Compare And Contrast Thucydides And Procopius

Plagues have often afflicted the world and caused tremendous death throughout societies. Two of the most famous plagues in world history occurred in the years 431 and 552 BCE. These plagues were recorded by historians so as to not forget the tragic toll they played throughout the world. The two historians were Thucydides and Procopius. Thucydides, a historian of Greek tradition, became a victim of a plague brought on by war and documented the plague in Athens and Sparta. Procopius meanwhile documented the plague in Justinian and focused on the Byzantine Emperor in Justinian. While these two historians somewhat agree in how they chronicle their respective plagues, there remains key fundamental differences in their assumptions regarding common human behavior and role divine forces play in humanity. In the two plagues, both historians began to chronicle their respective plague on the

Shih Tai-nan based more of his documentation on the emotional aspect of the plague, no immunity of running crime, and no mourning the dead as bodies and bones were left covering the streets. This differed from the approach that Thucydides and Procopius talked about as Thucydides had crime running wild, while Procopius documented the people of Justinian helping the local man. In conclusion Thucydides and Procopius agreed in the approach of the plague starting from an outside source, followed by an enormous amount of pain in the body, with little to none surviving. While both historians agree on certain key fundamentals in human behavior the role that divine forces can play in humanity differed in Procopius believed, while Thucydides did not. However, what both historians managed to accomplish was explaining the aspect of human behavior where some men will run to help out a neighbor, while others will scatter in the time of