Thucydides Essays

  • Thucydides The Plague In Athens

    500 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thucydides wrote “The Plague in Athens” as both a documentation and a medical reference. The passage is pulled from a larger manuscript by Thucydides named The Peloponnesian War. In “The Plague of Athens,” Thucydides documents what he has witnessed and knows of the plague that befell his city. The passage with the medical technicalities of the plague. Thucydides takes several pages to record the symptoms of the plague, from eye inflammation and foul breath to when the disease eventually killed people

  • Herodotus And Thucydides Similarities

    551 Words  | 3 Pages

    Herodotus and Thucydides are both often referred to as the world’s first true historians. They both were truly the first to document history by writing in it a book-like medium. Both innovators in their field, the two men had extremely different writing styles and ways of formulating their information into their respective books. Herodotus and Thucydides are more different than similar when comparing their works. Herodotus and Thucydides are only similar in a couple ways. To begin, like stated

  • Thucydides Historical Accuracy

    1087 Words  | 5 Pages

    Thucydides’ Work as an Accurate Depiction of History In Thucydides’ historical narrative, The History of the Peloponnesian War, the author shares an account of the struggles ancient Greeks faced to obtain power over both their enemies and allies. Due to Thucydides’ dedication to writing a historically accurate and objective depiction of the Peloponnesian War, the account that he shares is a valuable piece of historical text as it is intended to inform and guide future audiences. To start, Thucydides

  • Thucydides The Peloponnesian War

    1685 Words  | 7 Pages

    Public versus Private, and the impact to the war Thucydides, the author of The Peloponnesian War, differentiates itself from any of the former literature to not give heroic contents, but to analyze the content of the war between the Hellas. One of the greatest morale that he gives through the analysis is the separation of the public and private interests during a political project: in order to achieve the good of the city, the priorities must be set on the what is best for the many, rather than

  • Thucydides Biases In Greek History

    1225 Words  | 5 Pages

    that toward our culture or an ideology. Thucydides and Herodotus both had distinct source types as well as biases, but conform to them in different ways reflective of their different writing styles. 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

  • Thucydides On The Peloponnesian War

    574 Words  | 3 Pages

    that it all started during the Greek ancient times as they first develop the concept of The Art of War through the eyes of the historian Thucydides on the Peloponnesian War. In which, although he was not a political philosopher, he was able to observe what has become the “ins-and-outs” of international relation policy making through the means of war. For Thucydides it was clear that politicians acted in an egoistic manner as they abused of their authoritarian state powers, (please let keep in mind

  • Thucydides The History Of The Peloponnesian War

    283 Words  | 2 Pages

    Peloponnesian War Thucydides famously describes the devastating epidemic that hit Athens which killed nearly a third of the Athenian population, including the famous general Pericles. The History can be quite a useful source if one wish to know the hardships the Athenians faced when the disease ravaged Athens as it is essentially an eye-witness account since Thucydides himself was infected for a time. But as an objective medical record it would be best to look elsewhere since Thucydides’ terms regarding

  • What Is Thucydides Peloponnesian Dialogue?

    1050 Words  | 5 Pages

    Thucydides, The Melian Dialogue, The Peloponnesian War, pp.348-357, First publication 431 BC, originally a Athenian edition Melian dialogue is part of the fifth book of the works of the eminent Greek historian Thucydides entitled '' Peloponnesian War ''. It is a very important historical source of knowledge on the war between Athens and Sparta, which took place in the years 431-404 BC The aforementioned piece is very valuable because it is the foundation of realism as a theory in international relations

  • Thucydides Decisions In The Peloponnesian War

    701 Words  | 3 Pages

    world-renowned Athenian historian and general, Thucydides famed history The Peloponnesian War recounts some of Athens’ and other Greeks’ most telling moments world powers. Thucydides, unlike his predecessor Herodotus, approaches his history with a generally detached and serious tone, yet his opinion does shine through his writing at times. Perhaps, the Athenians’ Sicilian Expedition (415 BCE- 413 BCE) sections in the histories features the most of Thucydides’ opinion on a particular subject sneaking into

  • Thucydides History Of The Peloponnesian War

    279 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thucydides was an athenian historian and strategos in Athenian War. He was born in Alimos, Greece between the years 460 and 455 B.C. and died between the years 411 and 400 B.C. He has contributed in the strategic interaction of states during his era. He is also known as the father of scientific history and political realism (Kemos, 2005). Thucydides became a general in the Athenian army. He led troops in the Peloponnesian war with Sparta in the late 400s BC, but when he lost a battle the democratic

  • How Did Thucydides Treat Sophocles

    497 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thucydides began to positively treat Themistocles and commended him for numerous qualities. His true feelings towards Themistocles gradually appear throughout the remainder of book one. His pro-Themistocles bias also began to appear. For example, in section 74, Thucydides included a speech that named Themistocles the “ablest commander” of Athens (Thuc. 1.74). He did not have to include this part of the speech and could have just stated the name of the commander without including the praise. Much

  • How Did Thucydides Become Successful?

