Thucydides new surveys in the classics cambridge core. I purchased this book because i wanted to delve in thucydides main work but had neither the time nor the need to know every battle indepth. If you do not receive an email within 10 minutes, your email address may not be registered, and you may need to create a new wiley online library account. N al volume 48 march 1953 the speeches of king archidamus in thucydides the austrian poet and thinker, franz grillparzer, one of the great prophetic minds of the last. Thucydides history bibliographies cite this for me. Having thus spoken, archidamus dismissed the assembly. How close they are to the presumed originals what pericles and the others actually said, or even if they are close at. Morris, commentary on thucydides book 1 agamemnon, hom. Thucydides classic work is a foundational text in the history of western political thought. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading strategy. His narrative of the great war between athens and sparta in the fifth century bc is now seen as a highly sophisticated study of the nature of political power itself. Note on the geography of thucydides book i book ii book iii book iv book. The historical context of thucydides funeral oration. The actual narrative of the peloponnesian war starts in book 2.
Archidamus and pericles during the greek wars essays. Context and adaptation from archidamus to airpower transforming war kindle edition by bailey, richard, forsyth, james. Along with a pep talk delivered to his troops by archidamus, thucydides asserts that the spartan king was heavily criticized for his delaying. What does thucydides say about the early practice of piracy. The first 10 years of the conflict are known as the archidamian war. And so ended the second year in the peloponnesian war of which thucydides wrote the history. The dramatic truth, so far as it goes, is in the matter, not in the form. For a brief statement on my editorial policy with regards to changes to posts after theyve been first published, see this. Thucydides, an athenian, wrote the history of the war between the. Book 2, chapter 6 begins thucydides s coverage of the war proper, which commenced in 431 bce with a conflict between thebes and plataea and with a spartan invasion of attica, the region of athens, led by king archidamus ii. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. This essay will argue how the speech of archidamus expresses that being unprepared and to charge against the high resourceful athenian population would be unwise, harmful and dangerous. The same thucydides of athens continued the history, following the order of. A member of the eurypontid house one of the two royal families of sparta, he succeeded to the throne of his grandfather, leotychides.
But archidamus, the lacedaemonian king, came forward, who had the. Archidamus quiet dignity and oldfashioned poise, his balance of mind and. During the three speeches of the section, he sets up a dichotomy with one faction on one side and the other faction on the other. Selfcontrol is the chief element in selfrespect, and selfrespect is the chief element in courage. In the speech of archidamus, thucydides expresses what the king conveyed to the attendees in the congress of sparta. The first to speak was one of the citys two kings, archidamus, who gave his name to the first 10 years of the war from 431 to the peace of nicias in 421. When the messenian helots serfs revolted against their spartan masters following a. Context and adaptation from archidamus to airpower transforming war.
Archidamus, the leader of the expedition, called together the generals of all the states and the principal persons and officers, and exhorted them as follows. Archidamus, the spartan king, leads a lacedaemonian force into attica. His first step was to send melesippus, 1 the son of diacritus, a spartan, to athens in the hope that the athenians might after all give way, when they saw their enemies actually on the march. In a revision of the book thucydides would possibly have worked up the speech of peisander at greater length. He also summarizes in section pericles exhortation to his fellow citizens as they faced the fact of actual invasion. In the following summer the peloponnesians and their allies under the command of archidamus 142 the son of zeuxidamus, the lacedaemonian king, instead of invading 143 attica, made an expedition against plataea. Thucydides and the ancient simplicity uc press ebooks collection. Thucydides on the causes of the peloponnesian war i my object in this paper is to discuss not so much why the peloponnesian war occurred though i have views on that question, which will become ap parent, but why thucydides wrote as he did about why the war occurred. I study international relations and thus know my basics on classic political thought, but welcomed an analytical. In thucydides history of the peloponnesian war, the author describes and analyzes the conflict which occurred between the citystates of athens and sparta and their respective allies from 431404 bce.
Speeches play an important role in thucydides history, but remember. Commentary is helpful, if in the form of end notes, and fairly thorough. Character profile for archidamus from the winters tale. For alcibiades thucydides had the feelings natural to a judge for a criminal. Indeed, the nearly fifty years of greek history that preceded the outbreak of the peloponnesian war had been marked by the development of athens as a. Besides the political causes of the war, thucydides was interested in and emphasized the conflict between two types of character. As regards the language of the speeches, thucydides plainly avows that it is chiefly or wholly his own. The only advantage which rusten does not provide is a vocabulary list. Inheriting war in thucydides 5 as a traditional spartan. Thucydides gives pericles two speeches in this book, the famed funeral oration in sections 3546 and a final speech rallying the athenians to stay the course in sections 6064.
