History is written by the conquerors.
To the victor goes the spoils, as they say.
Pretty simplistic. There are examples of marginalised narratives winning out.
some decent examples in this stackexchange thread: https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/5597/is-history-always-written-by-the-victors
I remember stumbling on more academic criticism somewhere but I’m honestly just too lazy to find it :)
Really I think the more interesting thing to point out and discuss is that history is written by people, with ideologies, for reasons. When we examine history we need to ensure we try to do so from a variety of perspectives and with an open mind as even the best scholars making their best efforts to be fair will not describe history objectively. That is an impossible task.
At best we can hope to identify where interpretations are disputed and what the reasons for that are. E.g. lack of evidence, value differences, political motives etc.
Simplistic, but marginalized narratives were also burned in big bonfires at times, as well.
Sorry I don’t follow. I think we agree that if nobody survives or people are forced to exist in a hostile culture it’s harder for them to propagate their stories.
But if we go too far we ignore the work of the brilliant people who did manage to preserve their account of events. From Indian perspectives on Indian war of independence vs Sepoy Uprising, to native Americans, Aboriginal Australians, Maori people and so on fighting generational struggles to preserve their recounting of events and be acknowledged.
Heavens help you if an ancient Greek or Roman author happens to have disliked you…
Our only source is a book from a guy who lived three generations later and a month on sea away. Guess this will have to do.
Ancient marble statues weren’t white. They were colored
No need to imagine: here it is
