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Thucydides
Thucydides ignored social, economic and cultural matters and excluded topics that he felt unable to write about, such as women. Further inadequacies can be found throughout the History, especially when the search for truth seems to have become subordinate to artistic considerations. The narrative is punctuated by speeches, the primary literary device used in the 'History' and these are unreliable and subjective. In refusing to verify his sources we are forced to accept or reject his testimony based on the satisfactory (or otherwise) nature of the account of the war as a piece of history. However, there are inconsistencies throughout and from the few sources available to modern historians we must consider Thucydides' creditability as questionable. The reader's dissatisfaction with Thucydides as an historian is derived from a combination of the suppression of evidence, which leads us to decipher his validity from the consistency of the text, and the problems we have with the text when we do so.
Thucydides systematically ignores certain issues for instance religious, economic and social issues. He abandoned breadth to achieve depth, but in ignoring these issues he missed certain aspects of the war. Further and even closer to his chosen topic he completely ignores Persia as a factor in the background to the war and only alludes to the Megara decree which in other accounts has an important role to play in the out break of war. Religion had an important role to play in the lives of many of the Greeks, Thucydides himself may have rejected Religion but he also underplayed its role. It is clear that Religion was a vital part of the decision making process, for instance the Spartan's, on deciding whether or not to d...
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...terisation) that will be significant to subsequent generations. However because of this he suppresses the evidence that would have provided us with a genuine picture of the period and he doesn't allow us to disagree or agree with him from a position of knowledge.
Bibliography:
Bibliography:
Gregory Cane The Blinded eye Rowam&Littlefield 1996
Thucydides History of the Penguin 1972
Peloponnesian war
Connor Thcuydides Princetown 1988
University Press
Cornford Thucydides Mysthiotoricus
Cartwright Historical Commentary on University of Michigan1997 Thucydides Press
Cawkwell Thucydides and the Routledge 1997
Peloponnesian war
Abbot Thucydides Routledge 1925
Hornblower Thucydides. Duckworth 199
Thucydides was right to claim that all wars can be explained by Fear, Honor, and Interest. All Wars are related to the three characteristics as stated by Dr. Nation (Dr. Nation video). The Athenians thought process was that the weak would be ruled by the strong and that was the nature of conflict (Strassler p. 43). Looking at the Peloponnesian war itself will illustrate how fear, honor and interest were involved with how this war developed. The initial unnamed Athenian that made that statement was probably using it to deter war with Sparta when it mostly incited the war (Dr. Nation Video). The Athenians wanted to maintain and sustain their city state but also expand it. They were expanding through their alliances and this is what invoked the
The Melian Dialogue is a debate between Melian and Athenian representatives concerning the sovereignty of Melos. The debate did not really occur-the arguments given by each side were of Thucydides own creation. Thus it is reasonable to assume that we can tease out Thucydides' own beliefs. In this paper, I will first extract Thucydides views from the Melian Dialogue and then analyze whether or not these views are well founded.
The Sicilian Expedition is the decisive event in the Peloponnesian war. In fact that is what motivated Thucydide's to record it in his historical records. Thucydides prophesized that it would be `the greatest in all Greek history' and "it was a major turning point for Athens',moreover, it was the `most glorious victory for the winners, and the worst calamity for the loosers.' The outcome was that Athens lost the war which lead to the eventual collapse of her empire and dignity. The Athenians lost the war due to their ill preparedness for the expedition, illogical and hasty decisions, and poor leadership during the expedition.
Thucydides expresses how a combination of fear and greed escalates in the rhetoric of two opposing camps to divide a nation through his focus on personalities. As an example, Thucydides provides the case of the Athenians' ally Corcyra, when civil war broke out during the Peloponnesian War. This precedent acts as a model of foreshadowing for the Athenians between Nicias and Alcibiades, as they attempt to sway the crowd using negative and positive examples about whether they should go to war with Sicily.
The book written by Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, contains two controversial debates between distinguished speakers of Athens. The two corresponding sides produce convincing arguments which can be taken as if produced as an honest opinion or out of self-interest. The two debates must be analyzed separately in order to conclude which one and which side was speaking out of honest opinion or self-interest, as well as which speakers are similar to each other in their approach to the situation.
Homer’s Iliad has been a European myth for many millennia , the long poetic narrative written in the 8th century B.C. recounts a fearsome war fought over a beautiful woman. The reliability of Homers Iliad as a true historical document has been challenged for hundreds of years and only through archaeological studies can the truth be deciphered. The Iliad was written five centuries after the war, where the stories had been passed down through the oral tradition, therefore the type of society reflected within the poems resemble much more the time of Homer . The fact and fiction of the Iliad has been uncovered through archaeology. Archaeologist found a site in which they thought to have been ‘Troy’ destroyed by the powerful country of Mycenae in the late Bronze Age. They found large amount of material culture from where they could reconstruct the society, this included pottery, engravings, murals and clay tablets. A reason for the Trojan War has always inspired great controversy. The Trojan War according to Homer was fought over the abduction of a beautiful women but this theory appears improbable. Other causes which could have sparked a war is Troy’s geographical positioning. This made it extremely opulent, where other countries of the Aegean would trade there goods and use its harbour. The Mycenaean’s being an extremely imperial, violent and militaristic country would have seen Troy as a great opportunity to gain territory and wealth, on this motive the war took place.
