Terni
Terni is a city in the southern portion of the region of Umbria in central Italy. The city is the capital of the province of Terni, located in the plain of the Nera river, it is 104 kilometres northeast of Rome. It was founded as an Ancient Roman town. During the 19th century, steel mills were introduced and led the city to have a role in the second industrial revolution in Italy; because of its industrial importance, the city was bombed during World War II by the Allies. It still remains an industrial hub and has been nicknamed "The Steel City". Terni is known as the "City of Lovers", as its patron saint, Saint Valentine, was born and became a bishop here, the remains are preserved in the basilica-sanctuary in his honour; the city was founded around the 7th century BC by the Umbrians Naharti, in a territory inhabited as early as the Bronze Age. The Iguvine Tablets describe these Naharti as a strong, numerous people and as the most important enemy of the Umbrian people of Gubbio. In the 3rd century BC, Terni was conquered by the Romans and soon became an important municipium lying on the Via Flaminia.
The Roman name was Interamna, meaning "in between two rivers". During the Roman Empire the city was enriched with several buildings, including aqueducts, walls, an amphitheater, a theater and bridges. After the Lombard conquest in 755 Terni lost prominence when it was reduced to a secondary town in the Duchy of Spoleto. In 1174 it was sacked by Archbishop Christian of Mainz. In the following century Terni was one of sites visited by St. Francis to give sermons. In the 14th century Terni issued its own constitution, from 1353 the walls were enlarged, new channels were opened; as with many of the Italian communes of the Late Middle Ages, it was beset by civil unrest between the partisans of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, between the Nobili and Banderari. It joined the Papal States. In 1580 an ironwork, the Ferriera, was introduced to work the iron ore mined in Monteleone di Spoleto, starting the traditional industrial connotation of the city. In the 17th century, the population of Terni declined further due to plagues and famines.
In the 19th century, Terni took advantage of the Industrial Revolution and of plentiful water sources in the area. New industries included a steelwork, a foundry, as well as weapons and wool factories. In 1927 Terni became capital of the province; the presence of important industries made it a favorite target for the Allied bombardments in World War II. On August 11, 1943, a massive bombardment devastated the city, it was the first of the 108 air strikes that destroyed 80% of Terni's buildings and buried under the rubble about 1000 civilians. Despite this, industrial environment increased after the war; the city has three important industrial hubs: the first one is the Stainless Steel Area, called AST and is a wide area located in the east part of Terni. West of the town, there is a second industrial hub, known as "Area Polymer", with four different chemical multinational industries; the third industrial hub is Italeaf, which controls TerniEnergia, a company listed on STAR segment of Borsa Italiana, active in the renewable energy sector, promotes and develops technological star-ups in cleantech sector.
Terni is connected with the A1 motorway, the European route E45 and National Road Flaminia by the RATO, a motorway junction. Terni railway station is part of the Ancona–Orte railway, is a junction station for two secondary lines, the Terni–Sulmona railway and the Terni–Sansepolcro railway. One of the most important national freight stations is located nearby; the local urban and suburban transport service, ATC, runs 90 bus lines. In the north of the city, there are works in progress on the line from Perugia to enable it to be used as a Light rail line. Roman amphitheater, once capable of 10,000 spectators, built in 32 BC. Porta Sant'Angelo, one of the four Ancient Roman Gates to the city, much restored. Terni Cathedral. Built over one of the most ancient Christian edifices of the city, it has today Baroque lines. In the interior is one organ designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini; the belfry is from the 18th century. The façade has two mediaeval gates: one of them has the profile of a sabot once used to measure the citizen's shoes in order to ensure that they did not exceed a fixed limit of decency.
