History of History

Synopsis

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the writing of history has changed over time, from ancient epics to medieval hagiographies and modern deconstructions. In the 6th century AD, the bishop of Tours began his history of the world with a simple observation that "A great many things keep happening, some of them good, some of them bad". For a phrase that captures the whole of history it’s among the best, but in writing about the past we are rarely so economical. From ancient epics - Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War - to medieval hagiographies and modern deconstructions, historians have endlessly chronicled, surveyed and analysed the great many things that keep happening, declaring some of them good and some of them bad. But the writing of history always illuminates two periods - the one history is written about and the one it is written in. And to look at how the writing of history has changed is to examine the way successive ages have understood their world. In short, there is a history to history.

With Paul Cartledge, AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture and Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge; John Burrow, Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford and Miri Rubin, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London.

(45 minutes)

Series

In Our Time, Series

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

2010

Year of production

2009

Notes

Broadcast on Radio 4 on 22 January 2009

Subjects

History

Keywords

cultural influences; historical sources; historical artefacts

Online availability

URI

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gryrx

Price

free

Delivery

Streamed

Credits

Contributor

John Burrow; Melvyn Bragg; Miri Rubin; Paul Cartledge

Production Company

Name

BBC Radio 4

Web

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 External site opens in new window