History - True or False?

When we first go to school, we learn to love our teachers, and trust what they say. This innate trust is usually then carried with us throughout our time at school, trusting the books, trusting those in position of authority who convey some kind of ethos that make us believe that what they are saying is truth.

I opine that history is merely an opinion. In Thucydides' history, he retell's Pericles' Funeral Oration, in which Pericles is mourning and remembering those who died in the Peloponnesian War. Pericles, one of the most persuasive orators in history, brilliantly narrates how incredible Athens is and how incredible Athenians are. 

As Maren M stated, and Chloe S explains, "[Pericles and Thucydides] appealed to Athenian pride at great lengths. That powerful, positive appeal to pride rallied helped moral." Despite the terrible losses in the war, Pericles was able to refocus the crowd on the positives of their city and even encourage and persuade families and individuals to serve like those whose funerals they were attending. How powerful was Pericles' encomium that he could convince members of the audience to assimilate their lives to those that were lost so they, too could receive the honor of military service? Clearly Pericles understood his audience and kairos and knew how to utilize decorum to make an emotional appeal to the audience. 

All history is simply one point of view, and a successful history is told to please the audience through the use of decorum. Could Pericles and Thucydides have told about the awful cost of the war and how Athens lost? Sure. Would the audience have been nearly as touched? No. 

I propose that the best history is suited to the audience and no history is completely true or completely false. Something to think about the next time you crack open that history book of yours.