San Francesco – 13th-century church The Basilica of S. Valentino. Palazzo Mazzancolli is one of the few remains of the Middle Ages past of the city. Palazzo Gazzoli, housing the City's Gallery with works by Pierfrancesco d'Amelia, Benozzo Gozzoli, Gerolamo Troppa and Orneore Metelli. Palazzo Spada, designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, it is the current Town Hall. Lancia di Luce, by the sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro; the Romanesque churches: Sant'Alò. San Martino. San Salvatore. Nearby, at the confluence of the Velino and Nera Rivers, is the Cascata delle Marmore, a 165-metre-high waterfall. Ternana Calcio is the main football club in the city; the club have twice played in Italy's first division Serie A. Ternana is playing in Serie B; the club play at the 22,000-seat Stadio Libero Liberati, named after Italian motorcycle racer Libero Liberati, born in Terni, won the 500cc World Championship in 1957, died while he was training with his Gilera Saturno along the Valnerina road near Terni. House of Castell
Greece
Greece the Hellenic Republic, self-identified and known as Hellas, is a country located in Southern and Southeast Europe, with a population of 11 million as of 2016. Athens is largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is located at the crossroads of Europe and Africa. Situated on the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, Turkey to the northeast; the Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a large number of islands, of which 227 are inhabited. Eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres; the country consists of nine geographic regions: Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace and the Ionian Islands.
Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilisation, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, Western drama and notably the Olympic Games. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as poleis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Philip of Macedon united most of the Greek mainland in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great conquering much of the ancient world, from the eastern Mediterranean to India. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, in which Greek language and culture were dominant. Rooted in the first century A. D. the Greek Orthodox Church helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World. Falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence.
Greece's rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The sovereign state of Greece is a unitary parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, a high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the tenth member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001, it is a member of numerous other international institutions, including the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Greece's unique cultural heritage, large tourism industry, prominent shipping sector and geostrategic importance classify it as a middle power, it is the largest economy in the Balkans. The names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages and cultures.
The Greek name of the country is Hellas or Ellada, its official name is the Hellenic Republic. In English, the country is called Greece, which comes from Latin Graecia and means'the land of the Greeks'; the earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, in the Greek province of Macedonia. All three stages of the stone age are represented for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries, as Greece lies on the route via which farming spread from the Near East to Europe. Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered the birthplace of Western civilisation, beginning with the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Aegean Sea at around 3200 BC, the Minoan civilization in Crete, the Mycenaean civilization on the mainland; these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek.
The Mycenaeans absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC, during a time of regional upheaval known as the Bronze Age collapse. This ushered from which written records are absent. Though the unearthed Linear B texts are too fragmentary for the reconstruction of the political landscape and can't support the existence of a larger state contemporary Hittite and Egyptian records suggest the presence of a single state under a "Great King" based in mainland Greece; the end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to the year of the first Olympic Games. The Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, which spread to the shores of the Black Sea, So
Via Flaminia
The Via Flaminia was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had for travel between Etruria, Latium and the Po Valley. Today the same route, still called by the same name for much of its distance, is paralleled or overlaid by Strada Statale 3 called Strada Regionale 3 in Lazio and Umbria, Strada Provinciale 3 in Marche, it leaves Rome, goes up the Val Tevere and into the mountains at Castello delle Formiche, ascends to Gualdo Tadino, continuing over the divide at Scheggia Pass, 575 m to Cagli. From there it descends the eastern slope waterways between the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and the Umbrian Apennines to Fano on the coast and goes north, parallel to Highway A1 to Rimini; this route, once convenient to Roman citizens and other travelers, is now congested by heavy traffic between north Italy and the capital at Rome. It remains a country road, while the traffic crosses by railway and autostrada through dozens of tunnels between Florence and Bologna - a shorter, more direct route under the ridges and nearly inaccessible passes.
