Herodotus is frequently cited as the world's first historian. In ancient times, the study of history wasn't so much a subject as the study of philosophy with Historical events as examples in philosophical discussions. In earlier times...people had their oral histories until people such as Home collected these and assembled them into the Iliad and/or his Odyssey. Of course the earlier books of the Old Testament are codified oral histories as well. The ancient Egyptian told stories in their hieroglyphs. Someone focused on the story of history would almost always originate from the upper classes as they were the only ones with the wherewithal to expend time and energy on such things without the need for finding food.