for non-European cultures, although their publisher, by inserting fantastical but unrealistic illustrations, was primarily interested in promoting the sale of these works."
[1]
[1]: (Emmer and Gommans 2020: 82) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/AI9PPN7Q/collection. |
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“I. M. Lewis gives an invaluable reference to an Arabic manuscript on the history of the Gadabursi Somali, who, together with the Isa, form the largest group of the ancient Dir clan-family. ’This Chronicle opens’, Lewis tells us, ’with an account of the wars of Imam ’Ali Si’id (d. 1392) from whom the Gadabursi today trace their descent, and who is described as the only Muslim leader fighting on the western flank in the armies of Se’ad ad-Din, ruler of Zeila.’1 Se’adedin, as we have seen above, was the joint founder of the Walasma kingdom of Adal with his brother Haqedin II.”
[1]
[1]: (Tamrat 2008, 153) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list |
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Scholars use oral tradition to help reconstruct life in the Segou kingdom.
[1]
The polity may not have used written documents but there were written documents in the semi-autonomous, Islamic ’marka’ towns, populated by Soninke and other Mande-speakers. "A tradition recorded in the Tarikh as-Sudan, an important history book that was written in Timbuktu in about AD 1650..."
[2]
[1]: (Monroe and Ogundiran 2012) J Cameron Monroe. Akinwumi Ogundiran. Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa. J Cameron Monroe. Akinwumi Ogundiran. eds. 2012. Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa: Archaeological Perspectives.Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [2]: (Davidson 1998, 26) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. |
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"By Sheng-tsung’s time there was already a Historiographical Office and a director of the national history. In 991 they presented the first Liao veritable records (shih-lu), with those for Ching-tsung’s reign taking up twenty chapters. The director Shih Fang was rewarded in traditional style. We know also that during Sheng-tsung’s reign a daily calendar (jih-li), the preliminary draft from which a later veritable record would be written, was already being compiled, as in 1003 the officials were warned not to include trivial matters in it." Rules on which matters should be reported for inclusion were made in 1011. By the next reign in 1044 we find as head of the Han-lin Academy and compiler of the national history one of the most remarkable scholars of the period, Hsiao Han-chia-nu, who translated a variety of Chinese historical works into Khitan and also began the compilation of veritable records for earlier reigns together with two venerable Khitan scholars, Yeh-lii K’u-yii and Yeh-lii Shu-ch’eng."
[1]
[1]: (Twitchett, D.C. and K. Tietze. 1994. The Liao. In Franke, H. and D.C. Twitchett (eds) The Cambridge History of China Volume 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 907-1368 pp. 43-153. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. P. 93) |
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Continuity with the Mongol Empire and the Yuan.
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" Large numbers of Buddhist translations are mentioned, but the only surviving historical works from before the loss of indepen- dence are Zaya Pandita’s hagiography Sarayin gerel (Light of the moon), written in Zungharia around 1690, and Emchi (Physician) Ghabang-Sharab’s Dörbön Oyirodiyintöüke (History of the four Oirats), written in Kalmykia in 1737."
[1]
[1]: (Atwood 2004, 422-423) |
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Histories of England and military and warfare history were particularly popular.
[1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 170, 172) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ |
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“In the same vein, the first English-language textbook on Hawaiian history for the kingdom’s public schools, published in 1891 but likely prepared throughout the 1880s, repeats the pattern of the 1840 Lāhaināluna atlas by displaying first a map of Oceania before one of the Hawaiian Islands, confirming the perspective of Hawai’i belonging in Oceania (Alexander 1891, 18–19).”
[1]
[1]: (Gonschor 2019: 94) Gonschor, Lorenz. 2019. A Power in the World: The Hawaiian Kingdom in Oceania. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FB64GREZ |
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Writing on French history and practical history such as agriculture was popular during this period, as well as folklore and myth.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Clapham 1955: 6. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2QKQJQM3. [2]: Crook 2002: 160. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/29D9EQQE |
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The eminent historians of medieval Iceland were Sturla Thordsson and Snorri Sturluson: ’In the 12th century, Icelanders alo began to write sagas of kings, especially kings of Norway, but also of Denmark. This literary form reached its zenith in the 13th century with Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla (Orb of the World), a history of the kings of Norway.’
[1]
’The leading writer in Iceland at this time was Sturla Thordsson, second only to Snorri himself as historian.’
[2]
Annals provide information on trade and government: ’Trade and economic conditions continued as before without any distinct manifestation either of progress or decline. The destructive civil wars of the Sturlung period had undoubtedly done much to weaken the people’s strength, but and had hampered somewhat their intercourse with foreign lands, but the more peaceful era inaugurated by the union with Norway brought no perceptible change in prevailing conditions. Some scholars have considered the provision in the union agreement that six ships should be sent to Iceland every year as evidence that the commerce with Iceland at this time was declining, but K. Maurer has shown that this conclusion is erroneous. For various reasons few ships would arrive in Iceland during some years, but the same happened also during the most vigorous period of Icelandic national life, as in 1187 and 1219, when the Icelandic annals record that no ship arrived in Iceland. [He proceeds to describe some famines during the Commonwealth Period.] The old spirit of maritime enterprise was dying out among the Icelanders, as among all the Scandinavian peoples. No progress was made in trade or ship-building, and the Hanseatic merchants had already made their appearance as competitors for the control of Scandinavian commerce.’
[3]
’Though few ships might at times arrive in Icelandic harbors, many Norwegian merchantmen usually visited Iceland every year. The Icelandic annals state that in 1340 eleven ships came to Iceland, in 1345 twevle ships, in 1357 eighteen ships besides two which foundered on the voyage. Seagoing vessels were also built in Iceland. Many Icelanders owned ships with which they undoubtedly carried on trade, as had always been their custom, though most of the commerce was now in the hands of Norwegian merchants. But the import trade, which had always been small, could not supply the growing needs of the people. The Icelandic annals show that at times there must have been great need of imports, since it happened that the mass could not be celebrated for want of wine. During years when no ships came to Iceland, or when only one or two arrived each year, the need of articles for which people were wholly dependent on imports must have been very great. Still more deplorable was the inadequacy of imports during periods of famine and other great calamities, when little aid could be given the stricken population. Under ordinary circumstances commerce was probably sufficient to supply the people with the necessary articles, but the meaning of the provision regarding commerce inserted in the "Gamil sáttmáli", and constantly repeated in the union agreement, seems to have been that the Norwegian government should not suffer commerce at any time to fall below the specified minimum amount.’
[4]
’In 1303 many prominent Icelanders were summoned to Norway, among others Bishop Jörund of Hólar, and Abbot Runolf, who had served as vicar in the diocese of Skálholt after the death of Bishop Arni. The king’s purpose seems to have been to obtain their advice regarding changes in the Icelandic code of laws which had been demanded, possibly also to secure their consent to new taxes to be levied in Iceland. The Icelandic annals for the year 1304 state that in that year the king collected Peter’s pence (Roma skattr) in Iceland. The supplement to the code resulting from this conference is dated June 23, 1305. It contains provisions dealing with Iceland, but it does not touch the issues bearing on the relations between the two countries. These issues do not even seem to have been considered, but the Icelandic leaders probably consented to the levying of new taxes.’
[5]
’But their demands must have been granted, since the "Laurentiussaga" as well as the Icelandic annals state that in 1320 Ketill Thorlaksson came to Iceland with letters under royal seal, and that the people took the oath of allegiance to the king.’
[6]
Sagas were written about bishops and other prominent figures: ’Of the "Biskupasögur", or stories about the Icelandic bishops, the most important source of the church history of Iceland, some continued to appear also in the fourteenth century. The "Arnasage Thorlákssonar", a story about Bishop Arni Thorlaksson of Skálholt, was written shortly after 1300, probably by his nephew Bishop Arni Helgason. The "Laurentiussaga" about Bishop Laurentius Kalfsson, written by Einar Haflidason, appeared about 1350, and the "Gudmundarsaga", which Abbot Arngrim of Thingeyrar wrote about Bishop Gudmund Arason of Hólar, was produced about 1375.’