It was constructed by Gaius Flaminius during his censorship. Sources mention frequent improvements being made to it during the imperial period. Augustus instituted a general restoration of the roads of Italy, assigning supervision of different regions to various senators, he reserved the Flaminia for himself, rebuilt all the bridges except the Pons Mulvius, by which it crosses the Tiber, 3 kilometres north of Rome, an unknown Pons Minucius. Triumphal arches were erected in his honour on the former bridge and at Ariminum, the latter of, still preserved. Vespasian constructed a new tunnel through the pass of Intercisa, in AD 77, Trajan, as inscriptions show, repaired several bridges along the road. In the Middle Ages it was known as the Ravenna road, as it led to the more important city of Ravenna. Following the end of the Exarchate of Ravenna, it fell into disuse during the Lombard period, but was reconstructed in the Renaissance era and continued to be of military importance down to the Napoleonic era and World War II.
As the SS 3 it remains one of the principal highways from Rome to the Adriatic coast. The importance of the ancient Via Flaminia is twofold. During the period of Roman expansion in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, the Flaminia became, with the cheaper sea route, a main axis of transportation by which wheat from the Po valley supplied Rome and central Italy. During the period of Roman decline, the Flaminia was the main road leading into the heartland of Italy, it was taken by Julius Caesar at the beginning of the civil war, but by various Germanic military forces and Byzantine generals. A number of major battles were therefore fought on or near the Via Flaminia, for example at Sentinum and near Tadinum. In the early Middle Ages, the road, controlled by the Eastern Empire, was a civilizing influence, accounted for much of what historians call the "Byzantine corridor"; the Via Flaminia starts at Porta del Popolo in the Aurelian Walls of Rome: Via del Corso, which connects the Campidoglio to the gate, can be considered the urban stretch of the Via Flaminia.
The road runs due north, considerable remains of its pavement being extant under the modern road, passing east of the site of the Etruscan Falerii, crossing the Tiber into Umbria over a bridge some slight vestiges of which can still be seen, the "Pile d' Augusto". From there it made its way to Ocriculum and Narnia, where it crossed the Nera River by the Ponte d'Augusto, the largest Roman bridge built, a splendid four-arched structure to which Martial alludes, one arch of, still standing, it went on, followed at first by the modern road to Casuentum which passes over two finely preserved ancient bridges, through Carsulae to the Vicus Martis Tudertium Mevania, thence to Forum Flaminii. A more circuitous route from Narnia to Forum Flaminii was adopted, increasing the distance by 12 Roman miles and passing by Interamna Nahars and Fulginium — from which a branch diverged to Perusia. From Forum Flaminii, where the two branches rejoined, the Flaminia went on to Nuceria Camellaria — whence a branch road ran to Septempeda and thence either to Ancona or to Tolentinum and Urbs Salvia — and Helvillum, to cross the main ridge of the Apennines, a temple of Jupiter Apenninus standing at or near the summit of the pass according to one ancient author.
From there it descended to Cales. The narrowest pass was crossed by means of a tunnel chiseled out of solid rock: a first tunnel of the 3rd century BC was replaced by an adjacent tunnel by Vespasian; this is the modern Gola del Furlo, the ancient name of which, means "cut through" with reference to these tunnels. The modern 2‑lane road, the SS 3 Flaminia, still uses Vespasian's tunnel, the emperor's dedicatory inscription still in place; the Flaminia emerged from the gorges of the Apennines at Forum Sempronii and reached the coast of the Adriatic at Fanum Fortunae. Thence, it ran north-west through Pisaurum to Ariminum; the total distance from Rome was 21
Latins (Italic tribe)
The Latins, sometimes known as the Latians, were an Italic tribe which included the early inhabitants of the city of Rome. From about 1000 BC, the Latins inhabited the small region known to the Romans as Old Latium, that is, the area between the river Tiber and the promontory of Mount Circeo 100 kilometres SE of Rome; the Latins were an Indo-European people who migrated into the Italian Peninsula during the late Bronze Age. Their language, belonged to the Italic branch of Indo-European, their material culture, known as the Latial culture, was a distinctive subset of the Proto-Villanovan culture that appeared in parts of the Italian peninsula in the first half of the 12th century BC. The Latins maintained close culturo-religious relations until they were definitively united politically under Rome in 338 BC, for centuries beyond; these included religious sanctuaries. The rise of Rome as by far the most populous and powerful Latin state from c. 600 BC led to volatile relations with the other Latin states, which numbered about 14 in 500 BC.
