22.a. Analysis of Thucydides’ and his impact

The growth of the power of Athens, and

the alarm which this inspired in

Sparta, made war inevitable’

(1.23).

Answer the two questions below after reading the following two slides:

1. Why is it difficult to write ‘uninterpreted history’? And why would Thucydides himself have found this difficult?

Tip: Think about the essence of writing history and the personal background of Thucydides and his position within society.

2. What is the overarching theme of the work?

Thucydides’ aims:

Thucydides claims to offer us a history that he hopes will be ‘useful’ to those ‘who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the understanding of the future . . .’. ‘I have written my work’, Thucydides says, ‘not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time’ (1.23). Thucydides does not offer us a philosophical argument as such. He does not offer us anything that we could immediately recognise as a ‘theory’. Because he is so sparing in his commentary, we might not even suspect that he offers us an interpretation of the past were it not for the fact that many scholars believe it is impossible to write uninterpreted History.

Does Thucydides have a theme or is this just a series of reported events?

Underlying Thucydides’ view that he had discovered the basic mechanism of a great or hegemonic war was his conception of human nature. He believed that human nature was unchanging and therefore the events recounted in his history would be repeated in the future. Since human beings are driven by three fundamental passions – interest, pride, and, above all else, fear – they always seek to increase their wealth and power until other humans, driven by like passions, try to stop them

"Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."

In his first book Thucydides has unidentified Athenian envoys at Sparta in 432 B.C. deliver a speech justifying Athens' possession of an empire and warning Sparta against lightly starting a war. The envoys explain that Athens is forced to maintain her empire by three great motives -- fear, honour, and profit (1.75.3). The Athenians had done nothing remarkable or contrary to human nature in accepting an empire when it was offered to them, for it is always the rule that the weaker are kept down by the stronger (1.76.2).

- This is what some scholars have suggested is a ‘might makes right’ theory in Thucydides work – in that the most powerful state can decide the outcome or fate of those that are weaker.

- The counter argument is that Athens is compelled to do this out of three basic needs which govern every states actions – the pursuit by each state of its own safety, honour, and profit.

- n.b. the title quote is from the fifth book.

3. Explain the theory – might is right – known generally as political realism, and its counter argument.

Contradictions to Thucydides’ Theory:

The Spartans voted that the treaty had been broken, and that war must be declared, not so much because they were persuaded by the arguments of the allies, as because they feared the growth of the power of the Athenians, seeing most of Hellas already subject to them’ (1.88).

David Geld comments:

“King Archidamus counsels patience, arguing in effect that since war with Athens would be a bad gamble under present circumstances, Sparta should play for time, negotiate a settlement if possible, and gird for battle if not (1.80–85). Presumably Archidamus disagrees with Thucydides, because if Athenian power were growing disproportionately quickly, Sparta could not hope to be in any better position to check it than at the moment. And if Sparta could so hope, Athenian power could not possibly have been growing disproportionately quickly.”

4. How does this source suggest that Thucydides’ theories, echoed so loudly throughout the text from 1.23 onwards are incorrect, or at best, generalised?

22b. How true is the title, ‘Father of Scientific History’?

What term does each picture collection represent?

1.

2.

3.

Father of Scientific History?

5. If Thucydides’ theories are potentially generalised, how can you suggest that this is evidence of personal interpretation and a counter to the arguments for Thucydides’ realism?

Tip: If he is able to generalise in order to establish his theory, does that mean we have to see him as having a completely scientific/analytical approach…..perhaps not…….

The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable’ (1.23).

6. Compare this quote from Thucydides with the following argument about the Spartan discussion over war in book 1:

As suggested in 1.86 Sthenelaidas argues for action by invoking the injury Athens is doing to Sparta’s allies, Sparta’s duty to assist them, the unseemliness of deliberating in the face of injustice, the honour of Sparta, and the gods’ sure favour.

D. Welch

7. Read the extract from Diodorus a 1st century BC Greek Historian who uses a different source than Thucydides.

When the Athenians voted to exclude the Megarians from both their market and harbors, the Megarians turned to the Spartans for aid. And the Spartans [...] dispatched ambassadors [...], ordering the Athenians to rescind the action against the Megarians and threatening, if they did not accede, to wage war upon them together with the forces of their allies. When the [Athenian] Assembly convened to consider the matter, Pericles, who far excelled all his fellow citizens in skill of oratory, persuaded the Athenians not to rescind the action, saying that for them to accede to the demands of the Spartans, contrary to their own interests, would be the first step toward slavery. Library of World History, 12.39.4-5.

Explain why Thucydides argues that this incident is a pretext for war, rather than a cause, why would he wish to say this?

Tip: Thucydides is more interested in the idea that it was human nature rather than historical significance that caused the war i.e. Sparta was afraid of Athenian imperialism.

8. Sparta and Athens had been at war before and had concluded a peace treaty in which they had decided that future conflicts were to be solved by arbitration. Now, the Spartans ordered the Athenians to do something, which in fact meant that they ignored the agreed-upon procedure and refused the Athenians a right to conduct their own foreign policy.

i) What Peace treaty is being talked about here and what would the benefits of arbitration be?

ii) Why would Spartan demands for Athens to withdraw the decree be so shocking for the Athenians?

9. ‘It looked as if the two alliances had gone to war for a trifle. As has been shown, this was certainly not the case. On the other hand, it is strange that the Spartans were willing to betray their strategically important allies in Corinth and made a non-negotiable demand concerning an issue that was unimportant to Sparta. Megara's trade was, after all, not of great strategic significance. It seems that Spartan moderates like Archidamus believed that if they did a major concession to Athens and asked a small concession in return, war could be averted. The Athenian refusal to make this small concession must have shocked the Spartans profoundly and the "hawks" wrote the final ultimatum: the Athenians were to dismantle their empire.

The story of the Megarian Decree is essentially one of failing diplomacy. Pericles believed he could isolate Corinth, but in fact strengthened those members of the Spartan alliance who wanted war; Archidamus believed that he could ask for the revoking of the Decree after he had sacrificed Corinth, but in fact gave Pericles an opportunity to present the Spartan demands as unjustified. The story of the Megarian Decree is a tragedy of errors.’

i) Explain why the Spartans wrote their final ultimatumii) Explain why diplomatic failure can be seen as a cause of the war according to the evidence of Diodorus.

Summary:

• Summarise in brief the points of conflict we have seen when analysing Thucydides…

1. Political realism and its counter argument2. Power of Athens or Spartan concerns over its

own image3. Megarian decree

http://ic.ucsc.edu/~rlipsch/Pol272/Welch.Thucydides.pdf

http://www.livius.org/pb-pem/peloponnesian_war/war_t05.html - thucydides on the plague in Athens, where he turns the histories into a rant about moral corruption – does not remain objective.