[7]
’Upon the death of Bishop Audun of Hólar, 1321, a native Icelander, Laurentius Kalfsson, was chosen as his successor in 1323. [...] He had served as teacher in the monasteries of Thverá and Thingeyrar, and as bishop he devoted special attention to the schools and the education of the priests. Because of his popularity the "Laurentiussaga", one of the last historical works in the old Icelandic literature, was written about him about 1350, probably by his friend Einar Haflidason.’
[8]
Annals as a genre were abandoned after the plague: ’The period of the plague is the least documented of Icelandic history. No sagas were written about events in Iceland after a biography of a bishop who died in 1331. Only one contemporary annal, the New Annal, covers the period from 1393 to 1430. At this point it was abandoned, and no more annals were written until the 16th century.’
[9]
The Sturlunga Saga provides material about chieftains: ’Secular contemporary sagas deal largely with events among Icelandic chieftains in 12th and 13th centuries; most of there are preserved in the Sturlunga Saga compilation, which was put together in the early 14th century. Sagas of Ancient Times tell of kings and heroes in prehistoric Scandinavia, before the advent of the Norse kingdoms of the Viking Age.’
[10]
[1]: Karlsson, Gunnar 2000. "A Brief History of Iceland", 14 [2]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 210 [3]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 209 [4]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 228p [5]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 231 [6]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 236 [7]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 255 [8]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 237p [9]: Karlsson, Gunnar 2000. "A Brief History of Iceland", 26 [10]: Karlsson, Gunnar 2000. "A Brief History of Iceland", 15 |
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Histories of England and military and warfare history were particularly popular at the beginning of the period.
[1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 170, 172) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ |
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The History of the Russian State" by Nikolay Karamzin (1816-1829): Karamzin was a historian and writer who penned this influential 12-volume work, which provided a comprehensive narrative of Russian history from ancient times up to the reign of Mikhail I.
[1]
"Russian History from Ancient Times" by Sergey Solovyov (1851-1879): Solovyov’s work is one of the most comprehensive and authoritative histories of Russia, covering the period from ancient times through the 17th century. It is known for its scholarly rigor and narrative style. [2] [1]: History of the Russian State. T. 8, n.d. Accessed December 18, 2023. https://www.prlib.ru/en/node/416773. Zotero link: 5GEVU6AT [2]: “Birthday Anniversary of Sergei Soloviev, Russian Historian, Petersburg Academy of Science Member, Author of ‘History of Russia from Ancient Times,’” Presidential Library, accessed December 18, 2023, https://www.prlib.ru/en/history/619246. Zotero link: BR4J6IKH |
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Procopius, Agathias, Menander, and the Chronicler Malalas.
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Ibn Kemal.
[1]
Unknown author wrote Tarih-i Hind-i Garbi (History of Western India). Presented to Sultan Murad III in 1583 CE.
[2]
[1]: (Inalcik and Quataert 1997, 19) [2]: (http://www.theottomans.org/english/art_culture/science.asp) |
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inferred continuity with earlier phases of this polity
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“In the 1450s, the Fulani came to Hausaland from Mali, bringing ’books on divinity and etymology’ (formerly only books on law and the traditions had been known); the end of the century witnessed the arrival of a number of rif (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad ) and the vigorous Muslim cleric, al-Maghîlï.”
[1]
[1]: Niane, D. T., & Unesco (Eds.). (1984). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Heinemann; University of California Press: 272. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ERZKPETN/collection |
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“The warlike exploits of this Mai Idris Katagarmabe were recorded by his chief Imam, Sheikh Masfarma or Masbarma, in a work still known as the Tarikh Masbarma, a work on which the writer of this history, the Imam ibn Fartua, obviously drew for information concerning events which took place prior to the time which was within the memory of himself or people still alive in his day.”
[1]
“Furthermore, the practice of recording orally the names and genealogies of the kings of Kanem seems to have existed since the 9th century. The introduction of Islam and the Arabic script codified this tradition by making it possible to write down the names of the kings. This list or chronicle of kings, the diwan or girgam, was written from the 13th or 16th century until the19th and contained the names of 67 kings from the 9th to the 19th century. It constitutes one of the most important sources for the history of Kanem-Bornu and has been extensively used by historians of the empire.”
[2]
[1]: Fartua, Ahmed Ibn. History of the First Twelve Years of the Reign of Mai Idris Alooma of Bornu (1571–1583). CRC Press, 2019: 3. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/HSU9ZCRC/collection [2]: Hiribarren, Vincent. “Kanem-Bornu Empire.” The Encyclopedia of Empire, edited by Nigel Dalziel and John M MacKenzie, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2016: 3. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/KNHK5ANQ/collection |
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“Feyjoo’s skeptical spirit was a tonic for the newly founded Royal Academy of History of 1738, which set about to index the sources of Spain’s past and to eliminate the fables. This was just one of numerous learned societies and educational institutions that came into being under Felipe V, such as the National Library, the Academy of Languages, and the Academy of Medicine and Surgery.”(Bergamini 1974: 75) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF
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There was a growing interest in history, particularly American history, such as and George Bancroft’s History of the United States which was published in ten annual instalments from 1834, and the biographies of presidents such as The Life of George Washington (1855) during this period. William Hickling Prescott became famous in the US and Europe for his histories in Ferdinand and Isabella (1838), Conquest of Mexico (1843) and Conquest of Peru (1847). In schools, books such as Frost’s United States History were studied. Historical journals such as the North America Review and The National Journal were established during this period.
[1]
[1]: Volo and Volo 2004: 83, 236-237. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97. |
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The following quote implies that indigenous writing emerged in the region in the 19th century. "The first documented autochthonous, Mande script to appear in West Africa was the one created by Duala Bukere from Grand Cape Mount County in Liberia who created a Vai syllabary in 1833, which has been standardized to 212 characters (Dalby, 1967: 14-18). [...] Appearing first in the region, the Vai syllabary became the prototype for other writing systems that were created in the inter-wars among indigenous peoples in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Speakers of southern Mande languages such as the Mende (1921) and the Kpelle (1935), and speakers of the Kru languages such as the Bassa (1920-25) have based their writing systems on the syllabary (Dalby, 1967: 2-4)."
[1]
[1]: (Oyler 2001: 75) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/X7HQWWH9/collection. |
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The Russian Primary Chronicle, medieval Kievan Rus historical work that gives a detailed account of the early history of the eastern Slavs to the second decade of the 12th century.
[1]
[1]: “The Russian Primary Chronicle | Medieval History, Kievan Rus & Primary Source | Britannica,” Zotero link: GI38G47I |
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“Men of science and letters took it upon themselves to construct a permanent image of the nation, to draw and set its boundaries, and to name and place its principal geographic and hydrographic features, by setting the nation down on paper. They also sought to articulate, in their writing, a genuine Mexican voice that would characterize a national— and nationalist— literature. It was a grandiose task in which, despite its profoundly political nature, men of all ideological inclinations participated, by presenting their research and lectures before learned societies such as the Ateneo, the literary society of San Juan de Letrán Academy, or the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística. In 1857, the geographer Antonio García Cubas drew on this Society’s previous work to draw up and publish the first general map of the Republic (Craib). These men also collaborated in extensive editorial projects that they felt would contribute to on the one hand consolidating Mexico as a natural entity, and on the other to validating its rightful place among civilized nations. Thus, geographers, historians and philologists who often stood in opposite political trenches, wrote erudite articles on the nation’s demography, its mountainous ranges and its indigenous dialects for the Diccionario Universal de Historia y Geografía, published in Mexico City between 1853 and 1856.”
[1]
[1]: (Pani 2011: 279) Pani, Erika. 2009. “Republicans and Monarchists, 1848–1867,” in A Companion to Mexican History and Culture, ed. William H. Beezley. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. 273–87. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3I4GPWQG |
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Popular histories were written, often on the history of the Britons, such as Brut. Bartholomew Cotton wrote a history beginning with the Anglo-Saxons up to present day. And the Mirror of Justice is a history of the origins of England focused on the arrival and domination of the Angle and Saxon chieftain. However, there were no ‘official’ histories written on behalf of the monarchy during this period.
