Stasis at Corcyra

Stasis at Corcyra

The French Revolution, the American Civil War, the constant civil conflicts in certain parts of Africa in recent history and even today; these are all historical clashes of countrymen. They all also contain stories of immense atrocities. The violence, bloodshed, and ruthlessness that were seen throughout these events were appalling. They were made perhaps even more so by the fact that theses horrors were inflicted upon one another by countrymen, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. The civil war or stasis at Corcyra during the Peloponnesian War was no different. This paper will detail the events surrounding the conflict and attempt to give scope to it as a mirror into the rest of the conflict.

The initial trouble at Corcyra was the same as that of the entire war. It was a clash of ideologies. The city was split into two factions: the Democrats and the Oligarchs. The city already had a pact of peace with the Athenians but were also friendly with the Peloponnesians. The trouble started when prisoners were returned by the Peloponnesians with the mission of splitting the city from Athens (Thucydides, Book III.71). Soon afterwards ships arrived from both Athens and Corinth bearing delegations for discussions of treaties. The city took up the matter before its Assembly and voted to remain allies with Athens but to keep up their good, peaceful ties with the Peloponnesians. This was not good enough for some, however. The spies were still bent on depriving Athens of another ally and turning the city over to the oligarchs. They went about this in a manner that caused trouble: they resorted to mudslinging. They accused Peithias , the leader of the democrats, of selling the city into Athenian slavery. Their accusations were soon batted down and Peithias struck back. He brought up five of his richest opponents on charges that broke them monetarily. They became suppliants in the temples in the hopes that their fines might lessened. However, Peithias was a member of the Council and persuaded his peers to exact the full penalty. When the five heard that their fates had been decided thusly and also that Peithias planned to make a full military alliance with Athens they acted quickly on their own behalf. They gathered the members of their own oligarchic party and marched straight into the cou...

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...of Greece was changed and even debased through these events. While each city certainly had its own sets of conditions and flow of events, we can surely trace the start of such vainglorious butchery directly to the events at Corcyra.

The Corcyran democrats responded in envy and greed and hate when they had finally won out over those who had oppressed them for so long. They simply allowed their animal passions to rule their minds. Much like the Bacchae in the famous tragedy they released reason to follow their base emotions. They struck back without thinking, beyond reason. Just as Thucydides tells us they forgot the laws of humanity that exist “to give a hope of salvation to all who are in distress, instead of leaving those laws in existence, remembering that there may come a time when they, too, will be in danger and will need their protection (III.84).” Sadly this soon became a common state of affairs throughout the whole of Greece. Perhaps the war would have ended sooner and with much less loss of life if only we as men were not so weak.

Works Cited

Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Tr. Rick Warner. Penguin Books: USA, 1954.