Learning from Thucydides: An Ancient Historian Writes Contemporary History

Abstract

Ancient writers of history such as Thucydides and Polybius had to depend mostly on eye-witness testimony, collected in personal interviews. Thucydides was explicit about the problems inherent in this method: eyewitnesses were biased, unaware, forgetful. In 2013–16, I had a unique experience for a modern historian of antiquity: while writing a book about radical guerrillas of the late 1960s and early 1970s, I personally interviewed many actual participants in dramatic historical events. I found that Thucydides’ warnings about the pitfalls of the interview method were more than affirmed by my own direct experience.