[1]
[1]: (Prestwich 2005: 53, 561) Prestwich, Michael. 2005. Plantagenet England 1225-1360. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XTBKFDCI |
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“Charles IV himself contributed to literary life with his autobiography Vita Caroli and in his proposals relating to the imperial and Czech jural code, as well as further works on religion, where he emphasized the continuity between the Luxemburgs and the Přemyslid dynasty from the time of St Wenceslas, thus stressing the continuity of his line back to ancient Czech history. For him, as for other rulers, history was an instrument for the celebration of his own personage and dynasty. This is why he supported so strongly a range of chronicle works which at that time originated under the auspices of the court and thus propagated these ideas (the works of František of Prague, Přibík Pulkava of Radenín, the Italian Marignolli and others).”
[1]
“Charles IV’s autobiography, which includes a great deal of information on the ideal ruler, refers to chronicles for the purpose of creating an image of the historical development of the Czech lands in agreement with his own ruling ideology. Conversely, Peter of Zittau’s chronicle provides abundant evidence that his author was aware of the most recent trends in political thought in Europe at that time.”
[2]
[1]: (Pánek and Oldřich 2009: 150) Pánek, Jaroslav and Oldřich, Tůma. 2009. A History of the Czech Lands. University of Chicago Press. 2009. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4NAX9KBJ [2]: (Antonín 2017: 45) Antonín, Robert. 2017. The Ideal Ruler in Medieval Bohemia, trans. Sean Mark Miller, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450. Leiden; Boston: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/G2S9M8F6 |
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Paul the Deacon – a noble and scholar who later became a monk after the invasion of Lombard territory by the Franks – wrote several historical works, including The History of the Lombards. Germanic legends and folklore were written into historical narratives.
[1]
[1]: Peters 2003: xii-xiv. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X4ETPHA7 |
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There was a growing interest in history, particularly American history, such as and George Bancroft’s History of the United States which was published in ten annual instalments from 1834, and the biographies of presidents such as The Life of George Washington (1855) during this period. William Hickling Prescott became famous in the US and Europe for his histories in Ferdinand and Isabella (1838), Conquest of Mexico (1843) and Conquest of Peru (1847). In schools, books such as Frost’s United States History were studied. Historical journals such as the North America Review and The National Journal were established during this period.
[1]
[1]: Volo and Volo 2004: 83, 236-237. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97. |
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“The eighteenth century saw a veritable explosion of published works of literature, science, history, religion, and philosophy in the territories ruled by the Habsburgs.”
[1]
. “The purely intellectual contribution of the Austrian Enlightenment was limited. German classicism in literature and philosophy was a powerful stimulating force but its impact headed almost exclusively from outside. Romanticism, on the other hand, in particular in its historical proclivities, in a country deeply conscious of its traditions, developed there into a more original movement with wider social and political implications… Hence we face the cultivation of folklore, sagas, fairy tales, history of the Middle Ages, in other words everything that is dear to the romantic spirit.”
[2]
“In 1854 the Institute of Austrian Historical Research was founded; next to the École des Chartes in Paris it became the foremost school for training in the auxiliary historical sciences. Its first director, Albert Jäger, and Franz von Krones, an outstanding historiographer of Austrian history at the University of Graz, should be mentioned here.”
[3]
[1]: (Judson 2016: 29) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW [2]: (Kann 1974: 368) Kann, Robert A. 1974. A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526-1918. Los Angeles: University of California Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RP3JD4UV [3]: (Kann 1974: 371) Kann, Robert A. 1974. A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526-1918. Los Angeles: University of California Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RP3JD4UV |
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"Literary and artistic activities under the Ghurids likewise followed on from those of the Ghaznavids. The sultans were generous patrons of the Persian literary traditions of Khorasan"
[1]
[1]: (Bosworth 2012) Bosworth, Edmund C. 2012. GHURIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ghurids |
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Khwaday-namag, Yazdgird III. History of creation to Khosrau II from a Zoroastrian perspective.
[1]
[1]: Iskender-Mochiri, I ed. (1996) History of Civilization of Central Asia: Volume III. Paris, UNESCO Publishing p. 87 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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Historian and astronomer Liu Xin, Just prior to period (c50 BC - 23 CE) he is representative of intellectual life. Curator of the imperial library, he established a library classification system, and calculated pi(π) to 4 decimal places.
[1]
Female historian Ban Zhao. Completed the Hanshu after Ban Ghu executed, and wrote "Lessons for Women."
[2]
Pan Ku
[3]
(d.86 BCE) / Ban Gu (d.92 CE)
[1]: (wikipedia) [2]: (Keay 2009, 178) [3]: (Peers 1995, 5) |
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"the Western Jin, at least before 300, was a period of remarkable intellectual, scholarly, and literary activity."
[1]
Shu Xi (263-302 CE) "Bamboo Annals, Account of the Travels of Emperor Mu of Zhou."
[1]
Huangfu Mi (215-282 CE) "Lives of High-Minded Gentlemen"
[1]
and "Records of Emperors and Kings".
[1]: (Knechtges 2010, 183) Knechtges, David R. in Chang, Kang-i Sun. Ownen, Stephen. 2010. The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. |
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“The Tudor and Jacobean periods saw both upper-class men and women, many educated in the humanist tradition, devote themselves to philosophy, history, poetry, and art. The English gentleman excelled particularly at the literary arts: Sir Thomas More wrote Utopia (1516) and a History of Richard III (first English edition 1543); Sir Thomas Wyatt (ca. 1503–42, father of the rebel of the same name) developed the English sonnet; Sir Philip Sidney (1554–86) wrote Arcadia (1593); Sir Walter Ralegh, a history of the world (1614); and Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Alban (1561–1626), laid important ground for the development of the scientific method in his Advancement of Learning (1605) and New Atlantis (1626), and for letters in his Essays (1597 and 1625). These men combined private learning with public duty: More and Bacon were lord chancellors and Wyatt, Sidney, and Ralegh were courtier-soldiers.”
[1]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 171) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U |
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Inferred from the fact that immediately preceding polities wrote abbreviated histories on vessels: "The Shi Qiang pan (Figure 23) is one of the most important Western Zhou bronze vessels due to its 270 character long inscription. In two columns, it provides an outline of the first seven Western Zhou kings with a similar account of four generations from the Wei family [65]."
[1]
However, Spring and Autumn polities wrote on perishable materials such as silk
[2]
, which means that texts are less likely to be preserved
[1]: (Bavarian 2005) Bavarian, Behzad. July 2005. Unearthing Technology’s Influence on the Ancient Chinese Dynasties through Metallurgical Investigations, California State University. Northridge. http://library.csun.edu/docs/bavarian.pdf [2]: (Cook and Major 1999, viii) Cook, Constance A. Major, John S. eds. 1999. Defining Chu: Image and Reality in Ancient China. University of Hawai’i Press. Honolulu. |
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Ammianus Marcellinus (330-391 CE)
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[1]
Abu-Ja’far Muhammed (d. 923 CE) wrote the definitive historical work of the period, the Ta’risk al-rusul wa-l-muluk, which for the next three centuries was held in the highest esteem. He relied on earlier writers and compliers of events from the preceding Umayyad period who had had access to vast records and correspondences of the state, allowing for a large degree of evidence and checking of sources.
[2]
[1]: (Beeston 1983) [2]: Young, Latham, and Serjeant, eds. ????, 188-216) |
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Wei Shu (506-572 CE) wrote "Book of Wei" in the 550s CE. The genre also existed earlier in Chinese history.
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"...establishment of the History Office which was first set up for the purpose of writing the history of the five preceding dynasties and for the preparation and collection of materials for the elaboration of T’ang history as well."
