Lecture Outline for Clas 270, Nov. 16, 1998

The Peloponnesian War

  1. Athens after the Persian invasion.
    1. Acquired an "empire."
    2. Grew more "capitalist," acquiring money through trade.
    3. Relied on sea power, connected with democracy.
    4. Spurred by leadership of Pericles.
  2. Sparta after the Persian invasion.
    1. Returned to its old ways: militaristic and landlocked.
    2. Was the leader of an alliance of Peloponnesian states.
    3. Rejected progress: coined money, art and literature, foreign travel.
  3. Corinth.
    1. Allied with Sparta but more like Athens (commercial city).
    2. Did not have Athens' sea power or energy.
  4. Map.
    1. Athens extends reach to the west.
    2. The disputes that trigger the war.
  5. Thucydides' summary of situation (1.118; Lattimore p. 56).

Thucydides

  1. Life.
    1. Born ca. 460-455.
    2. Born into anti-Periclean family, but admired Pericles.
    3. Possibly studied with Antiphon, the sophist.
    4. Served as general in the war, outmaneuvered by Spartan general.
    5. Exiled in 424 and probably spent time at Corinth, Sparta.
    6. Died ca. 400.
  2. Opening of "The Peloponnesian War"; comparison with Herodotus.
    1. "This was the greatest war": competition with Homer, Herodotus.
    2. Herodotus synthesizes, Thucydides analyzes.
    3. Thucydides writes to be read, not listened to.
      1. Abstract and spare in style (usually), sounds "objective."
      2. Dense in thought (esp. in speeches).
      3. "Possession forever."
    4. Overall conception compared to Herodotus's.
      1. Gods absent.
      2. Men act out of security (fear), honor, and self-interest.
      3. "Justice" is a relative concept, employed rhetorically.
    5. Treatment of evidence.
      1. Weighs it according to rational principles. E.g.:
        1. Discounts physical impressiveness of city.
        2. Tries to recover history from myth in opening.
      2. Seldom gives multiple versions (unlike Hdt).
      3. Takes economic forces into account.
    6. Deeper cause of war distinguished from superficial causes.
  3. Paired speeches at Sparta about going to war.
    1. Corinthians recognize Spartan and Athenian character.
      1. Appeal to self-interest of Spartans.
      2. Appeal to justice and Spartans' self-conception.
    2. Athenians indirectly play on Spartan fears.
      1. Justify themselves in terms of Realpolitik.
      2. Remind Spartans of the consequences of having power.
    3. Cf. the final Spartan speech (1.86; Lattimore p. 42).
  4. Pericles' funeral oration.
    1. Pericles was both orator and general, brilliant and detached.
    2. Similar in conception to Lincoln's Gettyburg Address: dead are beyond praise.
      1. Praises city of which the men were worthy.
      2. Emphasizes freedom.
    3. Draws from thinking of sophists: use of antithesis. City has every good thing without loss of opposite.
    4. Women are to be silent (cf. Oresteia). Were they protesting war?
  5. Followed by a devastating plague at Athens.
    1. Caused people to lose morality, fear of gods.
    2. Difference between the honorable and the useful (expedient) lost.