1. Sourcing a Document
“The Carthaginians are a hard and gloomy people, submissive to their rulers, and harsh to their subjects, running to extremes of cowardice in times of fear and of cruelty in times of anger; they keep obstinately to their decisions, are austere, and care little for amusement or the graces of life.”
Source: Plutarch, 100 CE
Identify: Author Bias, Context, Audience, and Intent

2. What’s the point in sourcing a document?
To determine the reliability of a document

3. Author bias: Plutarch is Greek; Greeks are anti-Carthage; fought ancient wars with them
“The Carthaginians are a hard and gloomy people, submissive to their rulers, and harsh to their subjects, running to extremes of cowardice in times of fear and of cruelty in times of anger; they keep obstinately to their decisions, are austere, and care little for amusement or the graces of life.”
Source: Plutarch, 100 CE

4. “The Carthaginians are a hard and gloomy people, submissive to their rulers, and harsh to their subjects, running to extremes of cowardice in times of fear and of cruelty in times of anger; they keep obstinately to their decisions, are austere, and care little for amusement or the graces of life.”
Source: Plutarch, 100 CE
Audience: Greek and Roman readers of histories

5. Context: Plutarch wrote long after the existence of Carthage - possibly not reliable
“The Carthaginians are a hard and gloomy people, submissive to their rulers, and harsh to their subjects, running to extremes of cowardice in times of fear and of cruelty in times of anger; they keep obstinately to their decisions, are austere, and care little for amusement or the graces of life.”

6. “The Carthaginians are a hard and gloomy people, submissive to their rulers, and harsh to their subjects, running to extremes of cowardice in times of fear and of cruelty in times of anger; they keep obstinately to their decisions, are austere, and care little for amusement or the graces of life.”
Intent: Record history for Greeks and Romans

7. Author bias: Plutarch is Greek; Greeks are anti-Carthage; fought ancient wars with them
“The Carthaginians are a hard and gloomy people, submissive to their rulers, and harsh to their subjects, running to extremes of cowardice in times of fear and of cruelty in times of anger; they keep obstinately to their decisions, are austere, and care little for amusement or the graces of life.”
Context: Plutarch wrote long after the existence of Carthage - possibly not reliable
Audience: Greek and Roman readers of histories
Intent: Record history for Greeks and Romans

8. In my third campaign I marched against Hatti
In my third campaign I marched against Hatti. Luli, king of Sidon, whom the terror-inspiring glamor of my lordship had overwhelmed, fled far overseas and perished.... As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to his strong cities, walled forts, and countless small villages, and conquered them by means of well-stamped earth-ramps and battering-rams brought near the walls with an attack by foot soldiers, using mines, breeches as well as trenches. I drove out 200,150 people, young and old, male and female, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle beyond counting, and considered them slaves.
The Sennacherib Prism, 701 BCE