[1]
"Another form of historical writing which developed in the T’ang period was that of institutional political history. This was represented by the works of Tu Yu (735-812), especially his famous T’ung-tien ("Comprehensive Statutes"), an encyclopaedic compendium of 200 chapters. In this work Tu Yu broke away from the chronological pattern of Standard Histories and, desirous of studying a number of problems in their historical development, he arranged his data according to subject-matter. Thus he deals with: (1) political economy, (2) examinations, (3) officials, (4) rites, (5) music, (6) army, (7) law, (8) geography of the empire and (9) geography of frontier regions. Tu Yu’s work became a model for many future encyclopaedias of a smiliar nature."
[2]
[1]: (Rodzinski 1979, 138) [2]: (Rodzinski 1979, 139) |
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Egypt was within the Greek cultural sphere which had historians at least since Herodotus and Thucydides in 5th century BCE.
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Egypt was within the Greek cultural sphere which had historians at least since Herodotus and Thucydides in 5th century BCE.
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Inferred from abbreviated histories found on vessels: "The Shi Qiang pan (Figure 23) is one of the most important Western Zhou bronze vessels due to its 270 character long inscription. In two columns, it provides an outline of the first seven Western Zhou kings with a similar account of four generations from the Wei family [65]."
[1]
[1]: (Bavarian 2005) Bavarian, Behzad. July 2005. Unearthing Technology’s Influence on the Ancient Chinese Dynasties through Metallurgical Investigations, California State University. Northridge. http://library.csun.edu/docs/bavarian.pdf |
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"In addition to the many directorates that oversaw the material well-being of the imperial household, the emperor’s ritual and intellectual activities were served by the Han-lin and National History Academy (Han-lin chien kuo-shih yuan) and the Mongolian Han-lin Academy (Meng-ku Han-lin yuan), among others. The joining together of the Han-lin Academy and the National History Office into one joint academy was an institutional innovation undertaken by Khubilai in 1261 on the advice of the senior Han-lin academician Wang O. This apparently stemmed from Wang’s attempt to convince Khubilai of the need to begin compiling standard histories of the Liao and Chin as well as the records of the pre-Khubilai Mongolian rulers. In 1264, with the removal of the capital to Ta-tu (modern Peking), the Han-lin and National History Academy was formally established, and the foundations for the composition of the Liao and Chin dynastic histories were laid."
[1]
[1]: (Endicott-West, E. 1994. “The Yüan government and society” in Denis C. Twitchett and Herbert Franke, eds. The Cambridge History of China Volume 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 710-1368. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. P. 605) |
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"Under King Narai, astrology found a new use in the creation a new style of writing Thai history. From the fifteenth century up to then, tamnan (legend) was the dominant form of history writing. It blends the travels of Buddha through time and across continents with local events without placing them in a chronological framework. In 1681, at King Narai’s behest, Phra Horathibodi, now composed a history which presented events using the lunar calendar to provide ’precise temporal context’. The result was the Luang Prasoet Chronicle, the first of the phongsawadan (dynastic history) genre, which related the history of Ayutthaya from 1324 to 1605, in which humans (the Kings) stand central, instead of Buddha"
[1]
.
[1]: (Ruangslip 2007, p. 146) |
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Written records began being kept from the seventh century. The church created many of the earlier documents such as ‘historical’ records of saints and annals as well as records of the royal family and genealogies. The Venerable Bede created many works including, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (c. 731 CE), verse and prose on the life and St. Cuthbert, and the Martyrology, a list of saints. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was created during the reign of Alfred the Great (r.871–899)
[1]
“This process of re-valuation has, however, encouraged several authors to imagine that sub-Roman Britain, in its entirety, retained a significant political, economic and military momentum across the fifth century and even the bulk of the sixth. This in large part stems from attempts to develop visions of an Arthurian era of British success against the incoming Anglo-Saxons, as suggested by the Historia Brittonum of 829–30, and the Annales Cambriae of the mid-tenth century.”
[2]
: ♠ Philosophy ♣ present ♥ During Alfred the Great’s reign, some of the many works he had scholars translate or write were “Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy, which taught that the pursuit of wisdom is the wise man’s consolation, and St. Augustine’s Soliloquies, which taught that contemplation could save a ruler from the sin of pride.)
[3]
[1]: (Yorke 1990: 20, 22, 26) York, Barbara. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203447307. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YXTNCWJN [2]: (Higham 2004: 3) Higham, Nick. ‘From Sub-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Debating the Insular Dark Ages’, History Compass 2, no. 1 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2004.00085.x. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XZT7A79K [3]: (Roberts et al 2014: 35) Roberts, Clayton, Roberts, F. David, and Bisson, Douglas. 2014. ‘Anglo-Saxon England: 450–1066’, in A History of England, Volume 1, 6th ed. Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P2IHD9U3 |
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"Only one surviving document - an Aramaic papyrus at the Brooklyn museum - gives any indication that the transferral of power was accompanied by violence anywhere in the country. The text describes an open battle between the founder of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty and his predecessor: Nepherites is supposed to have taken Amyrtaeus prisoner and then to have executed him at Memphis before establishing his native city as the new capital. [Mendes]"
[1]
"On the contrary, the assertion of continuity with older tradition is combined with the exercise of considerable invention and originality both in materials and iconography, producing some of the most remarkable sculpture in the entire pharaonic corpus. For other spheres of cultural activity there is sometimes an unnerving lacuna in extant material—there are, for example, no literary texts securely dated to this period. For all that, close analysis of such evidence as we do possess confirms that Egyptian society and civilization as a whole were characterized by the same traits as the visual arts. We routinely encounter features with which the student of earlier periods will be completely familiar."
[2]
"Agut-Labordere also suggests that hints of similar measures by Teos’ predecessor, Nectanebo I, are visible in Chapter 10 of the Demotic Chronicle."
[3]
[1]: (Grimal 1994, 372) [2]: (Lloyd 2000, 383) [3]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 25) |
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Al-Maqrizi (1364-1442 CE), historian of Cairo
[1]
. Historical topography Cairo and Egypt, work on plagues, coins, Islam in Ethiopia. Ibn Iyas (1448-1525 CE): chronicler with some very detailed work. Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406 CE) last 20 years in Egypt.
[2]
Al Suyuti (1445-1505 CE) universal historian, author of over 500 books.
[3]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 117) [2]: (Oliver 1977, 66) [3]: (Oliver 1977, 67) |
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History books. Tabari’s "History." Royal biographies.
[1]
Chroniclers rather than historians: Ibn Zulak (d. 996 CE); al-Musabbili (d. 1029 CE); Ibn al-Sayrafi (d. 1147 CE); al-Qudai (d. 1062 CE).
[2]
History of Christian monasteries by Al-Shabushti (d. 1008). History of the patriarchs by the Coptic bishop Severus b. al-Muqaffa (d. c.1000 CE).
[2]
Court historians e.g. Musabbihi.
[3]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 47) [2]: (Oliver 1977, 22) [3]: (Lev 1987, 353-354) |
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Official cosmographer-historian appointed for America.
[1]
Official historians.
[2]
“In subsequent decades, Castilian historians reconciled themselves to the Habsburg dynasty so completely that they presented in their writings a Castile which had become, in the words of the emperor to the Cortes of Valladolid in 1523, ‘the head of all the rest’ (he meant the rest of the peninsular realms).”
[3]
[1]: (Kamen 2002, 351) Kamen, Henry. 2002. Spain’s Road to Empire: The Making of a World Power, 1492-1763. London: Penguin Books. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5IIFB6KQ [2]: (Kamen 2002, 204) Kamen, Henry. 2002. Spain’s Road to Empire: The Making of a World Power, 1492-1763. London: Penguin Books. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5IIFB6KQ [3]: (Kamen 2002, 157) Kamen, Henry. 2002. Spain’s Road to Empire: The Making of a World Power, 1492-1763. London: Penguin Books. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5IIFB6KQ |
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"Aksumite rulers who often spoke and read in Greek, put great store in written documents and in libraries to keep them".
[1]
"The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, around 50 CE, "describes the ruler of the region, King Zoscales, as ’well versed in Hellenic sciences’. This would naturally require fluency in Greek, the lingua-franca of the ancient economy."
