CLCIV 101 FINAL

Chorēgos

- Financial backer attached to a playwright to support the production of his plays

- Pericles was the chorēgos for Aeschylus' Persians in 472 BC

Stratēgos

- Greek military general

- Pericles was elected stratēgos in 462-429 BC (continuously from 443-429 BC)

Pericles (495-429 BC)

- Chorēgos for Aeschylus' Persians in 472 BC

- 462-429 BC: elected stratēgos (continuously from 443 to 429 BC)

- Building program (Acropolis, Parthenon, Phidias)

- Athenian IMPERIALISM in 440s-430s

Bust of Pericles (UNFINISHED)

- Roman copy after a Greek original from 430 BC

- CLASSICAL period

- Significance:

Delian League to Athenian Empire

- 477 BC: Delian league against Persians under leadership of Athens

- Gradual conversion of tribute payments from ships to MONEY (phoros)

- Treasury at Delos: located in the Aegean Sea above center of Crete at the bottom and southwest of Attica

- 454 BC: treasury of the Delian League TRANSFERRED from Delos to ATHENS under the PRETEXT that Athens was "more secure" against Persians and pirates

Thucydides on Athens and Her Allies

- Reason for revolts were failures to produce right amount of tribute/right number of ships

- Athenians were unpopular due to high and inflexible demands

- "Athenian navy grew STRONG at allies' expense" --> "when they revolted they always found themselves the inadequately armed and inexperienced in war"

Athenian Tribute Lists

- c. 450 BC, CLASSICAL period, erected on Acropolis (Athens, Greece)

- Records of the 1/60th of the tributes dedicated to Athena

- Symbolic value: not really a religious list --> served as propaganda for Athenian wealth and power

Acropolis

- Built under Pericles as stratēgos during the Classical Period

- Located in Athens, Greece

- Erechtheum (421-407 BC, Classical Period)

- Acropolis, Propylae, & Temple of Athena Nike (437-420 BC, Classical Period)

- Temple of Athena Nike (c. 422 BC, Classical Period)

- Parthenon (477-432 BC, Classical Period)

- Symbol of Greek wealth and architectural advancement, in addition to being a cultural and religious center (reflected Greek polytheism and beliefs)

- Place to remember the PAST --> ATHENS REBORN

Erechtheum

- 421-407 BC, Classical Period, Athens, Greece (Acropolis)

- IONIC temple of Athena

- Significance: built to remember Athens' ORIGIN (legendary Kind Erectheus), shows architectural prowess (built on levels)

Parthenon

- 477-432 BC, Classical Period, Athens, Greece (Acropolis)

- Temple dedicated to Athena --> reflects Athenian religious beliefs and customs

- DORIC columns --> simples type of Greek column

- Built under the leadership of PERICLES by architects Ictinus and Callicrates

- Phideas wanted to create a message regarding Athens' RECAPTURED POWER and superiority (after DEFEATING PERSIA)

Architects of the Parthenon

Ictinus and Callicrates

Sculptor of Parthenon

Phidias (Elgin Marbles)

Acropolis, Propylae & Temple of Athena Nike

- 437-420 BC, Classical Period, Athens, Greece (Acropolis)

- Significance: reflects Athenian advancement, resources, wealth, and religious beliefs --> ENTRANCE, importance of AHENA and association with VICTORY as a whole

Temple of Athena Nike

- c. 422 BC, Classical Period, Athens, Greece (Acropolis)

- Shows Athenian religious beliefs

- Contains Ionic columns

Ionic

- Intermediately detailed Greek column

- Looks like a fancy scroll at the top

- Found in the Temple of Athena Nike (c. 422 BC, Classical Period, Athens, Greece --> Acropolis)

Doric

- Type of Greek column found in the PARTHENON

- Simplest Greek column

Corinthian

- Most complex style of Greek column

- Elaborate designs at the top, skinniest of 3 column types

Alma-Tadema, Phideas Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to Pericles, Aspasia, Alcibiades and Friends

- 1868

- Shows Phideas creating Frieze of Parthenon --> commissioned under Pericles and demonstrates Athenian religious/cultural beliefs

Parthenon and Athenian Propaganda

- West metopes: Amazonomachy (battle against the Amazons) --> most occurring motif