In the period of the Tarquin monarchy, it appears that Rome acquired political hegemony over the other states. After the fall of the Roman monarchy in c. 500 BC, there appears to have been a century of military alliance between Rome and the other Latins to confront the threat posed to all Latium by raiding by the surrounding Italic mountain-tribes the Volsci and Aequi. This system progressively broke down after c. 390 BC, when Rome's aggressive expansionism led to conflict with other Latin states, both individually and collectively. In 341–338 BC, the Latin states jointly fought the Latin War against Rome in a final attempt to preserve their independence; the war resulted in 338 BC in a decisive Roman victory. The other Latin states were either permanently subjugated to Rome, it has been suggested that the name Latium derives from the Latin word latus, referring, by extension, to the plains of the region. If this is true Latini meant "men of the plain"; the Latins belonged to a group of Indo-European tribes, conventionally known as the Italic tribes, that populated central and southern Italy during the Italian Iron Age.
The most accepted theory suggests that Latins and other proto-Italic tribes first entered Italy in the late Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan culture part of the central European Urnfield culture system. In particular various authors, like Marija Gimbutas, had noted important similarities between proto-Villanova, the South-German Urnfield culture of Bavaria-Upper Austria and Middle-Danube Urnfield culture. According to David W. Anthony proto-Latins originated in today's eastern Hungary, kurganized around 3100 BC by the Yamna culture, while Kristian Kristiansen associated the proto-Villanovans with the Velatice-Baierdorf culture of Moravia and Austria; this is further confirmed by the fact that the subsequent Villanovan culture of Central Italy, which introduced iron-working to the Italian peninsula, was so related to the Central European Urnfield culture, Hallstatt culture, that it is not possible to tell them apart in their earlier stages. Furthermore, the contemporary Canegrate culture of Northern Italy represented a typical western example of the western Hallstatt culture, whose diffusion most took place in a Celtic-speaking context.
Several authors have suggested that the Beaker culture of Central and Western Europe, was a candidate for an early Indo-European culture, more for an ancestral European branch of Indo-European dialects, termed "North-west Indo-European", ancestral to Celtic, Italic and Balto-Slavic. All these groups were descended from Proto-Indo-European speakers from Yamna-culture, whose migrations in Central Europe split off Pre-Italic, Pre-Celtic and Pre-Germanic from Proto-Indo-European. Leaving archaeology aside, the geographical distribution of the ancient languages of the peninsula may plausibly be explained by the immigration of successive waves of peoples with different languages, according to Cornell. On this model, it appears that the "West Italic" group were the first wave and displaced by, the East Italic group; this is deduced from the marginal locations of the surviving West Italic niches. Besides Latin, putative members of the West Italic group are Faliscan, Venetic and Sicel, spoken in central Sicily.
The West Italic languages were thus spoken in limited and isolated areas, whereas the "East Italic" group comprised the Oscan and Umbrian dialects spoken over much of central and southern Italy. However, the chronology of Indo-European immigration remains elusive, as does the relative chronology between the Italic IE languages and the non-IE languages of the peninsula, notably the Etruscan. Most scholars consider that Etruscan is a pre-IE survival, part of a Mediterranean linguistic substratum; some authors believe that, before the spread of the Gaulish language in the plain of the river Po from c. 400 BC onwards and central Italy were dominated by non-IE languages: Etruscan, which shared some similarities with the Raetic, the non-IE Ligurian and the language of the undeciphered Novilara inscriptions from the region around Ancona on the Adriatic coast. However, Etruscan could have been introduced by migrants; the ancient Greek historian Herodotus preserves the tradition that the Tyrrhenoi originated in Lydia in Anatolia.