[2]
No data on written documents but it is likely that they existed, especially in Greek along the parts of the coast engaged in trade with the Greek-speaking world, if not also further inland at the capital Aksum in Ge’ez - or its precursor language - with documents relating to the local religion and the state.
[1]: (Murray 2009) Stuart A P Murray. 2009. The Library: An Illustrated History. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. [2]: (Glazier and Peacock 2016) Darren Glazier. David Peacock. Historical background and previous investigations. David Peacock. Lucy Blue. eds. 2016. The Ancient Red Sea Port of Adulis, Eritrea: Results of the Eritro-British Expedition, 2004-5. Oxbow Books. Oxford. |
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Preiser-Kapeller says present.
[1]
"At the beginning of the seventh century a period of great silence began. No literary work has come down from this period; a gap of almost 150 years yawns between the point when the last historian of the old late antique school laid down his pen and the moment when the account of past and present was resumed in the form of a monk’s chronicle."
[2]
"History was written in the form of the world chronicle. As in the case of monastic rules, the antecedents for this are found in Syria. The work of John Malalas provided one such model. Malalas wrote in the first half of the sixth century. Another historian, John of Antioch, a contemporary of the Emperor Heraculius, belonged to these Syrian monastic circles, as also did the author of the Easter Chronicle (Chronicon Paschale), a man closely connected with the Patriarch Sergius. All three world chronicles were written by the religious for the religious. In the days of Theodore of Studius there was a return once more to this type of historical writing which had owed much to Syrian influence. In the early ninth century, George, the patriarchal syncellus (an official corresponding to the coadjutor of a western bishop) collected material for a world chronicle. When he died in 810 his chronicle covered the creation of the world to the year A.D. 284, that is, to the beginning of Diocletian’s reign. ... His friend Theophanes undertook the continuation."
[3]
Seventh century: Menander, John of Epiphania and Theophylact Simacattes were imperial historians.
[4]
Chroniclers Nicephorus and Theophanes.
[1]: (Johannes Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Haussig 1971, 115) Haussig, H W. trans Hussey, J M. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. [3]: (Haussig 1971, 215) Haussig, H W.trans Hussey, J M. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. [4]: (Haussig 1971, Chronological Table) Haussig, H W.trans Hussey, J M. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. |
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These works were mostly editions of classical authors. DB: are Einhard’s ’Life of Charlemagne’ and Paul the Deacon good examples? Can you add additional examples?
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Preiser-Kapeller says present.
[1]
Michael Psellus (1018-?1078 CE): "Commentaries on Plato and Aristotle. Treatises on scientific problems. Letters, orations, legal works. Contemporary history (976-1077)."
[2]
Michael Psellos (1018 - c1081 CE) Chronographia was a history, first person viewpoint, covering 976-1078 CE, much based on own experiences.
[3]
The History of Michael Attaleiates. Covers approximately 1034-1079 CE with some gaps. "The main focus of the work overall appears to be the east, especially the warfare against the Seljuks under Romanos IV."
[4]
Constantine Prophyrogenitus, Leo Diaconus and Chroniclers George Monachus and Simeon Magister. Psellus, Michael Attaliates and Chronicler Scylitzes.
[1]: (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Haussig 1971, Chronological Table) Haussig, H W.trans Hussey, J M. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. [3]: (Gregory 2010, 279) Gregory, Timothy E. 2010. A History of Byzantium. Wiley-Blackweel. Chichester. [4]: (Kaldellis and Krallis 2012, xv) Kaldellis, Anthony. Krallis, Dimitris. 2012. The History: Michael Attaleiates. Harvard University Press. Cambridge. |
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"Martel’s descendants learned the lesson that whoever sponsored history controlled its contents. The Annales regni Francorum (covering 741-829) were probably kept at Charlemagne’s court, while his descendants maintained the three continuations. The first part (for 741-835) of the West Frankish continuation, the Annales Bertiniani, was not official, but the second (for 835-61), written by Bishop Prudentius of Troyes, and the third (for 862-82), by Archbishop Hincmar of Reims, were, as were the Annales Xantenses (covering 790-873), which were partly composed at Aix-la-Chapelle by Gerward, the palace librarian."
[1]
[1]: (Shopkow in Kibler et al 1995, 862) |
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Liber Historia Francorum 727 CE
[1]
Liber Historiae Francorum 727 CE. Point of view of Neustrian aristocracy and Paris Basin. Annales Mettenses Priones. Point of view of Carolingians (says Battle of Tertry lead to Pippinid rule in Neustria but transition not that simple).
[2]
Hagiography
[3]
12 vitae between 670-700 CE in "Barbarous Latin": Gregory of Tours; Venatius Fortunatus; Jonas of Bobbio (Columbonus and disciples); John of Reome; Vedast (bishop of Arras p.313); Many anonymous works
[1]: (Wood 1994, 34) [2]: (Wood 1994, 257-261) [3]: (Wood 1994, 246) |
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Gregory of Tours "Decem Libri Historiarum" (Ten Books of Histories)"
[1]
Born 538/9 CE.
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Chronicler Fredegar.
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Chronicler Marius of Avenches.
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Hagiography
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12 vitae between 670-700 CE in "Barbarous Latin": Gregory of Tours; Venatius Fortunatus; Jonas of Bobbio (Columbonus and disciples); John of Reome; Vedast (bishop of Arras p.313); Many anonymous works
[1]: (Wood 1994, 21) [2]: (Wood 1994, 28) [3]: (Wood 1994, 33) [4]: (Wood 1994, 31) [5]: (Wood 1994, 246) |
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“The eighteenth century saw a veritable explosion of published works of literature, science, history, religion, and philosophy in the territories ruled by the Habsburgs.”
[1]
[1]: (Judson 2016: 29) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW |
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Preiser-Kapeller says present.
[1]
Late eleventh century: "High officials as historians: Michael Attaleiates, John Scylitzes, The history of poor Leo, John Zonaras."
[2]
Anna Comnena 1143 CE "Alexiad", history of Nicephorus Bryennius, her dead husband soldier.
[3]
Nicephorus Bryennius, Anna Comnena, Cinnamus, Nicetas and Chroniclers Cedrenus and Zonarus. Acropolita, Pachymeres.
[1]: (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Haussig 1971, Chronological Table) Haussig, H W.trans Hussey, J M. 1971. History of Byzantine Civilization. Thames and Hudson. |
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"Christine de Pizan (1363-ca. 1429) wrote a prose biography of Charles V, which would have interested the court, as well as other works, such as her verse universal history, with a broader appeal. Likewise, the historical works of Gilles le Bouvier (1386-ca. 1455), the Berry Herald, the Chronique du roi Charles VII, the Histoire de Richard II, and the Recouvrement de Normandie, were probably written with the court in mind; Gilles also kept the Grandes chroniques for a time (1403-22)."
[1]
[1]: (Shopkow in Kibler et al 1995, 866) |
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Nicolle Gilles: "Annales et Chroniques" (1492 CE) and Robert Gaguin: "Compendium de origine et gestis Francorum" (1495 CE) important for formation of French national identity under the monarchy. The early identity had France founded by Trojans. Paolo Emilio’s "De rebus gestis Francorum" (published between 1517-1539) was "the first complete humanist history" and he told that France was founded by Clovis.
[1]
[1]: (Potter 1995, 19-21) |
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Beginning the Hellenistic period, there was a significant body of historiographic literature. Cretan authors who wrote historic texts are Rianos (2nd half of 3rd century BCE), Dosiadas from Kydonia (3rd century BCE), Echmenis, Laosthenidas, Petelids from Knossos, Antinor, Sosikratis, Xenios, Pirgion, and Nearchnos, the friend and admiral of Alexander the Great. We know very little about their work.
[1]
[1]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 279-81. |
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Hittite historiographic texts include primarily royal annals and edicts.
[1]
"During the period of the primacy of Hattusa, the Hittites are best known from their royal library and archives excavated at that site, written in the Cuneiform script on clay tablets, a script and medium borrowed from Mesopotamia. These archives, comprising many thousands of tablets, contain every kind of royal chancellery document: annals; edicts, treaties and laws; verdicts, protocols and administrative texts; letters; and a large number of religious texts, rituals and festivals."
