A Possession for All Time
History written not to win momentary applause but to stand as a 'possession for all time.'
In his preface, Thucydides (late 5th c. BCE) declared his history a ktema es aiei — a 'possession for all time' — rather than a showpiece (agonisma) for a single hearing. Because human nature recurs, he argued, a clear-eyed record of events would stay useful to anyone trying to understand the future through the past. The phrase became the classic statement that history has enduring, instructive value.
How it traveled
- Pro M. MarcelloFormiae · -46applies
- Antiquitates RomanaeRomeexplains
- Historical LibrarySyracuse (Sicily)explains
- EpistulaeRomeexplains
- De ThucydideRomeexplains
- AgricolaRomeexplains
Key passages(20)
De Thucydide · Dionysius of Halicarnassus
De Thucydide · Dionysius of Halicarnassus
In L. Calpurnium Pisonem · Cicero
Historical Library · Diodorus Siculus
Historical Library · Diodorus Siculus
Historical Library · Diodorus Siculus
Antiquitates Romanae · Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Antiquitates Romanae · Dionysius of Halicarnassus