- Women fighting was EVIL and monstrous --> Greek heroes foought them (Achilles and Heracleus both fell in love)

- Athena Parthenos' shield: Amazonomachy (battle against the Amazons)

- South metopes: Centauromachy (fight against centaurs)

Theseus

- HERO of ATHENS (mythical) --> considered king who brought civilization to Athens by killing minotaur

- Defeated "barbaric" Amazons

West metopes of the Parthenon with Amazonomachy

- 446-440 BC, Classical Period, Athens, Greece (Acropolis)

- Shows battle against the Amazons

- Significance: Amazons were women that fought and had power --> Greek man's worst enemy and associated with Persians --> many heroes fight against the Amazons and Theseus' victory over the Amazons even became a symbol for Athenian victory over the persians

Shield of the Athena Statue by Phidias: Amazonomachy on Exterior

- c. 447 BC, Classical Period, Athens, Greece

- Significance: Amazonomachy --> symbolic of Athenian victory over Persians (compared to Theseus' victory over Amazons) and reflects Greek view of women (should NOT fight)

Amazonomachy

- Battle against the Amazons

- Many heroes fight against the Amazons: Achilles, Heracles, Theseus

- Theseus' victory over Amazons SYMBOLIC of Athenian victory over the PERSIANS

Frieze of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus: Amazonomachy

- c. 350-333 BC, LATE Classical Period

- Significance: Amazonomachy --> shows Greeks defeating Amazons which are often associated with Persians and also reflect how women should NOT behave in Greek society

Increasing Tensions (Peloponnesian War)

- 460-445 BC: First Peloponnesian War --> increasing rivalry between Athens and Sparta

- Increasing rivalry between Athens and Corinth

- 445 BC: Thirty Years' Peace between Athens & Sparta --> for status quo --> no reciprocal interference with allies

- 431-404 BC: Second (and FAMOUS) Peloponnesian War

First Peloponnesian War

- 460-445 BC

- Increasing rivalry between Athens and Sparta (more skirmishes than all out war)

- Increasing rivalry between Athens & Corinth

- 445 BC: 30 Years' Peace between Athens and Sparta --> maintain status quo and allow continued power over respective allies (ATHENS EAST and Sparta West)

Second Peloponnesian War

- 431-404 BC (FAMOUS)

- Athens vs. Sparta

Thucydides (460-400 BC)

- Elected stratēgos (general) in 424 BC

- Exiled for 20 years in 424 BC (lost)

- Knows the end of the Peloponnesian war but history breaks of in 411 BC --> died before completion?

- INTERPRETER of the Peloponnesian War

- Claimed to have seen what happened on BOTH sides because of exile from Greece (particularly on Peloponnesian side)

Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War: 5 parts

1. Introduction (Book 1)

2. The 10 Years' War (Archidamian War) in 431-421 BC (Books 2.1-5.24)

3. Precarious peace (Book 5.25-end)

4. Sicilian Expedition in 415-413 BC (Books 6 and 7)

5. Decelean War in 413-404 (Book 8) --> INCOMPLETE (reaches until 411 BC)

Where does Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War end, despite him being alive for the whole war?

- 411 BC

Thucydides' Introduction (Part 1, Book 1)

- Importance of "this" war (1.1)

- Archaeology from Trojan War to present (1.2-1.9)

- Thucydides' historical METHODOLOGY (1.20-23) --> claims to have used only the "plainest evidence" and to have reached "conclusions that are reasonably accurate"

- Claims to write REAL HISTORY based on EVIDENCE (unlike poets or prose chroniclers)

- Aim and theory: work was done to LAST FOREVER and NOT for the taste of the IMMEDIATE PUBLIC (hopes his history will be useful to future generations)

Mythōdes

- "Fantastic" or "mythical"

Ktēma es aiei

- Possesion for ALL TIME (goal of Thucydides' history)

Problems in Thucydides' Methodology

- Speaks about TROJAN WAR, MINOS, Agamemnon, Helen Pelops, Heracles --> all MYTH (uses to show how important Peloponnesian War was)

- Homer's figures are likely exaggerated because of his status as a poet --> inclusion in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War calls into question his claim of writing "real history" without mythical element

- CLAIMS to use SPEECHES delivered during the war to analyze political situation --> actually wrote his own version of each speech because he couldn't remember exact speeches --> subject to BIAS (his OWN WORDS rather than the those of the "speakers")

What was the real cause of the Peloponnesian War, according to Thucydides?