Possible support for an eastern
Nerva
Nerva was Roman emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became emperor when aged 66, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the rulers of the Flavian dynasty. Under Nero, he was a member of the imperial entourage and played a vital part in exposing the Pisonian conspiracy of 65; as a loyalist to the Flavians, he attained consulships in 71 and 90 during the reigns of Vespasian and Domitian, respectively. On 18 September 96, Domitian was assassinated in a palace conspiracy involving members of the Praetorian Guard and several of his freedmen. On the same day, Nerva was declared emperor by the Roman Senate; this was the first time. As the new ruler of the Roman Empire, he vowed to restore liberties, curtailed during the autocratic government of Domitian. Nerva's brief reign was marred by financial difficulties and his inability to assert his authority over the Roman army. A revolt by the Praetorian Guard in October 97 forced him to adopt an heir. After some deliberation Nerva adopted a young and popular general, as his successor.
After fifteen months in office, Nerva died of natural causes on 27 January 98. Upon his death he was deified by Trajan. Although much of his life remains obscure, Nerva was considered a wise and moderate emperor by ancient historians. Nerva's greatest success was his ability to ensure a peaceful transition of power after his death by selecting Trajan as his heir, thus founding the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Marcus Cocceius Nerva was born in the village of Narni, 50 kilometers north of Rome, as the son of Marcus Cocceius Nerva, Suffect Consul during the reign of Caligula, Sergia Plautilla. Ancient sources report the date as either 30 or 35, he had at least one attested sister, named Cocceia, who married Lucius Salvius Titianus Otho, the brother of the earlier Emperor Otho. Like Vespasian, the founder of the Flavian dynasty, Nerva was a member of the Italian nobility rather than one of the elite of Rome; the Cocceii were among the most esteemed and prominent political families of the late Republic and early Empire, attaining consulships in each successive generation.
The direct ancestors of Nerva on his father's side, all named Marcus Cocceius Nerva, were associated with imperial circles from the time of Emperor Augustus. His great-grandfather was Consul in 36 BC, Governor of Asia in the same year, his grandfather became Consul Suffect in July of either 21 or 22, was known as a personal friend of Emperor Tiberius, accompanying the emperor during his voluntary seclusion on Capri from 23 onwards, dying in 33. Nerva's father attained the consulship under the emperor Caligula; the Cocceii were connected with the Julio-Claudian dynasty through the marriage of Sergia Plautilla's brother Gaius Octavius Laenas, Rubellia Bassa, the great-granddaughter of Tiberius. Not much of Nerva's early life or career is recorded, but it appears he did not pursue the usual administrative or military career, he was praetor-elect in the year 65 and, like his ancestors, moved in imperial circles as a skilled diplomat and strategist. As an advisor to Emperor Nero, he helped detect and expose the Pisonian conspiracy of 65.
His exact contribution to the investigation is not known, but his services must have been considerable, since they earned him rewards equal to those of Nero's guard prefect Tigellinus. He received triumphal honors—which was reserved for military victories—and the right to have his statues placed throughout the palace. According to the contemporary poet Martial, Nero held Nerva's literary abilities in high esteem, hailing him as the "Tibullus of our time". Another prominent member of Nero's entourage was Vespasian, an old and respected general who had celebrated military triumphs during the 40s, it appears Vespasian befriended Nerva during his time as an imperial advisor, may have asked him to watch over Vespasian's youngest son Domitian when Vespasian departed for the Jewish war in 67. The suicide of Nero on 9 June 68 brought the Julio-Claudian dynasty to an end, leading to the chaotic Year of the Four Emperors, which saw the successive rise and fall of the emperors Galba and Vitellius, until the accession of Vespasian on 21 December 69.