    1401 Words  | 6 Pages

    While reading the History of the Peloponnesian War, it is not hard to see how so many scholars have attributed the work of Thucydides as swift, deep and attentive to detail; one gets the feeling that you are reading the words of a well rounded and inspiring scholar who is only interested in a realist recording the truth as it unfolds in front of him. (Welch 2003) Thucydides offers a history that will be of use to those who seek, “An exact aid to the past to better aid the future. I have written my

  • Thucydides Funeral Oration In The Peloponnesian War

    496 Words  | 2 Pages

    personal; is clearly seen in Thucydides’ “funeral oration” in the work History of the Peloponnesian War. The first of the Patterson’s chords is sovereignal or sovereignty, the ability for a group of people to govern themselves. Thucydides communicates this idea in the following manner, “and a keen feeling of honour in action that men were enabled to win all this, and that no personal failure in an enterprise could make them consent to deprive their country of their valour,”(Thucydides, 3). Sovereignty here

  • Gettysburg Address And Thucydides, Pericles Funeral Oration

    631 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cameron Moore Professor Bruns World History 11 September 2017 Analysis on Gettysburg Address and Thucydides, Pericles’ Funeral Oration The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln and Thucydides, Pericles’ Funeral Oration share striking similarities, even though both documents originate from different time periods. The Gettysburg address talks about the civil war and the importance of keeping the union whole. The funeral oration talks about honoring the dead soldiers and comparing their society to

  • How Did Thucydides And Kennes Contribute To The Understanding Of State Behavior

    426 Words  | 2 Pages

    Examination of How Thucydides and Kennan Contribute to the Understanding of State Behavior and the Concept of Power The Melian Dialogue from Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian Wars, describes the interaction between the Athenians and the Melians regarding the desired surrender of Melos. The Athenians, who were more powerful and influential than the Melians, wanted Melos to submit without a fight. Should the Melians agree to ally themselves with the Athenians, it would be an example of power asymmetry

  • Peloponnesian War Rhetorical Analysis

    978 Words  | 4 Pages

    Through his account of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides aims to teach his audience about various aspects of political life, such as leadership, maintaining alliances, and managing civil strife. Thucydides shares his lessons by juxtaposing the strategies utilized by the seemingly opposing city-states of Athens and Sparta. Even within each city-state, the political leaders of Athens and Sparta had opposing views on how to approach a particular situation, which suggests that the two powerhouses of

  • Athenian Leaders Pericles And Nicias Analysis

    1081 Words  | 5 Pages

    Comparison analysis of Athenian Leaders Pericles and Nicias based on Thucydides’ History. This paper aim is to examine the pattern of the Athenian leaders Pericles and Nicias, which characters are distributed in the Thucydides’ History . Thucydides’ History is evidently chary of expressing the author views about leading individuals. In the first place, it will show that in the book such explicit judgments are few and mostly brief. The author is not content to accept public opinion uncritically

  • Acts Of Self-Interest And Greed In Greek Literature

    1814 Words  | 8 Pages

    In Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, it is recounted how the Athenians condemned the people of Melos and put all of the men to death because they refused to become part of the Athenian empire. This in itself shows the self-interest of the Athenians

  • A Rhetorical Analysis Of Pericles Funeral Oration

    625 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Richard Crawley’s translated version of The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides the “Funeral Oration of Pericles” and “The Melian Conference” share the similarity of the Athenian representative using rich rhetoric and the differences of perspective of Athens. In both the “Funeral Oration of Pericles” and “The Melian Conference,” the Athenians uses graceful rhetoric in order to disguise its military intentions. Before Pericles acknowledges the dead soldiers and their mourning family

  • How Did The Peloponnesian War Be Unbiased

    577 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thucydides is the author of Peloponnesian War. The Peloponnesian War was a direct and indirect conflict between Sparta and Athens that lasted from 460-404 BCE. Thucydides fought for Athens during the Peloponnesian War and was later exiled by Athens. Thucydides was writing about something that he participated in and the Peloponnesian War became the first contemporary history. Thucydides also made use of eyewitness reports from people who were participants in the war. The Peloponnesian War in unbiased