Thucydides 'History Of The Peloponnesian War'
In History of the Peloponnesian War, written by Thucydides, Thucydides tell the story of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians from the start of the war across eight books. The excerpt from page 99 chapter 53 best summarizes the plague that indiscriminately attacks all the inhabitants of the city of Athens. Thucydides illustrates to the reader how the polis loses any form of nomos, law and customs. A plague has struck Greece causing a massive amount of disorder due to people accepting they would succumb to the plague. The plague and its victims can be further analyzed as natural phenomenon vs human phenomenon (physis vs nomos). In addition, by breaking their customs Thucydides also indicates how pious the people really were.
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It is known that most if not all Greeks are pious and have a deep form of respect for the Gods of Olympus. However, once the plague struck fear in the hearts of the Greeks, “No fear of god… was any constraint.” (2-53). All they could see was that death could possibly imminent and to indulge themselves in any pleasure before their time is cut short by the plague. One example of their lack in fate due to the plague would be in their funeral methods. The dead littered the streets of Athens and the living could and would not dispose of their corpses properly. Some did not have the man power to conduct a proper funeral making being pious difficult while others cut corners holding multiple funerals with one pyre. Some would even conduct funerals as if they were drive-bys in the sense that they would quickly dispose of their corpse by using a pyre that someone else had prepared for another victim to the plague. It almost appeared as though the Athenians were trying to save time so they can indulge themselves before their time expired (2.47-54). This challenges the theme logos vs ergon by illustrating that to some being pious or impious made no difference in their view. Many appear to claim that they were pious to fit in with the norms of society. Their true loyalty, however, lies strictly within themselves. They claim to be pious but their actions categorized them as
It is known that most if not all Greeks are pious and have a deep form of respect for the Gods of Olympus. However, once the plague struck fear in the hearts of the Greeks, “No fear of god… was any constraint.” (2-53). All they could see was that death could possibly imminent and to indulge themselves in any pleasure before their time is cut short by the plague. One example of their lack in fate due to the plague would be in their funeral methods. The dead littered the streets of Athens and the living could and would not dispose of their corpses properly. Some did not have the man power to conduct a proper funeral making being pious difficult while others cut corners holding multiple funerals with one pyre. Some would even conduct funerals as if they were drive-bys in the sense that they would quickly dispose of their corpse by using a pyre that someone else had prepared for another victim to the plague. It almost appeared as though the Athenians were trying to save time so they can indulge themselves before their time expired (2.47-54). This challenges the theme logos vs ergon by illustrating that to some being pious or impious made no difference in their view. Many appear to claim that they were pious to fit in with the norms of society. Their true loyalty, however, lies strictly within themselves. They claim to be pious but their actions categorized them as