Historicity
Definition
1: The fact, quality, or character of being situated in history; esp. historical accuracy or authenticity.
Description
Historicity is a term referring to the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history as opposed to being a historical myth or legend, or the quality of being part of recorded history, as opposed to prehistory. Questions of historicity arise where accounts of events are believed by some to be true, but can not be verified either because of a lack of historical records, or because existing historical records have incorporated folklore as fact.
Issues of historicity particularly apply to the factual nature of events reported in partisan or poetic accounts. For example, the historicity of the Iliad is a topic of debate because later archaeological finds suggest that the work was based on some true event.
Historicity also arises frequently in vetting religious claims that depend on the truth of historical events:
