When looking at merit of historical sources, there are five criteria that are of most importance.
- Multiple Attestation – Do we have many independent sources?
- Dissimilarity – Do our sources seem to support the writers agenda? If not its better!
- Language and Environment – Does the language and the environment fit the setting it is supposed to fit?
- Coherence – Does what we are researching fit what we already know?
- Post-Enlightenment World View – Does it fit what we know about reality? For example, people don’t rise from dead.