The Genealogy of Historical Periodisation in Western Civilisation

Abstract

The question of the division of history into stages is a complex one, reflecting the overlap between different branches of knowledge. It has aroused the interest of intellectuals, philosophers, scientists, sociologists, literary scholars, economists, politicians as well, all of whom have had their own investigation and have singled out a certain perception of time, its basic features, that have led them to determine the beginning and end of stages of cultural, political, intellectual or social activity.

But the division of history into epochs remains at the heart of the process of historiography and the essence of historical knowledge, which varies from one civilisation to another. Western civilisation has a particular point of view on this subject, which has developed over centuries and has been influenced by all the intellectual, religious and political transformations it has undergone. We can see this by tracing the milestones through which historical periodisation has passed in the West, until it has settled into the quadrilateral form we know today.How has Western thought travelled this long road? and how has this quadrilateral, produced by a particular mental experience, become a form that frames the history of all the peoples of the world?