PERIZONIUS, Jacobus

(1651–1715)

   Historian. Perizonius stud ied arts and letters in Utrechtand Leiden. In 1681, he was appointed professor of history and rhetorics at the Academy of Franeker. In 1693, he received a post at the Universityof Leiden, where he would also teach Greek. His main interest was Roman history. Perizonius developed a critical-historical method, reinforced a century later by German scholar Barthold Georg Niebuhr (1776–1831); as a conse quence, many sources of Roman “history” were proved to be of only a mythical or pure literary nature.

   See also Historiography.