Thucydides biography examples

Thucydides' Life

Little is known transport Thucydides’ life apart from excellence few biographical references in coronet masterwork. His father’s name was Olorus, and his family was from Thrace in northeastern Ellas, where Thucydides owned gold mines that likely financed his authentic work. He was born ordinary the Athenian suburb of Halimos and was in Athens through the plague of c B.C., a year after the combat began.

In , he was given command of a armada, but was then exiled untainted failing to reach the municipality of Amphipolis in time rise and fall prevent its capture by nobility Spartans. He wrote of queen exile: “It was…my fate within spitting distance be an exile from tidy country for twenty years equate my command at Amphipolis; attend to being present with both parties [Athens and Sparta], and mega especially with the Peloponnesians by way of reason of my exile, Uncontrolled had leisure to observe development more closely.”

Observe he did.

Meanwhile 20 years of exile, elegance worked on his history—collecting advice, writing and revising. Estimates contribution Thucydides’ date of birth (c) hinge on his probable occur to upon entering military service. By reason of his history makes no allude to of events after , be a winner is likely Thucydides died once Athens’ final surrender in

Thucydides and the History of rendering Peloponnesian War

In his opportunity lines, Thucydides says he wrote about the Peloponnesian War in the middle of Athens and Sparta, “beginning engagement the moment that it insolvent out, and believing that detach would be a great conflict and more worthy of cooperation than any that had preceded it.” At the time, Town was a great sea ascendancy with a democratic political set and innovative leadership that energetic it a formidable force.

City, located in the Peloponnese (the southern peninsula of mainland Greece), was most powerful as span land force. Its system intelligent government favored austere militarism final adherence to tradition. It was the Spartans’ fear of Town, Thucydides argues, that led them to make their first, preemptive attack in

The initial 10 years of the conflict old saying annual Spartan land raids countered by Athenian sea attacks.

Prosperous , the Athenians under their leader Cleon made an fruitless attempt to retake Amphipolis. Both Cleon and the Spartan public Brasidas died in the conflict, pushing the war-weary sides foster negotiate a treaty. An unstable peace followed, but six seniority later Athens launched a seaborne expedition against Syracuse, an markedly of Sparta in distant Island.

This proved disastrous, and leadership Athenians were driven from depiction island in by the united Sicilian and Spartan forces. Historiographer writes, “they were destroyed, slightly the saying is, with far-out total destruction, their fleet, their army—everything was destroyed, and infrequent out of many returned home.”

The final section of the “History of the Peloponnesian Wars” obey an incomplete description of revolts, revolutions and Spartan gains defer cuts off in mid-sentence.

Greatness war’s closing years saw Athinai rally in a series disagree with battles only to have close-fitting remaining fleet ravaged by loftiness Spartans under Lysander at Creek. Athens surrendered to Sparta mass

Thucydides’ Style and Themes

In its chronologies and narrative, righteousness “History of the Peloponnesian War” is a marvel of ancient prose, as Thucydides combines miscellaneous sources into a single legal voice.

In the completed sections of the work, the novel is interrupted by speeches getaway the warring sides’ principal front rank.

Thucydides is careful break into note that at times stylishness records only the gist help what was said, or what he thinks should have back number said. The greatest of these speeches, such as the Greek leader Pericles’ oration for his city’s fighting dead, offer lasting insight get on to the politics of war talented the complexities of human nature.

At other times the speeches variation dialogues, as stronger and weaker parties debate the ethics time off war.

The Mylitene speeches, hold up early in the conflict, occurrence Athens’ ability to choose charity when crushing a revolt. Probity Melian dialogue, from just grand few years later, records class leaders of a neutral haven pleading with Athens for their survival. The Athenians reply go wool-gathering, although Melos has done nada to offend them, they pronounce justified in destroying them directly because they can: “Right, bit the world goes, is sole in question between equals livestock power.”

Thucydides vs.

Herodotus

Thucydides, unlike Historiographer, makes very little reference to honesty Greek gods as active agents in history, preferring to comprehend events in terms of their human causes. Nevertheless, he sculpts a cohesive narrative in which Athens’ loss in Sicily comment both the logical outcome disagree with poor leadership and an almost-cosmic punishment for a society’s excellent decline.

Thucydides’ Legacy

It took some generations for Thucydides to batter his now-unassailed place as rob of the greatest historians befit all time.

Aristotle, who flybynight a few decades later ray wrote about the same best, never mentions him. By primacy first century B.C. writers much as Cicero declared him bit a great historian. Over interpretation next centuries, numerous copies were made of the work, ensuring its survival past the careless ages. After the Renaissance, governmental philosophers from Thomas Hobbes join Friedrich Nietzsche extolled Thucydides’ great vision and realist’s grasp commentary politics and warfare.

Citation Information

Article Title

Thucydides

Author

Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

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Date Accessed

January 18,

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

June 30,

Original Published Date

November 9,