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greek-historyfeatured in 3 works

Autopsy (Seeing for Oneself)

The historian's strongest claim to truth: 'I saw it myself' — one's own eyes ranked above all hearsay.

Autopsia literally means 'seeing for oneself,' and Greek inquirers prized firsthand observation as the most reliable kind of evidence. Herodotus (5th c. BCE) repeatedly marks the difference between what he personally saw (opsis) and what he was merely told. The same regard for eyewitness travel and inspection runs through later historiography and Hippocratic medicine alike, establishing direct observation as a benchmark of credible knowledge in the Greek tradition.

How it traveled

  1. Orationes 48
    Smyrna
    explains
  2. De Thucydide
    Rome
    explains
  3. Antiquitates Romanae
    Rome
    explains

Key passages(20)

Origin Anchor — gr-autopsy-eyewitness↗origin

Fragments & Testimonia · Herodotus

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Aristides, Aelius, Orationes 48 344↗explains

Orationes 48 · Aelius Aristides

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Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De Thucydide 6↗explains

De Thucydide · Dionysius of Halicarnassus

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Hippocrates, De natura pueri 13↗explains

De natura pueri · Hippocrates

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Origen, Fragmenta In Lucam (In Catenis) appendix.90↗explains

Fragmenta In Lucam (In Catenis) · Origen

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Arrian, Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἀνάβασις 1.pr.2↗explains

Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἀνάβασις · Arrian

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Galen, De foetuum formatione 1↗explains

De foetuum formatione · Galen

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Galen, De methodo medendi 9.4↗explains

De methodo medendi · Galen

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Galen, In Hippocratis De articulis 2.2↗explains

In Hippocratis De articulis · Galen

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Galen, In Hippocratis Epidemiarum I 1.3.2↗explains

In Hippocratis Epidemiarum I · Galen

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Aelian, De Natura Animalium 11.40↗applies

De Natura Animalium · Aelian

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Aristides, Aelius, Orationes 48 343↗explains

Orationes 48 · Aelius Aristides

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Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Historia Romana 48.18.4↗explains

Historia Romana · Cassius Dio

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Catenae (Novum Testamentum), Supplementum et varietas lectionis ad catenam in evangelium sancti Lucae (e cod. Oxon. Bodl. Laud. 33) 2.7.3↗explains

Supplementum et varietas lectionis ad catenam in evangelium sancti Lucae (e cod. Oxon. Bodl. Laud. 33) · Catenae (Novum Testamentum)

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Cicero, Marcus Tullius, Tusculanae Disputationes 5.64↗applies

Tusculanae Disputationes · Cicero

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Claudius Ptolemaeus, Syntaxis mathematica 3.1↗applies

Syntaxis mathematica · Claudius Ptolemaeus

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Dio Chrysostom, Orationes 7.1↗explains

Orationes · Dio Chrysostom

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Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.32.2↗explains

Antiquitates Romanae · Dionysius of Halicarnassus

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Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.6.2↗explains

Antiquitates Romanae · Dionysius of Halicarnassus

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Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.68.1↗explains

Antiquitates Romanae · Dionysius of Halicarnassus

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