Source Analysis: An Introduction

What is a source analysis? It is examining a document (using the term broadly to include any source) to derive information about the culture it is from. In this project you will learn to think critically about ancient sources

The first steps are a) to categorize the source and b) to ask questions of the source. Learning to ask the right questions when examining a document is really the key to being able to analyze it. The following introductory guide will help you not only in writing source-based papers in this course, but also in preparing for discussion section and exams.

I. Categories of sources and their value.

A. Getting at historical reality: documents, histories, letters, biographies, speeches, a law code, etc.

Historical sources of this kind, which purport to tell us about real people, events, etc., are not necessarily objective, factual evidence to be taken at face value. A document like a Near Eastern royal king list that records a ruler's reign as lasting 36,000 years is probably not historically accurate! An historian could be wrong, about a minor detail or major events. He (in our period they are all men) could have bad sources, he might be biased and distort information, or he might not be interested at all times in getting at the truth. In any case, standards of accuracy, and the ability to get accurate information were not what they are today.

Here is an example of a source that does not tell us all and has a particular agenda:

"At the age of nineteen on my own responsibility and at my own expense I raised an army, with which I successfully championed the liberty of the republic when it was oppressed by the tyranny of a faction."

This excerpt is from an inscription set up by the emperor Augustus at the end of his life (beginning of the 1st century AD) recounting his deeds. You might think, what a great guy, freeing his country, and at such a young age! In fact, this teenager raised an army and attacked the city of Rome in a dispute for power with his political rivals ("the tyranny of a faction"), followed it up with a bloodbath, and made himself ruler of Rome (marking the beginning of the Roman Empire). But that does not mean it is not a useful historical source, for it tells us much about how Augustus chose to represent his past and legitimize his role in history. You then want to ask additional questions, besides if it's true, namely, what is the purpose of the document (see below, II.A.2)? Why is Augustus representing himself in this way?

Or take the Sumerian King List (course packet #1a) with the fantastic longevity of rulers: "When kingship was lowered from heaven, kingship was first in Eridu...Alalgar ruled 36,000 years"). We don't toss out the source as useless because it contains obviously invented information (in this case the rulers as well the length of their reigns). It has a function and purpose that can tell us much about the way in which the culture perceived kingship and its relationship to divine authority. Asking the same questions as above and then additional ones&emdash;what is the purpose of the document, how is kingship being represented, what is the effect of such a representation, and why is it significant&emdash; gets at the answer.

We don't use historical sources, therefore, simply to get "the facts." They also can tell us a lot about the conceptual, ideological, and cultural world of the author and/or their time period.

B. Using "non-historical" sources: poetry, drama, novels, epic, etc.

Literature is not produced in a vacuum: every writer is affected by his or her contemporary cultural and historical context. For the historian such sources are valuable, perhaps especially for ancient historians, because we lack abundant information about many periods (and for some hardly any). They can help us understand current social and religious practices, and cultural assumptions; most of all they allow us to extract cultural values and ideologies. Often from criticism of other ways of looking at the world, or allusions to other ideas or attitudes held by others one can glean from such sources more than just the views and outlook of the writer or someone of his or her status. Here is a simple example illustrating the last point:

"Some there are who say that the fairest thing seen on the black earth is an array of horsemen; some, men marching; some would say ships; but I say she whom one loves best is the loveliest."

This is from a poem by Sappho, an aristocratic woman from the island of Lesbos who lived in the 7th century B.C. The passage allows for differing interpretations of its meaning, but for our purposes, we can see right away that the military arena was highly valued by some in her society, and that she contests this, valuing more highly the virtues of love. We can assume the others she refers to are men, so we have a source that shows us gender differences. We can also glean factual information about her world: wars or battles could be fought using infantry, cavalry or warships (though you might notice I am making another assumption that the horsemen and the ships are for military use). That Sappho can write tells us that women (of her status) could be literate and educated. Think about whether the passage necessarily tells us whether Sappho had romantic female relationships.

II. Asking Questions.

A. Historical Sources. Some basic questions relevant to any historical source are:

1. What kind (genre) of source is it (e.g. a history, a chronicle, a letter, a public decree, a prayer to a god)?

2. Who is the author? (e.g. male or female, social status)

3. What is the purpose of the source (e.g. to relate the truth of the past or present, to write biography or autobiography? To persuade?)

4. For whom was it written (if we can tell) (e.g. one's contemporaries or posterity?)

5. What is the date of the source in relation to the events described (is it contemporary or later)?

6. Sources of the source, if history: does the author mention his sources? Of what kind and quality are they? (e.g. written or oral? Other histories?)

B. "Non-Historical" Sources.

1. What kind (genre) of the source is it (e.g. a play? a novel? poetry?) What are the conventions (the rules and expectations) of its particular genre?

2. Who is the author?

3. What is its purpose (e.g., to entertain? To instruct? To criticize? To express personal feelings?)

4. For whom was it written?

5. What attitudes, ideas, values can you extract from this source (or historical references)?

III. Analysis. You have come up with a list of questions. Now you use them to analyze the source. That means considering the implications and significance of your answers to extract historical information from them; thus questions generate further questions. For example:

1) If the date of a historical source is 600 years removed from the events described, and another source on the same event is contemporary, which is likelier to be more accurate and why?

2) Once you identify genre, how might it affect what the author writes?

3) Status, or gender of the author. E.g.: If the author is male, what are the implications of what he writes about women? Are we learning about women or what a man thinks about them? How does social status affect our ability to generalize from the source?

3) If certain aspects, ideas, values, etc. (e.g. performing religious sacrifices, emphasizing the importance of honor, wealth, family, hard work, or war) seem important to the plot or structure of the source, what might that tell you about their significance in the culture?

These are all examples of questions. There are many others you would want to ask of a source depending on its nature and subject matter that will occur to you as you look at the particular source.