Preview

The Historical Value of Speeches in Thucydides

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1207 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Historical Value of Speeches in Thucydides
The historical value of speeches in Thucydides

In writing his history as a whole, it is fair to say that Thucydides has always been praised for his relative historical accuracy, be that due to his actual presence at events, his use of eyewitness testimony or his noted checking of facts. In style Thucydides kept his narrative sections rather impersonal thereby allowing the story to unfold itself. However, to then lay bare what stood behind the narrative, the moral possibilities, the mistakes, the fears and the motives, the device he used was the speech, a mechanism he employed with supreme mastery.

Perhaps the best way to begin to answer the question in hand, we should examine the definition Thucydides himself gives us in his statement of methodology for his speeches that appears in 1.22.1. of his History of the Peloponnesian War.

‘In this history I have made use of set speeches some of which were delivered just before and others during the war. I have found it difficult to remember the precise words used in the speeches which I listened to myself and my various informants have experienced the same difficulty; so my method has been while keeping as closely as possible to the general sense of the words that were actually used, to make the speakers say what, in my opinion, was called for by each situation’’

It is not unreasonable to construe that at face value this statement is not at all a ringing endorsement for historical accuracy. This idea is taken up by Plant who correctly states that there is a lack of correlation between the first and second parts of the statement. He continues that it has long been debated whether the historian claimed and/or attempted to present verbatim accounts of the arguments put forward by the speakers on each occasion as best he could, or whether he felt free to modify or to invent particular arguments or even whole speeches. And the controversy has been

fuelled by what has been widely regarded as the



Bibliography: Connor W. Robert, Thucydides (1984) pages 146-158, http://www.humanitiesebook.org Garrity Thomas F., Thucydides 1.22.1:Content and Form in the Speeches’ The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 119, No. 3 (Autumn 1998), pp.361-384. JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/156676 Plant Ian M. ‘The Influence of Forensic Otatory on Thucydides’ Principles of Method’ Theh Classic Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 49, No. 1 (1999), pp. 62-73. JSTOR: http://jstor.org/stable/639489 Thucydides, History of The Peloponnesian War (1954), Trans. Rex Warner, Penguin Classics (London)

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    In Chapter 1, the author assesses the unique and eternal achievements of 5th century BCE Athenian culture. She introduces several basic dichotomies that define her understanding of the writers and events of the period in the later chapters.…

    • 4035 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Out of this Furnace was written by Thomas Bell in 1941 and follows the Kracha family across 3 generations. The story begins with the first generation of the Kracha family being explored. The main narrative of the first third of the book follows George Kracha as he begins his journey from Hungary to America to chase the American dream and escape the regime of Franz Josef. He makes his way to New York but when he arrives he only has fifty cents to his name due to him spending all of his money on a married women during his voyage to America. This resulted in him having to walk all the way to White Haven, Pennsylvania to be with his family that have already moved to America.…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the greatest known phenomenons ever produced by greek literature, was the incorporation of the two particles men and de. These were created with the intention to indirectly designate opposites in writing, allowing the two contrasting ideas to achieve an equilibrium, uncovering the truth somewhere in the middle. At the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles delivers an oration speech in which he explains what he believes the nature of Athens to be. In the following years, Thucydides gives a report of the Plague of 430, regarding the state of Athens. With a significant comprehension of both accounts, we can generate a accurate depiction of the condition of Athens. In order to produce this understanding, I will first delve into the rhetoric of Pericles speech, then turn my attention to Thucydides account of of the plague that ravished Attica.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was enacted in 2002 as a response to the accounting scandals in the early 2000s. Numbers of major corporate and accounting scandals, such as Enron, Tyco International, WorldCom, and others, shook public confidence and cost investors billions of dollars when companies collapsed. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is a federal law that set new standards for the United States public company boards, management, and public accounting firms ("Sarbanes–oxley Act", 2013). The two key provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are section 302 and section 404. According to Section 302, top management within a firm must certify individually the accuracy of financial information ("Sarbanes-Oxley Act Section 302", 2003). According to the Section 404, it requires that management and auditors establish internal controls and reporting methods on the adequacy of those controls. Financial issues are required to be published in a company’s annual reports. In addition, penalties for fraudulent financial activity are much more severe. A CEO or CFO who…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through the works of the Athenian historian, Thucydides, a myriad of information is shared pertaining to not only to his own life, but to the society and culture of Ancient Greece as well. He was born around 460-455 BC and through his life he wrote one of the most in depth recordings of the Peloponnesian War entitled, History of the Peloponnesian War. Not only did Thucydides live within the wartime period, he also fought in this war as well as a military general. The efforts that Thucydides contributed during his life, make his works, even now so important in order to understand the lifestyle and civilization of the Ancient Greeks.…

