As Greco-Roman historiographical literature is surveyed, especially works produced around AD 100, historians often to incorporated the phraseology of “from the beginning” to denote historiographical intentions
• Plutarch (46-119+ AD) used it this way in his preface.1
• Philo (64–141 AD) used it this way in his preface.2
• Luke (c. 1-100 AD) used the phrase in his preface.3
• Josephus (37-100 AD) used an analogue in his preface.4
• Herod used the phrase to commend historiography.5
This is relevant because then it becomes less plausible that historians would bother with implying historiography via phrases like “[Witnessing/narrating-history] from the beginning.”
But no...
• The habitual phraseology of “From the beginning” precisely refutes this.
• Historians disproportionately invest in justifying why an event is the proper beginning.1
• Historians criticize other historians if they fail to choose a proper beginning.2