[2]
[1]: Collins B.J.(2007) The Hittites and Their World, (Society of Biblical literature archaeology and Biblical studies; no. 7), Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, pp. 143 [2]: (Hawkins 2000, 2) John David Hawkins. 2000. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. Volume I. Inscriptions of the Iron Age. Walter de Gruyter. Berlin. |
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"Hecataeus, the first known name in a line of historians with a geographical bent, was born at Miletus around 530 BC."
[1]
530 BCE is just a few years after the end date of this polity. Miletus on the coast of Western Asia Minor was one of the Greek cities within the Lydian Empire.
[1]: (Broodbank 2015, 536) Broodbank, Cyprian. 2015. The Making of the Middle Sea. Thames & Hudson. London. |
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the babad-literature. Most are centred around and written for the benefit of a certain court or dynasty and may be considered to have a national character such as the Babad Tanah Djawi.
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The Bible attests the the existence of the "Annals of the Kings," which may have been the source for the chronologies within Kings and Chronicles, but the text itself has been lost. Similar royal histories were the norm in surrounding societies.
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Kabir-u’d-din is reported to have written an official history of ’Ala-u’d-din’s reign which has unfortunately not survived.
[1]
Almost every ruler had court historian.
[2]
[1]: Qureshi, I. H. (1971). The administration of the Sultanate of Delhi (p. 93). Oriental Books Reprint Corporation; exclusively distributed by Munshiram Manoharlal, pp. 181. [2]: (Ahmed 2011, 107) Ahmed, Farooqui Salma. 2011. A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Pearson Education India. |
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"The most important sections [of the Allahabad inscription] consist of long lists of kings and regions subdued by ’the prowess of [Skanda-Gupta’s] arm in battle’, otherwise ’the arm that rose up so as to pass all bounds’; indeed the pillar itself ’is, as it were, an arm of the earth’ extended in a gesture of command. Some historians take these strong-arm conquests to be arranged in chronological order and, on that basis, have divided them into separate ’campaigns’."
[1]
[1]: (Keay 2010, 137) Keay, John. 2010. India: A History. New Updated Edition. London: HarperPress. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/HSHAKZ3X. |
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Abu-Ja’far Muhammed (c. 923 CE) wrote the definitive historical work of the period, the Ta’risk al-rusul wa-l-muluk, which was held in the highest esteem for the next three centuries. He and other writers had access to vast records and correspondences of the state, allowing for a large degree of evidence and checking of sources.
[1]
"this was the greatest period of growth for the Arabic language and literature, as well as for the development of Islamic histories based on the romance of Bedouin lore."
[2]
[1]: Young, M. J. L., John Derek Latham, and Robert Bertram Serjeant, eds. Religion, learning and science in the’abbasid period pp. 188-216 [2]: (Pickard 2013, 432) Pickard, J. 2013. Behind the Myths: The Foundations of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. AuthorHouse. |
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Ibn al-Sa’i (1197-1276 CE), "a Baghdadi man of letters", historian and librarian who wrote "Consorts of the Caliphs, Both Free and Slave" about influential women just before 1258 CE.
[1]
This time was "an age of historians."
[2]
[1]: (Bray 2015, xviii, xix, xx) Toorawa, Shawkat M ed. 2015. Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad. NYU Press. [2]: (Bray 2015, xviii) Toorawa, Shawkat M ed. 2015. Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad. NYU Press. |
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"A growing body of literature, composed now in Akkadian instead of Sumerian, accumulated through the later second and first millennia. These included new versions of earlier stories, such as Ishtar in the Netherworld, and new stories, such as Enuma elish and The Story of Erra, as well as new compositions in old and new genres of religious literature and other branches of literary composition such as disputations, fables, and love poems, and the time-honored Sumerian lexical texts, now translated and greatly expanded and developed. Epic poems about historical monarchs began to appear, including fictive “autobiographies.” On the practical side, there was a growing body of “scientific” literature: compilations of omen and divination observations, treatments for illnesses, recipes and other treatises, as well as mathematical tables and exercises."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 291) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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"philosophy flourished in Hellenistic Babylonia, and Greek metaphysicians, astronomers, naturalists, historians, geographers, and physicians worked there."
[1]
- Hellenistic Susa likely had the same ’high culture’ to a lesser degree
[1]: (Neusner 2008, 8-9) Neusner, Jacob. 2008. A History of the Jews in Babylonia. 1. The Parthian Period. Wipf & Stock. Eugene. |
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"Considering this severe lack of detailed evidence, a ‘sense’ of this phase can be partly gathered from pseudo-historical and religious/literary texts. These texts not only refer to, but also partly originated in this period."
[1]
[1]: (Liverani 2014, 469) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q/q/liverani. |
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"Considering this severe lack of detailed evidence, a ‘sense’ of this phase can be partly gathered from pseudo-historical and religious/literary texts. These texts not only refer to, but also partly originated in this period."
[1]
[1]: (Liverani 2014, 469) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q/q/liverani. |
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"The definitive removal of the Elamite threat from the Mesopotamian territories happened during the reign of the most important king of the dynasty, Nebuchadnezzar I. The account of the final battle has survived on a kudurru."
[1]
[1]: (Liverani 2014, 462) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q/q/liverani. |
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"the Old Babylonian period experienced a surge of the historiographical activities of scribes, normally in connection to current political problems (such as royal legitimacy and royal decisions). This historiographical effort generated at least three types of compositions. First, there were king lists[...]. The second type of composition consists of the collections of Akkadian and Ur III royal inscriptions (copied from the monuments that still stood in the main Mesopotamian sanctuaries) and from the royal correspondence of the Ur III kings. [...] The third type of composition, partly derived from the second type, was that of pseudo-historical texts, from ‘false inscriptions’ (narû), imitating authentic inscriptions, to historical poems of the kings of Akkad."
[1]
[1]: (Liverani 2014, 204) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q/q/liverani. |
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"Armenian accounts of trade routes such as Parthian Stations of the Isidore of Charax and other mentions in Armenian histories are an indication of the involvement of Armenians in the internal trade of the Arsacid Empire."
[1]
Isidore of Charax is called a Greco-Roman but Characene was at times Parthian held territory and its literate population that we have evidence for being interested in books such as his Parthian Stations or his original work which was perhaps titled A Journey around Parthia. Characene was the area of southern Mesopotamia. "We know that varied schools of philosophy flourished in Hellenistic Babylonia, and Greek metaphysicians, astronomers, naturalists, historians, geographers, and physicians worked there. The Parthian court made considerable use of such trained and able men for building its bureaucracy."
[2]
[1]: Rezakhani, Khodadad. 2016. Arsacid Society and Culture. Accessed 06.09.2016: https://iranologie.com/the-history-page/the-arsacid-empire/arsacid-society-and-culture/ [2]: (Neusner 2008, 8-9) Neusner, Jacob. 2008. A History of the Jews in Babylonia. 1. The Parthian Period. Wipf & Stock. Eugene. |
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"Ancient Iranians favored oral narration of history, which allowed successive transmitters to rework narratives of events and reattribute them to different heroes at different times (Boyce, 1954, 1955, 1957; Shahbazi, 1990). Their oldest historical traditions are the heroic material found in the Avestan Yašts (Christensen, 1917, 1928, 1931; Boyce, Zoroastrianism I, pp. 92-108; Yarshater, pp. 411-53), in which "historical facts and accurate genealogies" are interwoven with "poetic fiction and fable." In these traditions "are seemingly preserved both secular and priestly traditions, transmitted by minstrel poets as well as by religious schools; and there are elements also of popular superstition and dread, in the tales of demons and witches and fearsome beasts. These intermingle with the stories of valour which show also the power of the gods to grant to men’s prayers and succor them in distress" (Boyce, Zoroastrianism I, p. 108). With the conquest of the ancient Near East, the Iranians became familiar with cultures that had long established traditions of written history (Klima, pp. 214-17; Grayson, 1975a, pp. 1-7; G. Cameron, pp. 79-81). This led to a number of developments. Firstly, the Iranians began keeping records of historical events, of which Cyrus’s Chronicle from Babylonia (see CYRUS CYLINDER) and Darius’s Bisotun inscriptions (q.v.) and their Aramaic versions, which were dispatched to the empire’s provinces, are the best examples. They meant to convincethe reader that "Persians were divinely appointed saviors whose mission was to bring justice, order, and tranquillity to the people of the world" (G. Cameron, pp. 81-94, esp. p. 93). The Achaemenids also kept Babylonian-style "diaries" (on the genre see Grayson, 1975a, p. 1)."
