Guest
It was Thucydides’s wish that later readers of his history would draw lessons from his narrative and analysis of the Peloponnesian War, because the Athenian historian judged that human character is a constant. His brilliant analysis and inspired speeches invite readers of each generation to draw comparisons and lessons on the responsibility of an electorate in war, and on the leadership of its elected magistrates. Too often, this conflict is reduced to an ideological clash between a progressive, democratic Athens, conceived as the author of modern Western democratic governments, and traditional Sparta, wedded to inflexible traditions. Hence, the Peloponnesian War has been interpreted as the model for clashes between forces of good and evil, at least since the French Revolution. This is the wrong lesson, for Athens and Sparta were far more alike than unlike. Each was a polis sharing in notions of citizenship and civic obligations and participating in a common Hellenic religious and cultural life. Thucydides sought to show that war was a harsh teacher, often reducing the participants to their basic instincts for survival. Further, the rules of law and social conventions can be put to the severest test by war. Thucydides has a dark view of how participants react in war, but in his account of the Funeral Oration of Pericles he also highlights the heroic sacrifices of which people are capable. With his history, Thucydides ensured that the Peloponnesian War would be remembered as “a war like no other,” and at the same time as an archetypal experience of pride, self-determination, pragmatism, horror, and heroism.
