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How Did The Peloponnesian War Be Unbiased

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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 in the way that it doesn’t favor one side being right and the other side being wrong. It does; however, tell the war from strictly the Athenian point of view. The result of this is that Peloponnesian War is usually regarded as relatively accurate and unbiased. It would seem that an Athenian would want to present a pro-Athenian history, but this isn’t really the case. Maybe being exiled helped Thucydides to be unbiased, or maybe he really cared about preserving an accurate historical record of the Peloponnesian War. …show more content…

Histories can be tricky sources to evaluate. They can be slanted to one side which can make it hard for historians to figure out what really happened. Having said that histories are still among the most reliable sources. I would say that this is even more so with Thucydides’ work. The audience aspect is multi-faceted. On one hand, Thucydides is an Athenian and was probably intending to write for an Athenian audience. On the other hand, Thucydides also had the goal of this history surviving through the ages. A goal that was achieved as it is the only surviving account of the events in the Peloponnesian War. I think that this caused him to make a more unbiased summary of events that happened. I think if he could have he may have tried to get some eyewitness reports from the Spartan side of

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Interestingly, this war against Sparta, also known as the First Peloponnesian War, was due to the Athenians trying to unify all of Greece under a democracy. Pericles informs the people that they deomcratically voted to go war under his leadership and that if they keep fighting and directing rage to him and each other, that they would be their own undoing. He unifies the people to remember who their real enemy is and that they must all stay strong together and help each other stay

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The historian Thucydides described himself as a wealthy Athenian general whose exile to the Peloponnese allowed him to personally observe, from both the sides of the conflict, a comprehensive account of the Peloponnesian War. Book 1 in Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War” is dedicated to explaining over fifty years of the events and proceedings that led to the abandonment of the Thirty Year’s Peace and subsequent war. In Book 1 he identifies four main incidents, which I shall refer to as ‘grievances’, regarding the conduct of Athens towards both their Delian members and the Peloponnesian allies. Yet he also mentions what he deems to be a more ‘real’ truth than these four grievances that led to Sparta and the Peloponnese going to

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In fact, Pericles dominated Athens Politics from 461 BCE to 429 BCE (Brand, n. d.). Basically, the whole Greek world including Athens and Sparta fought as a kind of "Greek World-War". Additionally, in 431 BCE, Pericles led Athens for the first series of Peloponnesian war against Sparta. While starting the war, the Athens was quite great in navy, good annual revenue of silver from the silver mines located at Attica, and the tribute payment from her empire.

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Being alive to witness the events that occurred in and around fifth century B. C. E. Greece meant that Thucydides could not help but write down his experiences. The Athenians of Greece and the people of the Persian Empire were constantly at odds with each other, and these differences eventually led to the Peloponnesian war. This war lasted from 431-404 B.C.E. and began an era of conflict between the two peoples (Bulliet). This power struggle not only inflated the ego of the Athenians, but created many negative viewpoints of the Persians. Thucydides, being an Athenian, was therefore extremely biased against the Persians.

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Alcibiades (450-404 BC) was an Athenian politician and military commander. He was wealthy and born to the statesman Pericles. Alcibiades was one of the main reasons that Athens had lost the Peloponnesian War to Sparta. He was a general during the time of this war occurrence. He acted as a military commander, a politician and a strategic advisor in total.

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Around 460 BCE a man named Thucydides lived to experience and record the historical storyline the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides was an Athenian, unbiased, historian that is best known for the way he structurally reconciled information from the Peloponnesian War and is credible for the most reliable source that chronicled the war. The Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient epic poem regularly deemed as the first great work of literature, gives civilization a definition to the people of ancient Mesopotamia (Earth of Its Peoples, 26). Gilgamesh, the ultimate leader of Uruk, pursues immortality throughout his journey, exemplifying his power and educating himself on humankind along the way. If a fellow Athenian were to recite the Epic of Gilgamesh to Thucydides, he would likely

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Although Pericles’ words strived to inspire and encourage the Athenian people to fight valiantly against Sparta and its allies, they are not enough to embolden the Athenian people onto victory in the Peloponnesian War. His words do motivate Athenians to make tremendous effort in extending their power and defeating Sparta and its allies, but in the end, may have lead to Athenians’ demise. Fostering pride and determination throughout the war, Athens makes several attempts to expand its naval power, but fails in its plan to overtake Syracuse on the coast of Sicily, weakening its efforts against Sparta and its allied city-states. Finally, in the naval battle at Aegospotami, the Spartans have a decisive victory over Athens, and the Athenians eventually surrender, ending the Peloponnesian War.

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The three sources provided give a range of views surrounding the statement ‘The Spartans deserve at least as much credit as the Athenians for the Greek victory over the Persians in 480 - 479 BC. The first source comes from Herodotus’ Histories book 7 extract 220. This passage describes a scene from the battle of Thermopylae and works in favour for the spartans having more credit as it portrays their leadership and military experience. The second source gives given, is again from Herodotus’ Histories, this time from book 8 extract 60. It describes the battle of Salamis and emphasises the importance of Athens’ role in the war.

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Also, Thucydides is usually viewed as one of the first true historians, because he was able to write from a direct take as it happened without romance. Thucydides was exiled in 424 since he failed to carry out a task. During exile he got information from many eye witnesses. He puts a great value on eyewitness testimony, however Thucydides recognized that it could be unreliable because two people could have different accounts on the same situation. In The Landmark Thucydides (2008) Robert Strassler mentions that, Thucydides illustrates that the funeral ceremonies as, “the dead are laid in the public sepulcher in the most beautiful suburb of the city, in which those who fall in war are always buried,” (Strassler, 110).

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Lykurgos changed the politics the economy and all social aspects in Sparta. Many Philosophers, poets, and historian wrote about the Spartan strategies. Polybius was one of the main. In Polybius's day, he wrote many books about Sparta and their ways. Also how Sparta was one of the strongest and longest lasting communities.

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Much of the evidence of Thucydides’ positive feelings towards Themistocles arises from section 138 of book one. These positive feelings caused Thucydides to spend this entire section praising Themistocles. He started the sections by saying Themistocles had

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Now Leonidas commits his most noble act as a Spartan, he fight until not only his life was taken but every soldier on that battlefield facing the Persians. This is not only a heroic moment but also a very honorable, and memorable moment. This was such a great act of Leadership that it went down in history as one of the most amazing battle ever fought by any civilization ever. This was because the Spartan King was able to provided just enough time for his people and allies to make preparations for the oncoming attacks and how the Spartans were able to hold back an unbeatable opponent . This caused when the Persians attacked later on it was useless because of the time given to them by the incredible leadership of leonidas and

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Primary Source Analysis: The History of Herodotus; Book I: Clio The Histories, by Herodotus, is a detailed account of the aggression and later violence between the Greeks and Persians, and was the first ever written record of a historical event. It was due to its name and example that history has even been continuously recorded, and how Herodotus earned his nickname “The Father of History”. Because of it was separated into nine books, each named after one of the nine Muses, the focus of this analysis will be of Book I, Clio, which tells the beginning of the transgressions between the Greeks and the Persians.

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Many see love as a positive quality and for the most part it is. It gives us compassion for our fellow man, allows us to bond with each other, and care for our families. But it also has self-destructive properties too. In Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians feel a really strong patriotism to their city and empire.

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