Thucydides
Författare till Kriget mellan Sparta och Athen
Om författaren
Born into a family of Athens's old nobility claiming descent from the Homeric hero Ajax of Salamis, Thucydides pursued a political career under Pericles and served as a general in the Great Peloponnesian War of 431--404 b.c. His subsequent exile for failure to prevent a Spartan takeover of an visa mer Athenian colony in Thrace enabled him to observe the war from both sides. In his history of the war, he examines the policies and motives of the people involved with a calculated rationality that nevertheless conveys great passion. Although his narrative style is lucid and astringent, the language of the speeches that he gives his protagonists is some of the most difficult, yet rhetorically powerful, Greek from any period of antiquity. The work is deeply serious in tone. As Thucydides tells his readers at the beginning of the work, it contains nothing of entertainment value. He meant it, as he says, to be not simply a set-piece written for the delectation of an audience, but a "possession for ever." As Herodotus was the inventor of universal history, Thucydides was the inventor of the analytical historical monograph. He wrote in conscious contrast to Herodotus, whose work is full of entertaining fable and romance. While Herodotus wrote about the past by using all manner of traditions gleaned in his travels, Thucydides considered only contemporary history to be reliable and writes as an interrogator and witness of contemporary men and events. The gods, too, are absent from Thucydides's work, which scrutinizes human motivations as the exclusive business of history. The most powerful intellectual influences visible are the fully rational method of description and prognosis developed by the Hippocratic physicians and the tools of logical analysis and verbal argument then being forged by the Sophists. Behind these, however, lay a sense of tragedy. The history of Thucydides possesses the rhythm of a Sophoclean drama of reversal of fortune in which Athens falls from the pinnacle of imperial success and brilliance into political corruption, ruthless and amoral imperial aggression, and finally utter defeat and disaster. Athens's imperial hubris leads to its nemesis at the hands of Sparta, a conservative and landlocked state that had been powerless at the beginning of the war to inflict significant harm on the Athenians. Thucydides's work is unfinished. It ends abruptly in midsentence during a discussion of the events of the year 411 b.c. It was continued to the end of the war by Xenophon. Although very much the intellectual inferior of Thucydides, Xenophon managed by imitation to infuse this part of his Hellenica (his continuation to 362 b.c. of the history of Thucydides) with an elevation absent in the rest of his work. Until relatively recently, scholars took Thucydides at his word as an objective writer. More recently it has been recognized that his work skillfully promotes a patriotic and political argument, written in the climate of postwar recriminations. He presents Athens's empire as a natural consequence of the position of that city-state in the Greek world and the Athenian leader Pericles as Athens's greatest statesman, a leader who had governed Athens and preserved the empire with a firm and intelligent hand. Thucydides wanted to persuade his readers that Pericles was not the villain who destroyed Athens, that the blame fell to the politicians who came after him and pandered to the most extreme ambitious of the common citizens, the politicians who were the ultimate arbiters of policy in Athens's democracy. Some modern historians remain persuaded by Thucydides's portrait of Pericles and the Athenian democracy, but others argue from Thucydides's own testimony that Pericles led Athens into an unnecessary war in the belief that the opportunity had arrived to advance Athenian domination over the whole of the Greek world. (Bowker Author Biography) visa färre
Foto taget av: Bust of Thucydides, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
Serier
Verk av Thucydides
On Justice, Power and Human Nature: Selections from The History of the Peloponnesian War: Essence of Thucydides'… (1993) 393 exemplar
Thucydides: The War of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) (2013) 55 exemplar
The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 1 20 exemplar
A Greek Prose Reading Course for Post-beginners 4: Historiography: Thucydides: Events at Pylos and Sphacteria (1998) 17 exemplar
Athenian Disaster in Sicily 9 exemplar
The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 5 7 exemplar
Pericles's Funeral Oration [Greek] 6 exemplar
Thucydides' Theory of International Relations: A Lasting Possession (Political Traditions in Foreign Policy) (2000) 5 exemplar
Thucydides, Book 5 5 exemplar
The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 4 4 exemplar
The Essential Thucydides: On Justice, Power, and Human Nature: Selections from The History of the Peloponnesian War (2021) 4 exemplar
Ιστορίαι: Πελοποννησιακός πόλεμος 3 exemplar
Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War Books VI and VII: A Companion to the Penguin Translation (Classical… (1998) 3 exemplar
The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 6 2 exemplar
Thucydides II (LCL 109) 2 exemplar
Thucydides, book 3 2 exemplar
La grande dune 2 exemplar
Thucydides - Vol. I 2 exemplar
History: Book I, chapt. 1,2,3,5; book II, chapt. 6,7; book V, chapt. 17; book VI, chapt. 18; book VII, chapt. 23 (1947) 2 exemplar
La guerra del Pelopponeso (vol. I) 2 exemplar
Le storie. Volume primo 2 exemplar
Thucydides III @Book III 2 exemplar
The Siege of Plataea, from Thucydides Books ii. and iii. (Rivingtons Middle Form Classics) 2 exemplar
Le storie. Testo greco a fronte. Volume 1 1 exemplar
La guerra del Peloponneso vol I 1 exemplar
Le storie. vol. 2 1 exemplar
Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian war 1 exemplar
History of the Peloponnesian War (Volume 1); Translated From the Greek of Thucydides (2009) 1 exemplar
Die Heerfahrt der Athener nach Sizilien 1 exemplar
Sull'arte equestre 1 exemplar
Politische Reden 1 exemplar
Anabasi (libri quarto e settimo) 1 exemplar
La guerra del Peloponeso II 1 exemplar
Història de la guerra del Peloponès, vol. 5 1 exemplar
Història de la guerra del Peloponès, vol. 4 1 exemplar
Història de la guerra del Peloponès, vol. 3 1 exemplar
Història de la guerra del Peloponès, vol. 2 1 exemplar
Història de la guerra del Peloponès, vol. 1 1 exemplar
Thucydidis Historiae 1 exemplar
Història de la guerra del Peloponès, V 1 exemplar
Història de la guerra del peloponès, III 1 exemplar
The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 2 1 exemplar
Economico 1 exemplar
La Guerre du Péloponnèse (French Edition) 1 exemplar
Thucydides, Volume IV: History of the Peloponnesian War, Books VII and VIII: English Text 1 exemplar
Thucydides book 7 1 exemplar
Peloponneserkrigen B. 2 1 exemplar
Thucydides ; the complete Hobbes translation, with notes and a new introduction by David Grene. 1 exemplar
Thucydides, book III. Ed. by E.C. Marchant . 1 exemplar
Thucydides, book VII. Ed. by E.C. Marchant . 1 exemplar
Thucydides, Book VI. Edited by K.J. Dover. 1 exemplar
Thoukydidou Xyngraphes D. The fourth book of Thucydides. Edited with notes by C.E. Graves 1 exemplar
Thucydides Bk II 1 exemplar
Thucydides Bk III 1 exemplar
Thucydides Bk IV 1 exemplar
Thucydides Bk VI 1 exemplar
Thucydides Bk VII 1 exemplar
Thucydides, book I-VII 1 exemplar
Thucydidis Historiae. 2, Libri 5 - 8 1 exemplar
Thukydides erklärt von J. Classen, J. Steup 1 exemplar
Thucydides: The Complete Writings of 1 exemplar
Thucydides I & VII (2 vois.) 1 exemplar
Thucydides, books II and III 1 exemplar
Thukydides V 1 exemplar
Thukydides IV 1 exemplar
Thukydides III 1 exemplar
Thukydides II 1 exemplar
Speeches from Thucydides 1 exemplar
Thoukydidēs 1 exemplar
La guerra del Peloponneso volume secondo 1 exemplar
Thucydides. Histories, book II 1 exemplar
Thucydides : with an English translation 1 exemplar
Thucydides II @Book II 1 exemplar
Thucydides, Vol II. 1 exemplar
THUCYDIDES. 1 exemplar
Thucydides Book II 1 exemplar
Thucydides in Four Volumes 1 exemplar
Thucydidis Historiae; recensuit Carolus Hude 1 exemplar
Historiarum capita selecta 1 exemplar
The historians of Greece 1 exemplar
Thucydides- Volume 1, books 1-3 1 exemplar
Thukydides - erklärt von J. Classen 1 exemplar
Codex Palatinus Heidelbergensis Graecus 252 1 exemplar
Präparation zu Thucydides 1 exemplar
Thucydidis Historiae; recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit Henricus Stuart Jones 1 exemplar
Hist of the Peloponesian Wars (Ch 1, 2, 8 1 exemplar
Thucydides Book 2 1 exemplar
Associerade verk
Taggad
Allmänna fakta
- Vedertaget namn
- Tucídides
- Namn enligt folkbokföringen
- Θουκυδίδης Ολόρου Αθηναίος (Ancient Greek)
- Födelsedag
- 0460 BCE (circa)
- Avled
- 0395 BCE (circa)
- Kön
- male
- Nationalitet
- Athens
- Land (för karta)
- Greece
- Födelseort
- Athens, Greece
- Dödsort
- Athens, Greece
- Bostadsorter
- Athens, Greece
Thrace - Yrken
- general
historian
Medlemmar
Diskussioner
OT for GMacAree i Fine Press Forum (november 2023)
New LE: Thucydides The Peloponnesian War i Folio Society Devotees (juli 2023)
Thucydides i Ancient History (december 2021)
Group read - Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War i The 11 in 11 Category Challenge (december 2010)
Translating Thucydides i Ancient History (november 2010)
Herodotus vs. Thucydides i Ancient History (mars 2007)
Recensioner
Listor
Favourite Books (1)
THE WAR ROOM (1)
A Reading List (1)
Unread books (1)
Antigua Grecia (1)
Priser
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Associerade författare
Statistik
- Verk
- 206
- Även av
- 11
- Medlemmar
- 12,678
- Popularitet
- #1,845
- Betyg
- 4.0
- Recensioner
- 109
- ISBN
- 386
- Språk
- 21
- Favoritmärkt
- 36
This was not an easy read. A lot of towns, names and all in all it was often a blur. I did enjoy some points made in debates and the discussions on oligarchy, democracy, and constitution. I think this might be a reference book but not something I would want to read cover to cover again.