[1]
The Achaemenid period "witnessed major developments in art, philosophy, literature, historiography, religion, exploration, economics, and science, and those developments provided the direct background for the further changes, along similar lines, that made the Hellenistic period so important in history."
[2]
[1]: Shapur Shahbazi http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/historiography_iran.htm [2]: T. Cuyler Young, Jr. Achaemenid Society and Culture http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/achaemenid_society_culture.php#sthash.wxVBVuth.dpuf |
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“While the ancient Thracians were a non-literary people and no domestic historical sources are known, a number of Greek and Roman authors give information on the region and the local tribes. Ancient writings provide some possibility to study Thracian political history, culture, religion and society, but, on the other hand, they do not contain sufficient data to enable those studying Thrace to draw comprehensive conclusions and to reconstruct the whole situation.”
[1]
[1]: Theodossiev, N. (2011) Ancient Thrace during the First Millennium BC. In, Tsetskhladze, G. R. (ed.) The Black Sea, Greece, Anatolia and Europe in the First Millennium BC. Peeters: Leuven, Paris, Walpole, pp1-60)p5 |
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The first works of Ottoman historiography come from the later 15th century.
[1]
The Ottomans integrated the traditions of classical Arabic and Persian literature - but original own works start mostly in the later period.
[1]
Coding inferred present because the written document does not have to be original to the polity. It can be republished work, or existing text that is kept and consulted.
[1]: Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences. |
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Ibn Kemal.
[1]
Unknown author wrote Tarih-i Hind-i Garbi (History of Western India). Presented to Sultan Murad III in 1583 CE.
[2]
[1]: (Inalcik and Quataert 1997, 19) [2]: (http://www.theottomans.org/english/art_culture/science.asp) |
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The History of the Mongols (Tāriḵ-e ḡāzāni-e mobārak) written by Rašid al-Din, who was Gazan’s head administrator and eventually co-vizier.
[1]
Chronicler Abul Qasim Kashani.
[2]
Persian historian Rashid Al-Din.
[3]
[1]: REUVEN AMITAI, ’IL-KHANIDS i. DYNASTIC HISTORY’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/il-khanids-i-dynastic-history [2]: (Marozzi 2004, 136) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London. [3]: (Marshall 1993, 228) Marshall, Robert. 1993. Storm from the East: From Ghengis Khan to Khubilai Khan. University of California Press. |
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"One example is a history which Mahmud ibn Vali, a member of the Uzbek aristocracy, began to write in 1634 and which he called Bahr al-Asrar fi Manaqib al-Akhyar (“Ocean of Secrets about the Legends of the Best Ones”); it was commissioned at Balkh by the future khan Nadhr Muhammad (1641-45). This compendium is in line with the historiographic school that began with Rashid al-Din in Mongol Iran and flowered under the Timurids with such works as Hafiz Abru’s Zafername and Sharaf al-Din Yazdi’s book of the same title, or again with several biographies of Shaybanid khans such as the aforementioned Sharafname-i Shahi, a history of the rule of Abdallah II by Hafiz Tanish Bukhari."
[1]
[1]: (Soucek 2000, 178) |
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"Armenian accounts of trade routes such as Parthian Stations of the Isidore of Charax and other mentions in Armenian histories are an indication of the involvement of Armenians in the internal trade of the Arsacid Empire."
[1]
Isidore of Charax is called a Greco-Roman but Characene was at times Parthian held territory and its literate population that we have evidence for being interested in books such as his Parthian Stations or his original work which was perhaps titled A Journey around Parthia. Characene was the area of southern Mesopotamia. "We know that varied schools of philosophy flourished in Hellenistic Babylonia, and Greek metaphysicians, astronomers, naturalists, historians, geographers, and physicians worked there. The Parthian court made considerable use of such trained and able men for building its bureaucracy."
[2]
[1]: Rezakhani, Khodadad. 2016. Arsacid Society and Culture. Accessed 06.09.2016: https://iranologie.com/the-history-page/the-arsacid-empire/arsacid-society-and-culture/ [2]: (Neusner 2008, 8-9) Neusner, Jacob. 2008. A History of the Jews in Babylonia. 1. The Parthian Period. Wipf & Stock. Eugene. |
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“’Abd al-’Aziz al-Fishtáli (d. 1621-2) was an official court historian, who is said to have composed an eight-volume history of the Sa’dids. Only an abridgement of this history survived (published in 1964), but al-Fishtali is extensively quoted by later chroniclers, and in particular by al-Ifrání (also al-Ufrani or al-Yafrani), who wrote his chronicle Nu^bat al-hddi in 1738-9. Though he lived under the ’Alawid dynasty, al-Ifráni sympathized with the Sa’dids. Over a third of the chronicle is dedicated to Mawláy Ahmad al-Mansür (1578-1603). Its value is enhanced by al-Ifrani’s care in mentioning his sources and in incorporating original documents in the text.”
[1]
“However, the Saadian dynasty had two important historians. One, whose work is not extant, was al-Fishtali (1549-1621), secretary of state responsible for correspondence, poet-laureate and historiographer to al-Mansur. The other was al-Ifrani, who died about the middle of the eighteenth century and who, out of spite against the sultan Mulay Ismacil, celebrated the praises of the fallen dynasty in his History of the Saadian Dynasty in Morocco (Nuzhat al-Hädi)^ which is still today the best indigenous source. Among all the Alawite historians al-Zayani (1734-1833?), a pure-blooded Berber, is outstanding.”
[2]
[1]: (Fage and Oliver 1975: 629) Fage, J. D. and Oliver, Roland Anthony. 1975. eds., The Cambridge History of Africa: Volume 4, from c. 1600 to c. 1790. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z6BCU87M [2]: (Julien 1970: 221) Julien, Charles-Andre. 1970. History of North Africa: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, From the Arab Conquest to 1830, ed. R Le Tourneau and C.C. Stewart, trans. John Petrie. New York; Washington: Praeger Publishers. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZJVWWN24 |
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"In 1851, the first modern institution of higher education was founded. Dar ul-Funun, a polytechic institute, was founded by Amir Kabir, the Prime Minister from 1848 to 1851, better known as Iran’s first reformer, to educate students in medicine, engineering, geology, and military sciences."
[1]
[1]: (Maranlou 2016, 144-145) Sahar Maranlou. Modernization Prospects For Legal Education In Iran. Mutaz M Qafisheh. Stephen A Rosenbaum. eds. 2016. Experimental Legal Education in a Globalized World: The Middle East and Beyond. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Newcastle upon Tyne. |
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e.g. chronicles outlining the history of the Safavids.
[1]
About two dozen Persian-language "court-chronicles" exist from the Safavid period.
[2]
[1]: Rudi Matthee ‘SAFAVID DYNASTY’http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids [2]: (Newman 2009) Newman, Andrew J. 2009. Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B. Tauris. New York. |
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"Important events of the reign of each of the Sasanian kings were written down and preserved in the imperial archives, a practice that probably dates from the very beginning of Sasanian rule."
[1]
"in about the 5th century, priests attached to the Sassanid court began to compile an immense chronicle, the Khwaday Namag"
[2]
- however the "Book of Kings" might also be considered fiction, but to the extent it is a pretense at a history it is historical writing. "The idea of compiling a written national history for the Iranians appeared toward the end of the Sasanian period, especially at the time of Khusrau I, during whose reign books were either written in Pahlavi or translated from other languages, such as Syriac, the Indian languages and Greek."
