In this book, Edith Foster compares Thucydides’ narrative explanations and descriptions of the Peloponnesian War in books one and two of the History with the arguments about warfare and war materials offered by the Athenian statesman Pericles in those same books. In Thucydides’ narrative presentations, she argues, the aggressive deployment of armed force is frequently unproductive or counter-productive, and even the threat to use armed force against others causes consequences that can be impossible for the aggressor to predict or contain. By contrast, Pericles’ speeches demonstrate that he shared with many others figures in the History a mistaken confidence in the power, glory, and reliability of warfare and the instruments of force. Foster argues that Pericles does not speak for Thucydides, and that Thucydides should not be associated with Pericles’ intransigent imperialism. On the contrary, Thucydides composed Pericles’ speeches to expose his character and views to the reader, and he both introduced and surrounded them with narrative illustrations that contrast Pericles’ claims.
ISBN-13: 9780521192668
Media Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: 05-31-2010
Pages: 256
Product Dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Edith Foster is Assistant Professor of History at Ashland University in Ohio. She has contributed articles to the American Journal of Philology, Humanitas, and Academe and has published book reviews in Classical Philology, Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews, and Gnomen.
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. War materials and their glory in archaeology; 2. Arms and passion: Corinth and Corcyra at war; 3. The Athenian acme in book one of Thucydides: the Spartan War; 4. Pericles in history; 5. Pericles and Athens: Pericles' speech in indirect discourse in narrative context; 6. Thucydides and Pericles' final speeches; Conclusion.
