How to Write History

How to Write History (Ancient Greek: Πῶς δεῖ ἱστορίαν συγγράφειν) is the title of a study by the classical Syrian^[1] writer Lucian, which may be considered the only work on the theory of history-writing to survive from antiquity.^[2]

The first part of Lucian’s essay involved a critical attack on contemporary historians. Lucian maintained that they confused history with panegyric, overloaded it with irrelevant details, and weighed it down with overblown rhetoric.^[3]

Lucian recommended instead the virtues of clear narration, and the valorisation of truth.^[4] He argued that the historian should write for all times, as “a free man, fearless, incorruptible, the friend of truth”;^[5] and held up the work of Thucydides as the legislative template for all subsequent historians.^[6] He argued that the "historian's sole task is to tell the tale as it happened" which is latter reflected in works of von Ranke among others.

• The early Renaissance saw the essay taken up by figures like Guarino da Verona and Giovanni Pontano.^[7]

• Edward Gibbon, who wrote of “the inimitable Lucian”, owned the 1776 edition of Quomodo Historia Conscribenda Sit (Oxford)^[8]

• Anneus Florus
• A True History
• Polybius

Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Πώς δει ιστορίαν συγγράφειν

• "The Way to Write History". The Works of Lucian of Samosata. Complete with exceptions specified in the preface. Vol. II. Translated by Fowler, H. W.; Fowler, F. G. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1905. pp. 109-136. Retrieved 23 March 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• "How to Write History". LUCIAN. Vol. VI. Translated by K. Kilburn. London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd. and Harvard University Press. 1959. pp. 1–73. Retrieved 18 March 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• The Way to Write History