The "great" historians of ancient Greece and Rome emphasized the emergence of new institutions, habits, and vices; they were dominated by the sense of change. Histories sought to describe changes in the past which would help future generations to recognize the causes and foresee the consequences of similar changes. Implicit in the whole attitude of the Greeks and Romans toward history was that the variety of events was somehow inherently limited. None of the texts available to us gives a satisfactory (...) account of long-term changes in laws and customs. Violent change during wars and political revolutions is the preferred subject. Finally, the cumulative importance of a "minor" historiography in ancient Greece cannot be underrated. City and temple chronicles emphasized the individuality of each Greek center and collected the local myths. (shrink)