contemporary historians

[Optimus Marcus Ulpius Traianus]

I was wondering in what context this word is used i thought it was refering to modern historians but other people seem to define it as meaning writing at the time is this correct? (this is relevant to my personal statement)

[clandestino]

I was wondering in what context this word is used i thought it was refering to modern historians but other people seem to define it as meaning writing at the time is this correct? (this is relevant to my personal statement)

Contemporary historian in this context means that he wrote at time or at least in the same period as the things that he's describing.

[Optimus Marcus Ulpius Traianus]

Contemporary historian in this context means that he wrote at time or at least in the same period as the things that he's describing.

So Cicero was a contempory historian?

[clandestino]

If he was talking about 1st century BC he was contemporary, if he was talking about 8th century BC he wasn't contemporary, it's relative category.

[konny]

In case he wrote about his time would be a "source", in case he wrote about the 8th Century he would be an "Ancient historian".

"Contemporary historian" in fact only makes sense when talking about historians of today, or when talking of past historians in refernce to their time; for example, "In the 19th Century the general view on the Middle Ages was rather negative, contamporary historians called it the 'Dark Ages'". In this case "contemporary" would be 19th Century not Middle Ages.