Prologues to Ancient and Medieval History: A Reader ed. by Justin Lake (review)

The recording of history in written form underpins Western culture. Histories have offered a variety of functions over the centuries, including the preservation of great deeds, the maintenance of reputations – especially of great men – and models of behaviour to emulate or resist. Histories may look back, but their writers often express contemporary or future needs for the preservation of information. As Justin Lake notes, the historical prologue is the moment in which the author addresses the reader directly to state his purpose in writing. This collection of the opening words of historical texts, representing a span of about two thousand years, shows both the continuities and shifts in focus of early historians as events were recorded for posterity.

A short Introduction notes the patterns and common themes of the prologues. This is followed by eighty-eight prologues, organised into four chapters, which are sequenced chronologically. The first chapter covers antiquity up to the fifth century of the Common Era, about one thousand years in all. Histories written in Greek and Latin are included, as are early Christian works. The prologues are individual, reflecting their writers’ intentions. For example, the first offering contains few words, but underpins Lake’s claim that early Greek approaches to history developed from the works of logographers: ‘Hecateus of Miletus speaks thusly: I write these things as they appear to me to be true. For it seems to me that the accounts (logoi) of the Greeks are many and absurd’ (p. 1). By contrast, the opening words of Thucydides stretch over nine pages, highlighting the author’s claim of the importance of the events to be described: ‘Indeed this was the greatest movement yet known to history, not only of the Greeks, but of a large part of the barbarian world – I had almost said of mankind’ (p. 3).

Not every writer is as well known as Thucydides, but Lake introduces each one with a paragraph or two, outlining what is known about their historical environment and their writings. While these introductory remarks are generally sufficient, there is the occasional allusion to scholarship – ‘[t]he purpose of the History of the Lombards remains the subject of much debate’ (p. 107), for example – without offering any details on where to find further information. The reference material provided for the eight-page Introduction does extend to matters concerning individual prologues.

Subsequent chapters follow a similar pattern. Chapter 2 is devoted to the early medieval period (500–900), followed by the Central Middle Ages (900–1100), and the High and Late Middle Ages (1100–1400). Publication details, including the names of translators, are offered for each prologue. The chronological sequencing of each section is clear, but I wonder whether a brief introduction to each period, noting the key characteristics of any changes to the style or content of the prologues, might have contributed to a greater awareness of the changing demands of historical writing.

The index refers the reader to particular prologues by number. I would have liked to see a bibliography, especially as there were no reference details in the body of the book, except for the publication details for the excerpts themselves. The subject matter and the overarching temporal spread, however, do commend this book as a suitable text for teaching. It provides a valuable overview of two thousand years of European interest in its own past.