Question

Discussion Topic

When evaluating past eras, historians depend on primary
documents and other
resources to understand events and cultures. For instance, it would be difficult to
evaluate why people once thought Earth was at the center of the solar system
unless you analyzed documents from the time in which the idea was relevant.
What difficulties do you think might arise when trying to understand ideas from the
past, especially when those ideas are so
different from our modern thinking? Do
you think primary resources show a complete picture of the period they are from?
Give an example or two to illustrate your answer.

Answer 1

One example of a difficulty is why they had wars. Primary recourses would and DO show the reason of why they had those arguments and fights. Another thing is Politically, for example, when the Senators stabbed Julius Caesar, without a primary source, we wouldn't know who stabbed him to death! We could have been falsely looking at a different person.