Thucydides and The Civil War at Corcyra

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.

A reading of Thucydides’, Pericles’ Funeral Oration and The Melian Dialogue uncovers both contrasting and comparable viewpoints on Athenian politics, power, aims of war, and empire. Thucydides presents two differing characteristics of Athens, one as the civilizer in Pericles’ funeral oration and the other as an tyrant in the Melian dialogue. In the funeral oration delivered by Pericles during the first year of the war, the Athenian leader emphasizes the idealized personal image of the Athenians in regard to their constitution and good character. Pericles goes on to praise the Athenian democratic institution of Athens that contributes to their cities greatness; in Pericles’s own words, “The Athenian administration favors the many instead of few… they afford equal justice to all of their differences” (112, 2.37). This quote emphasizes the good character of the Athens’ to coax and encourage the Athenians to preserve and better their great empire into the future. On the other hand, in the Melian dialogue, this notion of justice and equality is irrelevant; one, because Athens compared to Melos, is the stronger of the two and thus, is more powerful. Further, Athens, will continue to acquire absolute power and build its empire by conquering Melos and whomever else stands in its way. Through Pericles’ funeral oration and the Melian dialogue, the following conclusions/themes will demonstrate both the changing and somewhat stable nature of Athenian policy with regards to empire,

The Peloponnesian War was an ancient Greek war fought by the Athenians against the Spartans. The Peloponnesians’ city-states under control of the Spartans. These two great city-states found themselves in a controversy over who should be in control over the Eastern Mediterranean. As Thucydides a Greek historian and general wrote in his history of the war, “In my view the real reason, true but unacknowledged, which forced the war was the growth of Athenian power, Spartan fear of it” (Tucker). But, ultimate trigger of the war was when Athens’ acted aggressively towards Corinth, who is an ally of the Spartans.

Within the scene of the soldiers choosing not to participate in the killing of the 330 people, they make the decision to not kill because their motives vary and they believe in utilitarianism or deontology. A deontologist would choose not to participate in the killing of the people because a deontologist focuses on the moral aspects of any action, not its consequences. Deontologists believe that killing in general or taking a life is always wrong, regardless of the consequences. The followers of deontology would never take a life without looking at what the consequences could be. They just look at the situation and perform the moral decision.

Throughout history many things have happened that included people who will blindly obey to orders given to them. Events where people have blindly obeyed orders, such as mass killings of innocent people or groups, were called genocides. The people leading genocides were trying to destroy a certain race or ethnic group by either killing them or dehumanizing them. One of the biggest genocide in history was the Holocaust which targeted Jews, disabled people, homosexuals, Jehovah witnesses, etc. The leader of the Holocaust was Adolf Hitler, who had the Germans kill more than six million Jews and many other kinds of people that were not considered the perfect German. People will follow orders blindly because they want to feel powerful or superior, the events relate to an individual's religion or beliefs, and because the individual wishes to appear as obedient.

While the war may have been over, relations between Athens and Sparta continued to go sour. Athens continued to grow in power, and was beginning to pose a threat to Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. A series of conflicts occurred during the “Thirty Year’s Peace” that pushed Sparta and Athens to war again. For example, Athens intervened in a dispute between a colony and a city-state during the Corinth-Corcyra War. Corcyra (the city-state) was backed by Athens, while Epidamnos (the colony) was backed by Corinth. This persisted for a few years until the Corinthians abandoned their campaign, but this would not be the last time that Athens would clash with Corinth. Not long after, a Corinthian colony called Potidaea revolted from its

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.

