Athens: the school of Greece

FUNERAL ORATION 2.34-46

THE PLAGUE 2.47-55

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

CHARACTER OF THE CITIZENS

  • USE OF WEALTH AND LEISURE
  • SOCIAL RELATIONS

CHARACTER OF THE CITIZENS

  • USE OF WEALTH AND LEISURE
  • SOCIAL RELATIONS

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS

SEE BELOW

 

IRONY

See Study Guide: Thucydides wrote in a literary tradition, including tragedy, in which irony was the norm; most tragedies magnify the glory of their hero before revealing the forces that bring him or her down.

SOPHISM

The Sophists taught that social rules and institutions--such as religion and law--were NOT independently existent and derived from nature (physis), but were rather the products of human invention (therefore, nomos).

  • What would the effects of Sophism have been on traditional religion?
  • Do you think Thucydides' affirms the value of nomos, and why do you think so?

Results of the Plague

  • mortality rate crippled the rowing force for the fleet
  • Pericles died of the plague, leaving Athens bereft of both his personal presence and his policy
  • called into question Athenian confidence in their relationship with the gods, which had been the underpinning of the league since the victories at Marathon and Salamis

Thucydides' presentation of Perikles

  • What can you learn about Thucydides' estimation of this Athenian leader from the speeches he includes and the way he frames them?

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