Our evidence concerning the roles of women within the Athenian state comes through a variety of media; historiography discussing aspects of Athenian law and customs, orators, and imaginative literature such as comic and tragic theatre. Scholars in the past have selectively manipulated these different sources in order to support their predetermined arg...
Thucydides recounts the events that took place during the civil war in Corcyra. In the year 427 tensions between the Democrats and Oligarchs exploded into civil war, both sides hailing allies from all over the world for aid. At first the Oligarchs received aid from large a Peloponnesian naval fleet, which gave the democrats a scare. However, the Democrats receive back up from an ever-larger Athenian fleet, sending the Democrats into a killing frenzy of all who supported the Oligarchy. Thucydides describes the situation during the civil war in Corcyra by saying that the citizens are sharply divided into two camps, consisting of Democrats on one side and Oligarchs on the other. There is a complete lack of trust on both sides and traditional values and social norms are being completely disregarded. As stated by Thucydides “In war, due to the availability of opportunity aggressiveness rises to the surface” (3.82),
Speaking of the revolution in Corcyra, which occurred after the Athenian decision to spare Mytilene but before its destruction of Melos, Thucydides wrote, “In peace and prosperity states and individuals have better sentiments, because they do not find themselves suddenly confronted with imperious necessities; but war takes away the easy supply of daily wants and so proves a rough master that brings most men’s characters to a level with their fortunes” (III.82.2). This was precisely the change Athens underwent, and the cause of its eventual demise. Works Cited Thucydides. The Landmark of Thucydides.
Homer, Iliad is the narration of the Trojan war. The Trojan war was one of the most important and significant wars of Greek mythology, Homer described how the war was triggered by the abduction of the most beautiful women known as Helen. This paper will argue how the traditional view of this poem is accurate because it indeed was Helens beauty and her selfishness that sparked the Trojan war. Although Helen was not happy about the outcomes of her mistakes. This paper will present how Helen faced many forms of self judgment, how she created many relationships with significant characters, such as Paris, Priam and Aphrodite. Homers portrayal of this significant women was remarkable as we were able to feel her pain and anguish, the readers were
Thucydides exhibits this through the characterization of Pericles, who governed in a way that satisfied all because he was not overcome by personal ambition and conducted his affairs with an element of caution and patience. As a leader, he provided the necessary guidance for Athenians to retain a civilised society through stimulating emotions that counter-acted their natural compulsions. However, his predecessors following his death in 429 B.C compounded the dangers of human nature as they themselves were driven by notions of personal gain and lacked conformity, which incapacitated their judgement. Both Nicias and Alcibiades are characterized as lacking reason, which meant the link between ethical considerations and political society became disconnected resulting in an oligarchy. This pattern can be adopted in the modern sphere when evaluating the breakdown of rationality and the defective judgements of President Nixon. Within his foreign policies he compromised diplomacy to succeed in accomplishing his own egoistic gains, which led to the defeat and the collapse of United State’s control within Southeast Asia. It again reaffirms the accuracy of the occurrence of universal patterns that are “fixed, immutable and
The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) was a conflict between the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta that resulted in the end of the Golden Age of Athens. The events of the war were catalogued by the ancient historian Thucydides in The History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides’ writings showed the ancient Greek belief that there is a parallel between the city-state and the character of its citizens; in order for the city-state to be successful, its citizens must be virtuous. Thucydides did not believe that the true cause of the Peloponnesian War were the immediate policies of the Athenian Empire against the city-states in the Peloponnesian League but rather the fundamental differences in the character of the two city-states
Bowden, Hugh. "Thucydides, Pericles, and Periclean Imperialism." The International History Review 34, no. 3 (2012): 606-607.
While comparing the two pieces of literature, The Histories, by Herodotus, and The Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides they had many resemblances but what really caught my eye was the strong differences between them. The two historians, who were seen as the original fathers of Greek Historiography, played a huge role in narrating history. Although there were some similarities, Herodotus’ and Thucydides’ works differ significantly in the amount of detail, writing style, and topics discussed.
Euclid of Alexandria was born in about 325 BC. He is the most prominent mathematician of antiquity best known for his dissertation on mathematics. He was able to create “The Elements” which included the composition of many other famous mathematicians together. He began exploring math because he felt that he needed to compile certain things and fix certain postulates and theorems. His book included, many of Eudoxus’ theorems, he perfected many of Theaetetus's theorems also. Much of Euclid’s background is very vague and unknown. It is unreliable to say whether some things about him are true, there are two types of extra information stated that scientists do not know whether they are true or not. The first one is that given by Arabian authors who state that Euclid was the son of Naucrates and that he was born in Tyre. This is believed by historians of mathematics that this is entirely fictitious and was merely invented by the authors. The next type of information is that Euclid was born at Megara. But this is not the same Euclid that authors thought. In fact, there was a Euclid of Megara, who was a philosopher who lived approximately 100 years before Euclid of Alexandria.