Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian war Sandrine Bertaux

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian war Sandrine Bertaux Assistant Professor of Humanities

u. Archaic Period (750 -500 BCE) Homer, Hesiod, Sappho Rise of the city-state (polis) u. Classical Period (500 -336 BCE) 5 th century BCE: Golden Age of Athens

Golden Age of Athens 5 th century BCE Golden Age of Athens ü Political and cultural hegemony of Athens • Consolidation of democratic rule under Pericles • Birth of new forms of knowledge and new forms of cultural expression: History: Herodotus and Thucydides Philosophy: Sophists, Socrates, Plato, (Aristotle -4 th century) Tragedy: Euripides

Golden Age of Athens Rise of Athens, Wars and Birth of History 499 -479 Persian Wars Greek city-states versus Persian Empire Recounted by Herodotus in his Histories 431 -404 Peloponnesian War Athens and the Delian League versus Sparta and the Peloponnesian League Recounted by Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides trap Politico Magazine, 21 June 2017 “What made “The Trump team is obsessing over Thucydides, the ancient the war inevitable was historian who wrote a seminal the growth of tract on war. ” Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta. ” (23)

Outline of the Lecture • Greek Historiography: Before history Two wars, two historians, one “father of history”? Thucydides’ conception of history • A Democracy at War: The Funeral Oration Pericles and Athenian democracy Pericles, Aspasia and Women

Before History • the word histor, the ancestor of historian, is found in The Iliad of Homer. The histor was a kind of judge or referee in disputes between two contending parties and he was paid for his work. • The past was mythical and could be narrated as Hesiod did for the five races of men, as just the will of gods with no further attempt to explain why it is so.

Herodotus, Histories=Inquiries • History means inquiry : new form of knowledge and a new literary prose genre.

2 wars, 2 historians, 1 “father of history”? 499 -479 Persian Wars Herodotus, Histories 432 -404 Peloponnesian War Thucydides, History of the Pelop. War

Herodotus and Thucydides

Herodotus and Thucydides • Herodotus (485 -425? )-: born in Halicarnassus: modern-day Bodrum: Greek family, under Persian rule, travels. • Not a direct witness of the war; collected testimonies • Greek versus Barbarians • mythology and dreams • remembrance • Thucydides (465 -399? ) An actor in the war: a general in the Peloponnesian war • Fight among Greek powers • no gods, no myths: direct witness • The “greatest war”: remembrance

Thucydides vs. Herodotus “Exposition” (Herodotus) vs. “writing” (Thucydides) “It is better evidence than that of the poets, who exaggerate the importance of their themes, or of those of the prose chroniclers. ” (22) Writing: break with the rules governing oral composition: “My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last for ever. ” (22) Not pleasant, no “romantic element”, but it will last forever because of its timeless truth.

Useful; didactic • “…judged useful by those who want to understand clearly the events which happened in the past and which (human nature being what it is) will, at some time or other and in much the same ways, be repeated in the future. ” (22)

Thucydides: Is history about the past? • Only a history of the present is possible “I made it a principle not to write down the first story that came my way, and not even to be guided by my own general impressions; either I was present myself at the events which I have described or else I heard of them from eyewitnesses whose reports I have checked with as much thoroughness as possible. ” (22)

A Democracy at War: Pericles and Athenian Democracy • Democracy means the power of the people (Dêmos kratos). “Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of the minority but the whole people” (37) • Participative (citizens): “We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say he has no business at all. ” (40) • and exclusive: women, foreigners, slaves.

“Fall in love” (43) with Athens: cultural values • Autochthony: “In this land of ours there have always been the same people living from generation to generation up till now, and they… have handed it on to us, a free country. ”(36) • … and empire: “Our fathers…added all the empire we have now. ” (36)

Athens vs. Sparta • Open to foreigners (as opposed to Sparta): “Whole assembly, citizens and foreigners…” (36) “Our city is open to the world, and we have no periodical deportation in order to prevent people observing or finding our secrets…” (39) • Athenian education vs Spartan education (39)

Pericles, Aspasia and the “duties of women” (46) • “The greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you. ” (46) • Pericles’ reform of citizenship • Pericles and Aspasia of Miletus. • “manliness” (35) and Pericles’ military policy.