The Traditional Forms of the “History of the Present” from Herodotus to Humanist Historians

Abstract

The present article revolves around the interest in contemporary history from ancient writers to humanist historians. Its objective, which forms part of a broader purpose devoted to elucidating the characteristics of the so-called History of the Present, is to examine the forms this interest has traditionally adopted. In this way, we put for consideration the following hypothesis: from classical historians onwards, the concern with contemporary history was always considered a hard and inevitable task to be undertaken, since it affected rulers and living people. Nevertheless, the long-standing doctrine of history as memory of events for centuries had prevented historians from facing paradoxes that result from the interest in contemporary past; in other words, how can historians confront the political uses, memories and demands of public opinion to deal with the recent past without jeopardizing historical truth?