Thucydides: The History Of The Peloponnesian War

Homer’s Iliad and Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War ask if death and philotēs can exist simultaneously. In the respective texts, that which Achilles and the Athenians encounter prove they will not exist in harmony for “human nature” is “incapable of controlling passion” and “the enemy of anything superior” (HPW 3.84). When Achilles does not receive his earned honor after battle and death’s toll from the war blurs the Athenians’ identity, their grief causes apathy. Achilles withdraws from his own people with a “rage, black and murderous” causing his own army to buckle which parallels the Athenians who at Pylos become “obsessed with the idea...to attack Spartans” (HPW 4.34). Before these cruel lapses in judgment, both desire

Action from necessity is a constantly recurring theme in Thucydides’ The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War. A sentiment used to explain the growth of the Athenian Empire which some Athenians espoused to an assembly at Sparta best quantifies necessity, “. . . we were necessarily compelled at first to advance the hegemony to where it is—especially by fear, and then by honor, and later by benefit.” (Selected Passages 1.75.3). This claim, referred to as the Athenian Thesis, is used to advance the two following implications: all states act with the motivations of fear, honor and interest and no one can condemn a state for doing so. The Athenian Thesis influences the way many of the Athenian elite structure their patterns of reasoning in both noticeable and subtle ways.

First we will examine the sources that Thucydides used and why he uses speeches. Thucydides was the main source of the information as he lived and held command as a general during the Peloponnesian War up until his exile to Peloponnesian territory (Thucydides p. 102). His position as a general makes Thucydides an excellent eye witness to many of these instances. Thucydides spending time with the Peloponnesians gained him insight into those people and how they would have operated. Thucydides uses himself as his main source as he held a high position in society and would have access to the events of the war.

Making use of rhetoric devices and compromising the ideals of democracy breach the ideals of traditions in the Greek society. Unlike that in the “Clouds”, Thucydides does not show any sign of flaws of the traditional values.

“Herodotus of Halicarnassus here gives the results of his researches, so that the events of human history may not fade with time and the notable achievements both of Greeks and of foreigners may not lack their due fame; and, among other things, to show why these peoples came to make war on one another.” Herodotus is considered one of the founders of historiography. It had long been argued that Herodotus was important for his military histories of Ancient Greece, but although his works focused on military and war he put specific emphasis on detailed factors that related more to the cultural aspects of Greek history.

In Thucydides speech he respects the departed soldiers and also “mounts” or tries to establish and set forth the nation even farther than what it previously was and go forth from there. The excerpt from the story shows just how he explains this: “But I should have preferred that, when men’s deeds have been brave, they should be honored in deed only, and with such an honor as this public funeral, which you are now witnessing.” “For where the rewards of virtue are greatest, there the noblest citizens are enlisted in the service of the state. And now, when you have duly lamented, everyone his own dead, you may depart.” This shows how he shows his condolences to the Athens for their hard long fight. Also from the story Thucydides this excerpt ti me explains how he is making different opportunities for his country to prosper: “I have dwelt upon the greatness of Athens because I want to show you that we are contending for a higher price than those who enjoy none of these privileges, and to establish by manifest proof the merit of these men whom I am now commemorating.” Thucydides also shares great points about his point of view and this outlook on how he respects the departed soldiers and tries to establish is country forward in any way possible.

The Landmark Thucydides is a history book on the Peloponnesian War written by an Athenian historian and general named Thucydides. Throughout the book, Thucydides recounts the war and tells of the many actions of his mother land Athens. In several of his descriptions Athens could be viewed as arrogant especially towards their accomplishments in war. He also tells of a terrible crime that Athens commits that could be described as genocide. Thucydides also describes several simpleminded mistakes that were made that crippled Athens in the end and could have been prevented with more through thinking. Despite being powerful and dominant on the battlefield the Athenians suffer crippling defeat in the end. The arrogance, cruelty, and foolishness that Athens displayed brought fate down on Athens and caused their defeat in the Peloponnesian War.

There was an increasing concern in the Peloponnesian League that Athens' rapid growth was an opportunistic exploitation of Athenian allies and a direct threat to the League. Well-founded or not, these fears came to a head in 432, when Spartan allies lobbied hard for the League to check Athenian growth by declaring war. At these debates, a Spartan ally from Corinth chastised the perceived aggressive expansion of Athens, stating "(Athenians) are by nature incapable of either living a quiet life themselves or of allowing anyone else to do so."

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.

It is in this context that the four grievances of Thucydides arise. In great detail, Thucydides describes the conflict between Corcyra and Corinth over the control of their mutual colony Epidamnus, in which Corcyra sought aid from the naval power of Athens. He states “this was the first cause of the war that Corinth had against the Athenians, viz. that they had fought against them with the Corcyraeans in time of treaty.” (1.55) In a speech, the Corcyraeans employ Athens that helping them will put them on the right side of history and would also be in their own self interests. In a speech, they claim “there are but three considerable naval powers in Hellas, Athens, Corcyra, and Corinth, and that if you allow two of these three to become one, and Corinth to secure us for herself, you will have to hold the sea against the united fleets of Corcyra and Peloponnese.” (1.36) Thucydides suggests that with this consideration, Athens went forward with assisting Corcyra.

His exile may also have been a blessing in disguise, for it allowed him to become somewhat detached from the Athenian side, and allowed him to write a more useful and balanced history. I think that this can be seen when he is describing the opening stages of the war. Corinth and Corcyra are the two countries who appear to spark off the war. Once war broke out, Corinth became allied with Sparta, and Corcyra became an ally of Athens following a debate over Corcyra[3]. As well as being an Athenian Thucydides clearly sees Corcyra as being the aggressor, and describes the way that Corcyra disrespected its mother city-state.

Derived from Thucydides' History of The Peloponnesian War, we can grasp a sense of how he viewed human nature. Coined as the father of political realism, we can gather the idea that his view would most likely be dark and cynical. Thucydides views humans as self-interested, selfish, and violent; without the restrictions of the nomoi (laws, values), human beings will do anything to survive and prosper. We are able to see this view in some key events found in his history.

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

Throughout the Ancient Greek world, there have been many wars and standoffs. However, there has been only one which changed the course of Greek history forever; the Peloponnesian War. Caused by the growing tension between Athens and Sparta, it came and left, leaving only destruction in its wake. The defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War caused the downfall of Greece, and the end of the Classical Age.

“But we trust that the gods may grant us fortune as good as yours, since we are just men fighting against unjust, and that what we want in power will be made up by the alliance of the Lacedaemonians” (Thucydides 270). The Melians should have acted sensibly instead of being naïve and submit to the imperial power seeing that the odds were against them. The Athenians give them a choice, but they decided to act irrational and respond emotively. “They underestimated Athens’ military power, judging the issue by the clouded eye of volition rather than calculations based on security and followed the human tendency to back their desires with uncritical hope and use of sovereign reason only to reject what they find unpalatable” (Bosworth 36).