1999

It is with hesitation that I engage this subject as it has been so well covered by John Van Seters in his classic study In Search of History from 1983. In this monograph, Van Seters sets the standard for dealing with historiography in the ancient world, with an extensive discussion of the genres, aims and techniques of ancient writers, their methodological outlook, interest in the past, propagandistic ideas, etc. It will be difficult to surpass this study. The scope of Van Seters's investigation is limited, however, by his earlier studies in the history of the Yahwist and the origins of biblical narrative, which he considers generally to be exilic (i.e. belonging to the sixth century BCE), an opinion he has never given up. This was revolutionary when it was first proposed more than 25 years ago. It has now become mainstream and tacitly accepted by students of the scholars formerly in opposition to the idea of such a late date for the oldest history writing in the Old Testament. Although this has few consequences for his evaluation of the expressions of historical recollection within the ancient Near East, it restricts his interest in Greek history writing to the earliest of the Greek tradition: the logographers of the sixth century BCE and Herodotus of the fifth century BCE. Accordingly, Herodotus is not introduced as ‘the father of history’ but as a parallel to the history writing found in the Old Testament.