Herodotus Vs Confucius

Do all historians think the same about an event and tell the story as it is or as they think how it is? Historians are humans just like any other humans, and they have their own way of thinking and understanding of how life works. Arrian and Herodotus both are two famous Greek historians. Herodotus is known as the father of history because he published the world’s first historical study. Confucius was a Chinese teacher and philosopher. All three wrote texts in different time of history. Although Arrian, Herodotus and Confucius have similarities between them, they are different in their way of thinking about what will be the most important topic in history, and what or who changes history, and which one of the authors use emotion in their texts.

In the book, Alexander the Great, it is clear that kings and winners of battles are those who will change history in Arrian’s point of view. Arrian wrote about how Darius fled in the battle of Gaugamela against Alexander. This changed the history for both Alexander and Darius. Alexander became the undefeated and inherited Darius’s empire. In the contrary, Darius became the fearful and murdered for his lost. If Alexander would not won the battle, the history would be different. Unlike Arrian, Herodotus believes that gods, vengeance of gods can change history. For example, in the text of Fall of Babylon, he mentioned that “Marduk surveyed and looked throughout the lands, searching for righteous king, his favorite. He called out his name: Cyrus, king of Ansan; he pronounced his name to be king all over the world” (Herodotus, 11-14). According to Herodotus, Marduk, the lord of the gods, chose Cyrus to go and conquer Babylon and be the king of all the lands. This made Cyrus to conquer Babylon, the ancient city, and change the

Herodotus wrote about great kings; why they succeeded, and why they lost. It was important for him how they lost, and this is the place where Herodotus used emotion. For example, in the text of The Birth Legend of Cyrus, Herodotus is writing about how Astyages, who was the king of Persia and Cyrus’s grandfather, is being emotional that he wants to kill his grandson because he feared to lose his throne to Cyrus. Like Herodotus, Confucius is emotional also. He was a master of Li, which was a ritual or concept institutions of the Zhao. “While they are alive, serve them according to li. When they are dead, bury them according to li; sacrifice to them according to li” (The Analects of Confucius, 5). In his analects, Confucius wrote most of his advices and laws according to Li, which shows that his speaking is based on what he believes and his emotions; not what is