Pericles was an important man for Athenians. Indeed, he was so influential to Athens that Thucydides claimed him as “the first citizen of Athens”. He, Pericles, led countrymen for the first two years of the war and made the “Delian League into an Athenian empire”. Pericles’ thoughts regarding the war were more obvious after his death than while he was still alive. He had said that Athens in one-way or another forgot to take care the most important things. For example, he said, “Athens will be victorious if she bided [Athens] and took care of her navy” meaning that during the course of the war Athens as a city itself forgot how to take care of the things that made Athens an influential and precious city. In addition, Thucydides claimed that Pericles’ successors were a big factor of the position of Athens while approaching the war. His successors instead of helping Athenians confront the war as an important case of matter, did the opposite. Instead, they took care of “private business”, which were only beneficial for their private ambition. However, such bad decisions and

Of course, Thucydides was certainly acquainted with pieces critical of Athenian democracy – the close intellectual relationship between certain of Thucydides’ core concerns, such as empire, and those of the somewhat previous Athenaion Politeia (Athenian Constitution) has long been the custom of such ancient writing. Among teachers of rhetoric were those who claimed openly to have developed a “political science” – what they called politike techne (Parry 1). But the rhetorical formation of politike techne was scarcely involved; it did not rest, as Thucydides supposed any appropriate appreciation of “political science” must, upon a methodical understanding of political structures and their active interaction within larger society. Therefore, Thucydides

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.

?Unlike most other cities in the ancient world, Corinth was a city destined for prosperity and longevity no matter who occupied it or how it was governed.? It is as old, or older, than any other ancient Greek city, with origins that lie only in myths and legends that are more than two thousand years old.? Little is known of who established the city or when it was actually founded.? What we do know is Corinth was a very important city and it became a major player in ancient Greek and Roman history.?

Thucydides indicates that people are indiscriminate about the stories or accounts they are told. They do not put them to the test. This is the case even with accounts that deal with their own country. Thucydides uses the example of the murder of Hipparchus. The Athenians believe that Hipparchus was a tyrant and was the ruler when he was killed by Harmodius and Aristogeiton. The fact of the matter is, Thucydides says, that it was Hipparchus older brother Hippias who was in power, not Hipparchus. Hippias was the eldest son of Pisistratus, so he was the ruler of Athens, not Hippias, who was younger, and not Thessalus, the third son of Pisistratus, who was also younger than Hippias. As for Harmodius and Aristogeiton, they originally

This can be obviously seen after the death of Ptolemy V, as a struggle occurred between the two brothers Ptolemy VI and Ptolemy VIII. This power struggle between the two brothers weakened the country to the point that the ruler of Syria Antiochus IV invaded Egypt. Later, another struggle occurred between Ptolemy VIII and his sister Cleopatra II that led to a civil war in the country. There was also the struggle between Ptolemy IX and his brother Ptolemy X. We can’t ignore also the famous war between Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra VII that was known as “The Alexandrian War”.

In ancient Greek times, it was typical for all written texts to focus on the Greek Gods and their omnipotence. Thucydides’ retelling of the Peloponnesian War is considered a secular text mainly due to the fact that the work was one of the first of its time period to not put any emphasis on the Gods. Many believe that the work’s lack of religious referencing is what makes it secular; however, under further examination, the reason the text does not discuss Gods could be due to the overall topic and theme of the book. Since Thucydides is based primarily on the history of the Peloponnesian War, the lack of referencing to the Gods may have been unintentional on Thucydides’ part. The Old Testament, in opposition to Thucydides as a secular text, was written for religious purposes. Since the Old Testament is predominantly composed of religious prophecies, and its purpose is utilized in different religions, it is considered a religious work.

Written by the Greek historian Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War is one that tells the story of the war (431-404 BC) which divided the Greek world between Athens and its allies and Lacedaemon. The Melian Dialogue presents two sides and two perspectives that of the Melians neutrality and that of the Athenians’ might. By Thucydides juxtaposing the Athenian’s position to that of the Melians, there is a clear conclusion of which side actions are tactically and morally acceptable. One would argue that the Athenians are immoral for violently plundering the Melian territory because they had the power to do so. However, given the circumstance of trying to defend their empire due to the imbalance of forces, the Athenian actions are not