Pragmatic / Universal History
Useful, cause-seeking history that weaves the whole known world's events into one explanatory story.
Polybius (2nd c. BCE) championed 'pragmatic history' (pragmatike historia) — practical political and military history that explains how scattered events lock together, written to instruct statesmen and generals rather than to entertain. His theme of symploke, the 'interweaving' of Mediterranean affairs after Rome's rise, turned his work into a universal history; Diodorus Siculus (1st c. BCE) later pursued a kindred all-encompassing narrative. Together they set the model for history as a practical, cause-driven, world-scale account.
How it traveled
- Epitome HistoriarumConstantinople (Istanbul)explains
- De ThucydideRomeexplains
- Antiquitates RomanaeRomeexplains
- Historical LibrarySyracuse (Sicily)explains
- Suidae lexicon—explains
- Alexias—explains
- HistoriaeConstantinople (Istanbul)explains
Key passages(20)
De Thucydide · Dionysius of Halicarnassus
De Thucydide · Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Historia Romana · Cassius Dio
Historical Library · Diodorus Siculus
Historical Library · Diodorus Siculus
Historical Library · Diodorus Siculus
Antiquitates Romanae · Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Antiquitates Romanae · Dionysius of Halicarnassus
De Thucydide · Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Epistula ad Pompeium Geminum · Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Breviarium historiae romanae · Eutropius