SOURCE: "Introduction to the Griechische Kulturgeschichte by Jacob Burckhardt," in Essays in Ancient and Modern Historiography, Wesleyan University Press, 1977, pp. 295-305.

Originally published as the introduction to an Italian edition of The Cultural History of Greece, the following essay places Burckhardt's book in its contemporary intellectual context.

An inspired teacher with a natural aptitude for collecting together his researches and reflections and presenting them clearly and calmly, Burckhardt was able, as were few other historians, to express his ideas in courses of lectures. This is particularly true of the Griechische Kul turgeschichte [The Cultural History of Greece], a course of lectures given repeatedly between 1872 and 1885, which he had already started to think about shortly after 1860. Although he prepared it and even partly drafted it for future publication, he never considered it ready for the press, and in the end, in about 1880, he decided finally to abandon his attempt...