Thucydides, history of the peloponnesian war, the first. In book 1, chapter 3 thucydides methodically enhances and creates variations on the structure and major themes of book 1. The landmark thucydides includes a vast array of superbly designed and presented maps, brief informative appendices by outstanding classical scholars on subjects of special relevance to the text, explanatory marginal notes on each page, an index of unprecedented subtlety, and numerous other useful features. As soon as he arrived at the camp, and archidamus learnt that the athenians. He presents a useful text for students of attic greek and to instructors of thucydides.
He therefore believes that human nature is forever cruel and unjust. Archidamus and pericles during the greek wars essays pericles of athens and archidamus of sparta devised net assessments that both believed would provide strategies that would bring victory and peace for their respective states. Thucydides, history of the peloponnesian war, book v. It is usually assumed among scholars that thucydides speeches are not verbatim transcripts, although some readers believe that short bits or especially vivid phrases such as pericles athens is the school of greece might be literal quotations. His two sons became the spartan rulers agis ii and agesilaus ii. Professor rusten nearly equals clyde pharr in his presentation of book ii. Gutenberg ebook peloponnesian war produced by albert imrie, and david widger. The speeches of king archidamus in thucydides jstor. Archidamus led the spartan invasions of attica in 431, 430, and 428 and a campaign against plataea in 429. The history of the peloponnesian war book 1 chapter 3. Providing a thorough critique and analysis of thucydides neglected book 8, taylor shows that thucydides praises political compromise centered around the traditional city in attica. Thucydides, an athenian, wrote the history of the war in which the peloponnesians and. Individual mourners were not to make a spectacle of themselves.
Despite the fact that he speaks very briefly in response to king archidamus iis plea for caution, sthenelaides. The spartan king archidamus urges caution before a declaration of war. For more on archidamus, read thucydides famous account of the peloponnesian congress in 432 bc. In the opinion of the ancients he had managed to compose a work that for technical virtuosity, moral point, and emotional impact rivalled the greatest monuments of poetry and prose. The history of the peloponnesian war book 2 chapter 6. Sthenelaidass appeal has struck many as irrational and emotional. Now seeing mycenae was but a small city, or if any other of that age seem but of light regard, let not any man for that cause, on so weak an argument, think that fleet to have been less than the poets have said and fame reported it to be. Thucydides, history of the peloponnesian war, book ii. Do not fancy that a war with the athenians will be without danger.
Thucydides, history of the peloponnesian war benjamin jowett, ed. Throughout antiquity, thucydides was considered the greatest historian and the one most worthy of emulation. Thucydides states that his history is meant to last for all time given that human nature being what it is history will, at some time or other in much the same way, be repeated in the future thucydides, 1. As the preeminent athenian historian, thucydides, wrote in his influential history of the peloponnesian war, the growth of the power of athens, and the alarm which this inspired in lacedaemon, made war inevitable. Toward the end of his work, thucydides demonstrates that flexible thinking about the city exacerbated the athenians civil war. This was what really enabled the trojans to keep the field for ten years. Archidamus was one of the kings of sparta in the years preceding the peloponnesian war. In the debate at sparta, thucydides is clearly trying to show how different the spartans and the athenians are from each other. Chapter summary for thucydides s the history of the peloponnesian war, book 1 chapter 3 summary. This essay will show that archidamus did a better job of net assessmen.
The historian later expands this individual modesty into national character, citing the lacedaemons as the only great power who knew how to be wise in prosperity, and that the more security it gained the greater it grew. Thucydides called his account of two decades of war between athens and sparta a possssion for all time, and indeed it is the first and still most famous work in the western historical tradition. From thucydides, translated into english, to which is prefixed an essay on inscriptions and a note on the geography of thucydides, by benjamin jowett. When the whole army was assembled, archidamus, the king of the lacedaemonians, and the leader of the expedition, called together the generals of the different states and their chief officers and most distinguished men, and 25 spoke as follows. The historical context of thucydides funeral oration moderation. The history of the peloponnesian war by thucydides, part of the internet classics archive. Thucydides, pericles, and the idea of athens in the. How useful is the speech of king archidamus in thucydides. Immediately after the affair at plataea the lacedaemonians sent round word to their. It was written by thucydides, an athenian historian who also served as an athenian general during the war. The history of the peloponnesian war, by thucydides 431 bc. The lacedaemonian king archidamus favoured a policy of peace solely and simply from a conviction that his country had everything to gain by putting off the evil day.
726 743 1357 963 882 1312 1356 216 470 1320 1475 261 134 1270 1485 542 740 382 1202 282 1276 513 755 570 855 1342 777 242 857 1398 337 1343