[3]
[1]: (Tafazzoli 1996, 86) Tafazzoli, A. and Khromov, A. L. Sasanian Iran: Intellectual Life. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.82-105. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [2]: (Eastburn ????, 201) Eastburn, Gerardo. ????. The Esoteric Codex: Zoroastrianism. Second Edition. Lulu.com. [3]: (Tafazzoli 1996, 87) Tafazzoli, A. and Khromov, A. L. Sasanian Iran: Intellectual Life. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.82-105. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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There is a long tradition of historical recording in Japan. Japan’s oldest extant text is Kojiki (Record of ancient matters) written in 712CE although it deals with what today would be considered mythological themes it was treated as a historic text.
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.243. |
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"Important events of the reign of each of the Sasanian kings were written down and preserved in the imperial archives, a practice that probably dates from the very beginning of Sasanian rule."
[1]
Khwaday-namag, Yazdgird III. History of creation to Khosrau II from a Zoroastrian perspective.
[2]
"The idea of compiling a written national history for the Iranians appeared toward the end of the Sasanian period, especially at the time of Khusrau I, during whose reign books were either written in Pahlavi or translated from other languages, such as Syriac, the Indian languages and Greek."
[3]
[1]: (Tafazzoli 1996, 86) Tafazzoli, A. and Khromov, A. L. Sasanian Iran: Intellectual Life. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.82-105. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [2]: (Tafazzoli and Khromov 1996, 87) Tafazzoli, A. and Khromov, A. L. Sasanian Iran: Intellectual Life. in in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.82-105. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [3]: (Tafazzoli 1996, 87) Tafazzoli, A. and Khromov, A. L. Sasanian Iran: Intellectual Life. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.82-105. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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Symmachus, Roman history. Jordanes, sixth century bureaucrat and historian.
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The Liber pontificalis, a series of biographical entries on each pope, is one of the most important sources for the history of the early medieval papacy.
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Chroniclers ( such as Salimbene de Adam or Dino Compagni at Florence) were active throughout the period, across the Peninsula. An anonymous Roman chronicler is our main source of information for the regime of Cola di Rienzi at Rome in the late 1340s-early 1350s.
[1]
[1]: Anonimo romano in Dean, 168-72 |
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present or inferred present for Greco-Bactrians in 200 BCE
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Dio Cassius (155 - c235 CE), Livy (59 BC - 17 CE), Plutarch (50 - 125 CE), Tacitus (56-120 CE)
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. Pompeius Trogus Historiae Philippicae, a universal history in forty four books up to 9 CE. Strabo (54 BCE - 24 CE), wrote geographical and historical works. Titus Livius Patavinus (born Padua, 59-57 BCE)
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Cornelius Tacitus (probably born Rome, 54-120 CE), work included Germania a treatise on geographical and social condition of Germany. Histories (concerns years 69-70 CE), Annales (History of Rome, Tiberius to Nero)
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Suetonius historian, De vita Caesarum. Valerius, historical anecdotes. Plutarch (born 46 CE, Boeotia) known for Parallel Lives and Moralia.
[2]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 225-228) [3]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 238) |
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Historical works were popular during this period such as the works of Otto of Freising – grandson of Emperor Henry IV – who wrote The Two Cities and Deeds of Frederick I. Imperial histories and histories of the crusades were particularly popular across Europe.
[1]
[1]: Power 2006: 166-168. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4V4WE3ZK |
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Yemeni chroniclers.
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Queen Arwa was a "fine writer" said to be "versed in the chronicles, poetry, and history".
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[1]: (Stookey 1978, 58) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. [2]: (Stookey 1978, 68) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. |
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Zhou dynasty had the Zuo Zhuan which was a late 4th BCE history of the Spring and Autumn period.
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"The history of the first independent Islamic dynasties of the Yemen has been known, for a long time, from the local chronicles and above all from ’Umata’s al-Mufid fi akhbar sa’a wa zabid. This work remains our only textual source for the history of the Ziyadids, who settled in Tihama at the beginning of the third/ninth century. It was used by later Yemeni historians and gives the detailed genealogy of the Ziyadids (Bosworth 1996: 98, no. 41; Smith 1988: 138; 2004). It is inspired by the now lost work of Abu al-Tami Jayyas b. Najah, one of the sons of Najah. This last was an Ethiopian wazir in the service of the last Ziyadid who founded the Najahid dynasty. He came to power during the second quarter of the fifth/eleventh century in Zabid (’Umara 1985: 46 1. 10-47 1.1; Daghfous 1992-1993: 33)."
[1]
[1]: (Peli 2008: 251) Peli, A. 2008. A history of the Ziyadids through their coinage (203—442/818—1050). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies , 2008, Vol. 38, Papers from the forty-first meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies held in London, 19-21 July 2007 (2008), pp. 251-263. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ADM7C94B/library |
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Soviet historiography included a wide range of historical documentation such as books, articles, and theses that covered various aspects of world and Soviet history.
[1]
[1]: “History Textbooks.” Presidential Library. Accessed November 25, 2023. https://www.prlib.ru/en/collections/467164. Zotero link: 28USQCGR |
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"In the late sixteenth century, Padua was the official university of the Venetian republic".
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c14th century?: "The rising tide of humanism and the historical vision that accompanied it resulted in an upsurge in the writing of history, as well as the involvement of both patricians and nonpatricians in the activity of chronicle writing, which now featured a vernacular component."
[2]
[1]: (Harrison 2006, 213) Peter Harrison. The natural philosopher and the virtues. Conal Condren. Stephen Gaukroger. Ian Hunter. eds. The Philosopher in Early Modern Europe: The Nature of a Contested Identity. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [2]: (Pincus 2000, 91) Debra Pincus. Hard Times and Ducal Radiance. Andrea Dandolo and the Construction of the Ruler in Fourteenth-Century Venice. John Martin. Dennis Romano. eds. 2000. Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State 1297-1797. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. |
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"In the late sixteenth century, Padua was the official university of the Venetian republic".
[1]
c14th century?: "The rising tide of humanism and the historical vision that accompanied it resulted in an upsurge in the writing of history, as well as the involvement of both patricians and nonpatricians in the activity of chronicle writing, which now featured a vernacular component."
[2]
[1]: (Harrison 2006, 213) Peter Harrison. The natural philosopher and the virtues. Conal Condren. Stephen Gaukroger. Ian Hunter. eds. The Philosopher in Early Modern Europe: The Nature of a Contested Identity. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [2]: (Pincus 2000, 91) Debra Pincus. Hard Times and Ducal Radiance. Andrea Dandolo and the Construction of the Ruler in Fourteenth-Century Venice. John Martin. Dennis Romano. eds. 2000. Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State 1297-1797. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. |
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In temples.
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Present in Ramesside period.
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Memoires of Saint-Simon (1675-1755 CE).
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Not mentioned by sources, though by the beginning of the sixth century the Rouran were a literate society.
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Literacy very low. Were there any readers of literature?
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Literacy very low. Were there any readers of literature?
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Unknown. The Shang wrote on perishable materials, such as bamboo and silk.
[1]
[1]: (The Shang Dynasty, 1600 to 1050 BCE. Spice Digest, Fall 2007. http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/117/ShangDynasty.pdf) |
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No information found in sources so far.
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The following quote suggests that this era has left behind few written texts. "Historical information on those emerging years of the empire is dim and has to be carefully extracted from the accounts of Arab writers (Levtzion and Hopkins 1981), the scanty internal evidence in the Kanem-Borno king lists (Lange 1977), and the few fragments of internal scripts that have been recorded by the German traveler Heinrich Barth (1857-59; Lange 1987) and the British colonial officer Richmond Palmer (1967; 1970)."
[1]
[1]: (Gronenborn 2002: 103) |
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Unknown. "normally it is only after writing comes to be used for display that archaeology begins to find traces of it. Because administrative documents were almost certainly written on perishable materials like bamboo and papyrus, we will probably never find them."
[1]
[1]: (Wang 2014, 179) Wang, Haicheng. 2014. Writing and the Ancient State: Early China in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge University Press. |
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Literacy very low. Were there any readers of literature?
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