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thucydides work focused on the war and on foreign relations with society and the helot class not being central to his work. Any evidence produced by Thucydides must be read in light of the fact that he greatly admired the Spartan system of controlling and suppressing the…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Timothy Findley’s book The Wars is one that has many reviews based upon the methods he uses to convey world war one from various different viewpoints. For instance, Margaret Atwood reviews and writes about Findley’s novel in a chapter of her book “Second Words”. In this chapter she presents three reasons why The Wars is a big narrative occasion. Atwood approaches the novel with three arguments first, the importance of the publication. The second point she makes is how the novel is being critic in literary newspapers and third, the significance of the text itself. This paper will focus on an assessment of Margaret Atwood’s excerpt, specifically on her arguments and methods to prove the points she is making.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Deception, or the act of deceiving or defrauding, is a prominent theme in the Odyssey. Though inherently dishonest, deception can be used to gain information and knowledge. Different characters (and people) use it different ways. This essay will establish that, whereas Odysseus uses deception to help him progress from Nobody back to Odysseus, king of Ithaca, Athena does so to keep her identity secret when she disguises herself.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This incident has been recorded in many historical documents such as the works, biographer Plutarch and, historian Thucydides. From analysis of these their accounts is can be deduced that Plutarch’s account is unreliable and presents a biased point of view.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It seems to be that the greatest philosophers of history all learned from one another. Aristotle taught Socrates, who taught Plato. We are lucky enough to have access to the minds of these wonderful theorists through their own texts and others’ accounts of their ponderings. Though the times are different, the ideas presented by these philosophers are still very relevant and in some ways have helped to shape today’s society.…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading "The Speech of Callicles" I noticed that Philosophers were not what I originally thought they were. I have always pictured them being men who were ahead of there time. Who were searching for the answers to life. In the first paragraph these beliefs I once had about philosophy were changed. Callicles states that Philosophers would get into pointless arguments about the problems of everyday life rather than look for the truth. They would also attempt to make a man who doesn't study philosophy but studies practical affairs second guess himself. No matter what side of the argument the man would speak about the philosopher would take the other side. The distinction made in paragraph one is that nature and custom are antagonistic to each other. Nature being the order and behavior of all living things that make up the universe, and custom meaning the everyday habits that have fallen upon society. I feel that they are…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Thucydides’ On Justice, Power, and Human Nature, Alcibiades proves himself to be a persuasive orator. He capitalizes on his mastery of Athenian rhetoric by using his oration skills to sway the Athenian masses in favor of embarking on the Sicilian expedition. Additionally, he utilizes his skills to persuade the Spartans to accept and trust him even though he had just betrayed Athens. Alcibiades is able to manipulate both the Athenians and Spartans; two different cultures with opposing stances on the value of sophistry, into supporting him by using his grasp of Athenian rhetoric to transform his weak arguments into persuasive speeches. His ability to dupe both the Athenians and Spartans using appeals to logos suggests that the Spartans and…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Drews, Robert. “Review of Herodotus, Book II: Introduction by Alan Lloyd”, Classical Philology. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1978. Page 78…

    • 1895 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato V. Augustine

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Alcibiades is depicted as a prominent Athenian statesman, a successful orator, and a well accomplished military general. On top of such admirable prestige, he is also quite physically handsome. With this knowledge in mind, he seeks to seduce Socrates into a lover-beloved relationship in which he is willing to allow Socrates access to his body in return for the knowledge that Socrates possesses [Plato, Symposium, 217a]. To this, Socrates claims that Alcibiades seeks “gold for bronze” [219a] for the beautiful body is nothing when compared to the value of truth. Socrates is praised for his “invulnerability to the power of money [219e], his indifference towards base pleasures such as hinder [220a] and cold [220b], his bravery in the midst of combat [220d-221b], as well as his general patience and focus in the pursuit of knowledge [220c-d].…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Grene, David, and Richmond Lattimore. Euripides I. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1955…

    • 1553 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays