How to Analyse Historical Sources

In this post, I’m going to build on the last two and go into a bit more depth and talk about how to analyse a historical source. If you’ve not read the last two posts in this series, be sure to check them out!

When digging into historical primary and secondary sources, it is important that we don’t just take them at face value. Historical sources are complicated things and need to go through a process that tests them for reliability and credibility. Not all primary and secondary sources are reliable and credible and some are more reliable and credible than others. It’s important for our research and study to use sources that we can rely on to be accurate, and for those that are less so we take with a grain of salt. Historical analysis is a process that helps us to test them.

The goal of historical analysis is to develop an understanding of why this source was created, who created it, and what they created it for.

There are 6 key questions that we want to ask when analysing a source.

1. Information

What information does the source give me about my topic of study?

2. Origin

Who created the source? What was their place in society?

3. Perspective

From what perspective was this source created? What is the perspective of the author?

4. Context

When was this source created? What was happening at the time?

5. Audience

Who did the author create this source for? How might this affect the way they write?

6. Motive

Why was this source created? For what occasion was it created? What evidence in the text tells you this?

The Histories by Herodotus is a book I’m sure you have heard of. I’m going to use his work as an example to show you what source analysis looks like. I’m using a Penguin Classics edition translated by Aubrey De Selincourt 1972.

Question 1, what information does this source give us about our topic? Read the introduction and the first few pages of the work and it’ll often give you some of the information that you need.

Question 2, who wrote it? Easy. Herodotus of Halicarnassus. On page 3 he writes, “Herodotus of Halicarnassus here displays his inquiry…” That was easy. But, you say, who was Herodotus and where on earth is Halicarnassus! XD Well, a bit of research will give you the answers. I don’t have space to go much in depth here. I will say though, you can google Halicarnassus and that one of our sources for what we know about Herodotus is a late Byzantine secondary source from the 10th-11th centuries called the Suda (link at the end), but, if you were paying attention in the first post on primary and secondary sources, you’ll notice that this source has reliability issues of its own.

Question 3, what perspective is Herodotus writing from? Research from question 2 will give us some clues to help us answer this one, so will reading the introduction to the book, which tells us that he presents numerous perspectives and traditions in his work without holding any one perspective in particular. (Selincourt 1972, p. xi)

Question 4, what context is he writing from? Selincourt writes in his introduction, “Whatever date we assign to his death, it is important to realise that Herodotus was doing most of his research, writing, and performances from the 450’s up to the 420’s [BC]. This was a time, not only of exciting inquiry carried out in many fields, but also of increasing conflict between Athens and Sparta, which were the two great powers in the Greek world.” (Selincourt 1972, pp. xii-xiii)

Question 5, audience – who was he writing for? Selincourt writes again, “He certainly saw himself writing for a Panhellenic audience…” and “He is also presenting his work to a largely oral society who’s literacy wasn’t high. He probably presented his work through oral presentations and performances, or gave readings at religious festivals or smaller intellectual gatherings like symposia.” (Selincourt 1972, p. xi)

Question 6, what was his motive for writing? Well, Herodotus tells us himself. “Herodotus of Halicarnassus here displays his inquiry, so that human achievements may not become forgotten in time, and great and marvellous deeds – some displayed by the Greeks, some by barbarians – may not be without their glory; and especially to show why the two people’s fought with each other.” (Herodotus 1972, p. 3)

So, there you have it folks – how to analyse a historical source.

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References

I owe these 6 questions to this source:

NA 2014-2024, “How to Analyse Historical Sources”, History Skills, available at https://www.historyskills.com/source-criticism/analysis/, accessed Nov 2023.