Historian

===Ancient===
[[File:Thucydides Manuscript.jpg|thumb|upright|Reproduction of part of a tenth-century copy of [[Thucydides]]'s ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War]]''.]]
Understanding the past appears to be a universal human need, and the telling of history has emerged independently in civilizations around the world. What constitutes history is a philosophical question (see [[philosophy of history]]). The earliest [[Chronology|chronologies]] date back to [[Mesopotamia]] and [[ancient Egypt]], though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name.

[[Greek historiography|Systematic historical thought]] emerged in [[ancient Greece]], a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around [[History of the Mediterranean region|the Mediterranean]] region. The earliest known critical historical works were ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|The Histories]]'', composed by [[Herodotus|Herodotus of Halicarnassus]] (484 – c.&nbsp;425&nbsp;[[Before Common Era|BCE]]) who later became known as the "father of history" ([[Cicero]]). Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving written accounts of various [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]] cultures. Although Herodotus' overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men, he also attributed an important role to divinity in the determination of historical events. [[Thucydides]] largely 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 also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor [[Xenophon]] ({{c.|lk=no|431}} – 355&nbsp;BCE) introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his [[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]].

[[Image:Leonardo Bruni - Imagines philologorum.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Leonardo Bruni]] ({{Circa|1370}}–1444), the historian who first divided history into the three eras of [[Ancient history|Antiquity]], the [[Middle Ages]], and [[Modern history|Modern times]].]]
The [[Roman historiography|Romans adopted the Greek tradition]]. While early Roman works were still written in Greek, the ''Origines'', composed by the Roman statesman [[Cato the Elder]] (234–149&nbsp;BCE), was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. [[Strabo]] (63&nbsp;BCE – {{c.|lk=no|24}}&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]]) 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&nbsp;BCE – 17&nbsp;CE) records the rise of [[Roman Empire|Rome]] from [[city-state]] to [[empire]]. His speculation about what would have happened if [[Alexander the Great]] had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of [[alternate history]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Livy/Livy09.html |title=Livy's History of Rome: Book 9 |publisher=Mcadams.posc.mu.edu |access-date=2010-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070228233052/http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Livy/Livy09.html |archive-date=2007-02-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In [[Chinese historiography]], the ''[[Classic of History]]'' is one of the [[Five Classics]] of [[Chinese classic texts]] and one of the earliest narratives of China.  The ''[[Spring and Autumn Annals]]'', the official chronicle of the State of Lu covering the period from 722 to 481&nbsp;BCE, is among the earliest surviving Chinese historical texts arranged on [[Annals|annalistic]] principles. [[Sima Qian]] (around 100&nbsp;BCE) was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing. His written work was the ''[[Shiji]]'' (''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]''), a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Its scope extends as far back as the 16th century&nbsp;BCE, and it includes many treatises on specific subjects and individual biographies of prominent people and also explores the lives and deeds of commoners, both contemporary and those of previous eras.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jörn Rüsen|title=Time and History: The Variety of Cultures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SvGyzu-nLaUC&pg=PA54|year=2007|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-84545-349-7|pages=54–55}}</ref>

[[Image:Beda Petersburgiensis f3v.jpg|right|upright|thumb|A page of [[Bede]]'s ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'']]
Christian historiography began early, perhaps as early as [[Luke-Acts]], which is the [[primary source]] for the [[Apostolic Age]]. Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in the [[Middle Ages]]. They wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers.  In the [[early medieval|Early Middle Ages]] historical writing often took the form of [[annals]] or [[chronicle]]s recording events year by year, but this style tended to hamper the analysis of events and causes.<ref>Warren, John (1998). ''The past and its presenters: an introduction to issues in historiography'', Hodder & Stoughton, {{ISBN|0-340-67934-4}}, pp. 78–79.</ref> An example of this type of writing is the [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]s, which were the work of several different writers: it was started during the reign of [[Alfred the Great]] in the late ninth&nbsp;century, but one copy was still being updated in 1154.<ref>"Anglophile", Ryan Setliff Online. Dec 2. 2019. https://www.ryansetliff.online/#anglophile</ref>

[[Historiography of early Islam|Muslim historical writings]] first began to develop in the seventh century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet [[Muhammad]]'s life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his [[Sahaba|companions]] from various sources, scholars had to verify which sources were more reliable. To evaluate these sources, they developed various methodologies, such as the ''[[Ilm ar-Rijal|science of biography]]'', ''[[science of hadith]]'' and ''[[Isnad]]'' (chain of transmission). They later applied these methodologies to other historical figures in the [[Islamic Golden Age|Islamic civilization]]. Famous historians in this tradition include [[Urwah ibn Zubayr|Urwah]] (d.&nbsp;712), [[Wahb ibn Munabbih]] (d.&nbsp;728), [[Ibn Ishaq]] (d.&nbsp;761), [[al-Waqidi]] (745–822), [[Ibn Hisham]] (d.&nbsp;834), [[Muhammad al-Bukhari]] (810–870) and [[Ibn Hajar Asqalani|Ibn Hajar]] (1372–1449).