This course explores the emergence of history as a field of knowledge in the ancient Mediterranean and in East Asia. It will guide students to investigate the cultural presuppositions for historiography, comparing two cultures that created their own indigenous tradition, China and Greece, and two that borrowed and adapted foreign traditions, Japan and Rome. We will discuss the specific nature of historiography, comparing it with other ways of transmitting and/or constructing memories of past events, and reflect on the respective historical and cultural implications of these different ways of dealing with the past.
