XII. Render the text close to its original variant.

XIII. Make a written translation of the text:

Protohistory refers to a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted its existence in their own writings. For example, in Europe, the Celts and the Germanic tribes may be considered to have been protohistoric when they began appearing in Greek and Roman texts.

Protohistoric may also refer to the transition period between the advent of literacy in a society and the writings of the first historians. The preservation of oral traditions may complicate matters as these can provide a secondary historical source for even earlier events. Colonial sites involving a literate group and a non-literate group are also studied as protohistoric situations.

In The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe an article by Timothy Taylor says,

"Because of the existence in some but not all societies of historical writing during the first millennium BC, the period has often been termed 'protohistoric' instead of prehistoric. Of course, the understanding of the past gained through archaeology is broadly different in nature to understanding derived from historical texts. Having both sorts of evidence is a boon and a challenge."

In the abstract of a later paper on "slavery in the first millennium Aegean, Carpatho-Balkan and Pontic regions" , Taylor, who is primarily an archaeologist, says,

"I have taken the rather unusual step of trusting what the classical authors tell us they knew."

As with prehistory, determining when a culture may be considered prehistoric or protohistoric is sometimes difficult for the archaeologist. Data vary considerably from culture to culture, region to region, and even from one system of reckoning dates to another.

In its simplest form, protohistory follows the same chronology as prehistory, based on the technological advancement of a particular people with regard to metallurgy:

§ The Copper Age or Chalcolithic

§ The Bronze Age

§ The Iron Age

The best known protohistoric civilizations and ethnic groups are those for whom the term was originally coined: the European barbarian tribes. Many of these peoples of course also experienced periods of prehistory and history.

Unit III

I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:

Ø the entire course of human events – повний опис перебігу подій;

Ø to direct events – направляти події;

Ø the redemption of humanity – спасіння людства

Ø a process of inevitable progress – процес неминучого прогресу;

Ø a thoroughly logical social order – цілком логічний суспільний лад;

Ø to doom – прирікати

Ø overwhelming evidence – нездоланний/переважаючий доказ;

Ø accuracy – точність/правильність;

Ø an authentic account – достовірний опис;

Ø thorough scholarship – глибокі знання;

Ø the bias against smb. – упередженість проти когось

II. Read and translate the text:

THEORIES OF HISTORY

Since ancient times, scholars have developed theories of history that attempt to explain the entire course of human events through some general principles. For example, the ancient Greeks regarded history as a cycle of events that repeated itself endlessly. In contrast, the traditional Christian theory considers history as a series of events with a beginning and an end. According to this theory, God directs human events toward the final goal of the redemption of humanity. This theory dominated nearly all the history written in Europe during the Middle Ages.

In modern times, scholars have proposed many other theories. During the late 1700’s and 1800’s, philosophers developed the concept of history as a process of inevitable progress. They believed this progress would eventually lead to a thoroughly logical social order based on a scientific understanding of human events.

The German historian Oswald Spengler argued in his book The Decline of the West (1918-1922) that civilizations, like organisms, go through a cycle of birth, development, and death. Arnold Toynbee, a British historian, also presented a cyclical theory in his 12-volume work, A Study of History (1934-1961). However, Toynbee disagreed with Spengler that modern Western civilization is already doomed.

Nearly all theories of history assume that it has meaning and purpose, but there is no overwhelming evidence to support this concept. In fact, many scholars today question whether history has any meaning other than that which people read into it. As a result, most modern philosophers have turned away from such theories. Instead, they examine such issues as the nature of history as a field of knowledge and the method of explanation used by historians.