Similarities Between Thucydides And Herodotus

Thucydides and Herodotus shared a common purpose but not a common approach in their writing. Both Thucydides’ and Herodotus’ purposes mainly consisted of teaching the Greeks, entertaing, and to preserve history so later generations can study and learn from the past. Ernst Breisach quoted Herodotus himself who said he hopes,”to preserve the memory of the past by putting on record the astonishing achievements both of our own and of the Asiatic peoples.”[18] Breisach also stated,”Thucydides taught the Greeks, at the same time, less and more.”[18] Although Thucydides and Herodotus shared a common purpose they did not share a common approach. Herodotus reached his goal by writing about the way in which people lived in the past and their struggles,
as Briesach stated,”Herodotus fulfilled his intentions by relating stories which taught the proper moderation, by telling of the many ways of human life, and by directing the attention of individuals to the great issues of the past.”[18] However, according to Ernst Breisach Thucydides reached his goal by analyzing and chronicling the field. Breisach declared,”... Thucydides analyzed and described the field thoroughly in his search for those general forces which shaped the fate of states.”[18]