Tyranny and the Emergence of Historical Thinking

Herodotus and Thucydides, jointly responsible for the invention of history in the West, suggest an intriguing connection between historical thinking and the overcoming of tyrannical aspiration. On this topic, the historians should be regarded as fundamentally like-minded. Both object to the conventional tale of how Athens freed herself of her tyrants, the story of Harmodius and Aristogeiton and their alleged overthrow of the Peisistratid ruling family in 514 B.C.E. In the process of contesting this cherished tradition and replacing the tyrannicides with their own favored characters, Herodotus and Thucydides carve out a role for the historian in defining political identity. Herodotus, the Father of History, steps into the shoes of Solon, famed wise man of Athens, while Thucydides, often referred to as the Father of Objective History, assumes a Periclean role, his character of choice. Presumably each seeks to maintain control over the interpretation of these figures in a way that was not the case with the iconography of Harmodius and Aristogeiton. The historical accounts preclude any mere celebration of self and require, instead, an immersion in a complex set of particular details. Ultimately, Athens was to receive the heroes she deserved: the Herodotean Solon and the Thucydidean Pericles.