ipl-logo

Thucydides Funeral Oration In The Peloponnesian War

496 Words2 Pages

Patterson’s argument that our modern definition of freedom and its three chords: sovereignal, civic, and 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 is gain through sacrifice. Sacrifice of multitudes Athenians afforded sovereignty to the people of the city state, and this sacrifice is honor with recognition as valor. Without this altruism it is implied that those outside forces that Athens defended against would proceed to sack the city and installing their own rule. The valor lead to politically stable time as the government was able to maintain control over the people they claim to be, Athenians. With the ability to govern …show more content…

In this instance, Thucydides supports the idea that his society is a democracy, “Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters;”(Thucydides, 2). Whether a common man or a noble elite the Athenians valued the input of all the citizens or “public men” in the making of their constitutions. In an uncompromising fashion democracy appears to be the civic of the free in the case of Peterson’s argument. Civics is the operations in which a democracy functions, with the Athenians it is evidently freedom. The freedoms do not end in the political spectrum they are also crucial in the peoples’ personal

Show More
Related
961 Words | 4 Pages

There is a common theme of unifying armies and peoples to overcome war and discourse amongst all the readings. The legacy of unifying a nation and/or peoples to come together and focus on a problem as one instead of fighting amongst each other was prominent especially all the readings were in reference to wars and battles that were occuring for each empire/leader at the time. The unifications in all of the readings was usually done through a democractic process where the majority vote amongst the divided individuals won the decision. In the reading, Thucydides and the Hellenes, Thucydides describes the country of Hellas (known more commonly as Greece) which was always in disarray and the people always fought amongst each other.

Read More
444 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More
1712 Words | 7 Pages

Thucydides’ placement of Perikles’ “Funeral Oration” followed by the account of the plague is in every sense a “dramatic juxtaposition”[1]. The deliberate binary opposition of logos and ergon, and nomos and physis between the speech and plague makes these two events the antithesis of his work. With both the eulogy and the narrative that follows, the reader should understand a point of truth in human nature, and teach them something that time with never change, the past gives way to the events of the future. In his writing, Thucydides uses words and phrases to contrast Perikles’ speech with the plague in such a jarring way.

Read More
820 Words | 4 Pages

Fours years older than the city of Blythe, Lena Mae Fleming turned 104 on Dec. 9. Born in 1912 in Texarkana, Arkansas, Fleming was later relocated to Oklahoma, as a baby and grew up with a host of siblings. Completing school up until the 8th grade, Fleming began working early to help her mother and saving the money she earned, with hopes of one day leaving the Southwest “The first job I ever had was working as a secretary at a funeral parlor in Guthrie, Oklahoma,” Fleming said. Now residing at the Blythe Nursing Care Center, Fleming reflected back on her 104 years of life and some of the happy moments she’s encountered. Just five days after her 20th birthday, Fleming’s best friend asked her if she wanted to go to California.

Read More
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, he praises Athens on their beauty and intellect (Book 2 Funeral Oration of Pericles 40). He also denounces Sparta, the enemy, for their military policies.

Read More
1482 Words | 6 Pages

This speech was recorded by Thucydides, a Greek historian, and former general of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. He includes Pericles’ Funeral Oration in his incomplete works of the Peloponnesian War finding its value important enough to be remembered. In the crowd hearing the speech, are the sophists, who did not support Democracy at the time and voiced their disregards for it. Pericles takes the opportunity to address the public not only about their fallen soldiers but also about their great country of Athens.

Read More
974 Words | 4 Pages

The Constitution of Athens by the Old Oligarch and the funeral Oration given by Pericles in Thucydides’ The History of the Peloponnesian War offer two very different views of democracy in Athens. While the Old Oligarch lists the ways in which democracy fails the elite of Athens, Pericles’ speech highlights the very best aspects of Athens government. Fundamentally these two works are advocating for the different classes found in Athens, one the one hand the Old Oligarch supported the elite and on the other Pericles supported the average citizens of the city. As his moniker implies, the Old Oligarch favors oligarchy as opposed to democracy.

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

In the opening year of the Peloponnesian War, 431 B.C.E., Pericles delivered, and according to Plato may not have written, a speech praising Athenian democracy while also remembering all the Soldiers that had died in the service of Athens. He took the opportunity to reinforce the Athenian constitution and to let people know that the deaths of their Soldiers was justified to uphold the democracy. Pericles cites that when Athens goes to war it goes alone. He goes onto to say that when other countries go to war against Athens that they must bring their “confederates” (Funeral Oration of Pericles) with them if they are to stand a chance at victory.

Read More
465 Words | 2 Pages

His tone remains critical and detached, revealing the harsh realities of power politics. For instance, he states, “Since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, there is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” This quote demonstrates the Athenians as bluntly asserting their power and justifying their actions based on their strength, rather than on ethical

Read More
504 Words | 3 Pages

Athenians made certain that all citizens participated in building the city 's power and strength as

Read More
664 Words | 3 Pages

Pericles argues that Athens has become a model for others, and articulates what it is to be a good citizen. This can be seen when he says, “although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality; trusting less in system and policy than to the native spirit of our citizens; while in education, where our rivals from their very cradles by a painful discipline seek after manliness, at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger.” (Thucydides, 2.39) It proves that Ancient Athens’ valued greatness and worked in order to achieve the excellence of the state, by focusing on rebuilding themselves back up after the Persian war. Pericles played a big role in this because he showed his ambitions to rebuild Athens, which lead to the thriving of other subjects such as literature, philosophy, science, art, and religion.

Read More
1845 Words | 8 Pages

(Thucydides 1.86) As the war continues on, the Athenians begin to lose the identity they have built for themselves and begin to conform to the ideals of the Spartans. War destroys all that Athens is, and the lesson it teaches them is that at the heart of humanity, survival is the only thing that matters, everything else is

Read More
599 Words | 3 Pages

This made many previously Athenian citizens become non-citizens. Non-citizens were unable to hold office or take part in voting, so they had no say about the law and decisions made. A true democracy needs freedom of religion; therefore, you cannot be a democracy if you try to control the people’s thoughts. A law against impiety was passed to deter the people from believing in things such as other deities. Consequentially, a famous philosopher of Athens, Socrates, was tried and executed for questioning the Gods.

Read More
1134 Words | 5 Pages

While some, like Plato in his The Republic, thought it weak to give government into the hands of the common people, Pericles countered this argument with a compelling argument of greatness. By putting government into the hands of the people, the people are united and more devoted to their country. Democracy bonds the people together in a way that no other government can understand. Pericles confidently states, “Athenians advance unsupported into the territory of a neighbor, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish with ease men who are defending their homes.”

Read More
643 Words | 3 Pages

The Greeks displayed their humanistic values through government by they utilizing an effective system of self governing. This system was a direct democracy, defined as “government by the people” or “rule of the majority.” In the Athenian Democracy, the Assembly was the regular

Read More

More about Thucydides Funeral Oration In The Peloponnesian War

Related Topics

Open Document