Question

Using the example of ancient rome, describe an example of reliable source material for historians to use. explain why the sources are credible and what historians may have examined, then discredited, in their research.

Answer 1

Historians in Ancient Roman would not have had access to as many written resources as they do today. Written resources would only be made available for those in the upper class, therefore, most historians would have to utilize their own knowledge accompanied by word of mouth, legends and stories and finally, first-hand accounts of what happened during a certain event. Any evidence provided by a less notable source would be discredited. Furthermore, for historical events that happened centuries before them and therefore have no firsthand accounts then they would need documents or imagery from that point of time, for instance, ruined architecture.