Nothing is known of Nerva's whereabouts during 69, but despite the fact that Otho was his brother-in-law, he appears to have been one of the earliest and strongest supporters of the Flavians. For services unknown, he was rewarded with a consulship early in Vespasian's reign in 71; this was a remarkable honour, not only because he held this office early under the new regime, but because it was an ordinary consulship, making him one of the few non-Flavians to be honoured in this way under Vespasian. After 71 Nerva again disappears from historical record continuing his career as an inconspicuous advisor under Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian, he re-emerges during the revolt of Saturninus in 89. On 1 January, 89, the governor of Germania Superior, Lucius Antonius Saturninus, his two legions at Mainz, Legio XIV Gemina and Legio XXI Rapax, revolted against the Roman Empire with the aid of a tribe of the Chatti; the governor of Germania Inferior, Lappius Maximus, moved to the region at once, assisted by the procurator of Rhaetia, Titus Flavius Norbanus.
Within twenty-four days the rebellion was crushed, its leaders at Mainz savagely punished. The mutinous legions were sent to the front of Illyricum, while those who had assisted in their defeat were duly rewarded. Domitian opened the year following the revolt by sharing t
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past, is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race. If the individual is concerned with events preceding written history, the individual is a historian of prehistory; some historians are recognized by training and experience. "Historian" became a professional occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany and elsewhere. During the Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt trial, it became evident that the court needed to identify what was an "objective historian" in the same vein as the reasonable person, reminiscent of the standard traditionally used in English law of "the man on the Clapham omnibus"; this was necessary so that there would be a legal bench mark to compare and contrast the scholarship of an objective historian against the illegitimate methods employed by David Irving, as before the Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt trial, there was no legal precedent for what constituted an objective historian.
Justice Gray leant on the research of one of the expert witnesses, Richard J. Evans, who compared illegitimate distortion of the historical record practice by holocaust deniers with established historical methodologies. By summarizing Gray's judgement, in an article published in the Yale Law Journal, Wendie E. Schneider distils these seven points for what he meant by an objective historian: The historian must treat sources with appropriate reservations. Schneider uses the concept of the "objective historian" to suggest that this could be an aid in assessing what makes an historian suitable as an expert witnesses under the Daubert standard in the United States. Schneider proposed this, because, in her opinion, Irving could have passed the standard Daubert tests unless a court was given "a great deal of assistance from historians". Schneider proposes that by testing an historian against the criteria of the "objective historian" even if an historian holds specific political views, providing the historian uses the "objective historian" standards, he or she is a "conscientious historian".
It was Irving's failure as an "objective historian" not his right wing views that caused him to lose his libel case, as a "conscientious historian" would not have "deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence" to support his political views. The process of historical analysis involves investigation and analysis of competing ideas and purported facts to create coherent narratives that explain "what happened" and "why or how it happened". Modern historical analysis draws upon other social sciences, including economics, politics, anthropology and linguistics. While ancient writers do not share modern historical practices, their work remains valuable for its insights within the cultural context of the times. An important part of the contribution of many modern historians is the verification or dismissal of earlier historical accounts through reviewing newly discovered sources and recent scholarship or through parallel disciplines like archaeology. Understanding the past appears to be a universal human need, the telling of history has emerged independently in civilizations around the world.
What constitutes history is a philosophical question. The earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name. Systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around the Mediterranean region; the earliest known critical historical works were The Histories, composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus who became known as the "father of history". Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts, conducted research by travelling extensively, giving written accounts of various Mediterranean cultures. Although Herodotus' overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men, he attributed an important role to divinity in the determination of historical events. Thucydides eliminated divine causality in his account of the war between Athens and Sparta, establishing a rationalistic element that set a precedent for subsequent Western historical writings.
He was the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his Anabasis. The Romans adopted the Greek tradition. While early Roman works were still written in Greek, the Origines, composed by the Roman statesman Cato the Elder, was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. Strabo was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, presenting a descriptive history of peoples and places known to his era. Livy (59 BCE
