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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 7 page paper considers what non-literary evidence (such as coins, temples, contests and gladiatorial combats for example) can tell us about the culture in which they took place. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
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7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVNonLit.rtf
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Herodotus to see if they mention other, non-literary sources that tell us about ancient cultures. Discussion Michael Crawford notes that we depend mostly on literary works to provide information about
the past, and that such writings "provide evidence of the ideas, opinions, interests and levels of education of their authors, of the extent of their freedom and the level of
their conditioning" (Crawford, 1983, p. 1). In addition, if the work is literary, it may well reflect the writers culture; it could reflect the historical events of the time; it
could even give readers an idea of the writers political, social and economic circumstances as well (Crawford, 1983). However, Crawford notes that when a reader approaches a literary text, its
necessary for him or her to try and understand why the writer wrote it and the methods he used (1983). This is not always possible, given the time that has
passed. In addition, there are often errors in copying and in retelling the stories (Crawford, 1983). This means that the existence of "an original text which is at all close
to its original is very rare" (Crawford, 1983, p. 1). Crawford argues that in the study of antiquities, historiography, which is generally considered to be a study of the
process of recording history, may be as important as history itself (Crawford, 1983). In other words, we might want to try and understand why Thucydides and others wrote when they
did, and the circumstances under which they wrote, as well as what they wrote about. But even here, because thousands of years have passed, its possible to misinterpret these authors
meanings. In the final chapter of his book, Crawford suggests that perhaps we can use other methods to find the truth of historical events. He suggests that looking at numismatic
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