- Growth of Athenian power and the FEAR that this caused SPARTA (Athens was newer and smaller but growing fast)

- Immediate pretexts (aitiai) vs. underlying/real causes (prophasis)

Prophasis

- UNDERLYING CAUSE

- Peloponnesian War PROPHASIS (according to Thucydides): Spartan FEAR of growth of Athenian power

Aitiai

- IMMEDIATE PRETEXTS

- Peloponnesian War AITIAI (according to Thucydides): disputes over minor states (Epidamnus, Corcyra, Potidaea, Megara) escalate into confrontation between major states (Athens, Sparta, Corinth)

Phases of the Peloponnesian War

- Archidamian War (431-421 BC)

- Peace of Nicias (421-413 BC)

- Decelean War (413-404 BC)

Archidamian War (Phase 1, 431-421 BC)

- 431 BC: Spartan King Archidamus' INVASION of Attica

- 430/429 BC: Plague and DEATH of PERICLES

- 428-427 BC: REVOLT of MYTILENE and CIVIL WAR at CORCYRA

- 424 BC: Brasidas in Chalcidice (stratēgos Thucydides in exile)

- 422 BC: Battle of AMPHIPOLIS: Brasidas and Cleon DIE

Peace of Nicias (421-413 BC)

- 416 BC: DESTRUCTION of MELOS

- 415-413 BC: Athenian invasion of SICILY

Decelean War (413-404 BC)

- 411/410 BC: OLIGARCHIC REVOLUTION in Athens

- 404 BC: SPARTA DEFEATS Athens (with Persian help)

- Spartans occupy Decelea --> continuous raids in Attica

- Rebellions against Athens in the Aegean

- PERSIAN satrap Tissaphernes negotiates with SPARTA and then with ATHENS (establishing oligarchy) then AGAIN with SPARTA

- Sparta becomes SEA POWER

Pericles' Strategy (Peloponnesian War)

- LAND power (SPARTA) vs. SEA power (ATHENS)

- Retreat into the city and abandon Attica (can't defeat Spartans on land anyway)

- Avoid engaging Peloponnesians on land (fight only in sea --> fleets)

- Raid coast of Peloponnesus using ships

Pericles' Funeral Speech (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War)

- Ritual of public funeral for war dead --> Pericles chosen as speaker

- "Way of life that has made us great" (Thucydides, 2.36)

- Death of war heroes becomes an opportunity to define what it means to be an Athenian --> PROPAGANDA to boost ATHENIAN self-image and spirit

- Athens as opposite (ANTITHESIS) of Sparta

- "Taking everything together then, I declare our city is an education to Greece" (Thucydides, 2.41) --> Spoken by Pericles at Funeral Oration

Pericles on Athens vs. Sparta (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War)

- Athenian DEMOCRACY (dēmokratia) vs. Spartan Oligarchy

- Athenian EQUALITY (isonomia) vs. Spartan Inequality

- Athenian FREEDOM (eleutheria) vs. Spartan Lack of Freedom

- Athenian RESPECT for LAW (because laws are just --> followed willingly) vs. Spartan ENFORCED RESPECT for law

- Athenian FESTIVITY and RELAXATION vs. Spartan Constant Military Training

- Athenian OPENNES (secure in society) vs. Spartan Secrecy/Closed Society

- Athenian NATURAL COURAGE (love way of life, defend it) vs. Spartan State-Induced Courage

- Athenian love of PHILOSOPHY & ARTS (time for leisure for general population) vs. Spartan Lack of Philosophy & Arts

- Athenian INTEREST in Private Business AND POLITICS (supposedly open to all) vs. Spartan Interest ONLY in Private Business (hated subjects, only small group in power)

- Athenian WORDS and Deeds (Assembly important, rationality) vs. Spartan ONLY deeds (out of ignorance)

- Athenian GOOD DONE to OTHERS vs. Spartan Good Received from Others

Thucydides on Athens vs. Sparta in the FUTURE

- Sparta: future generations would find it difficult to believe that Sparta had really been so powerful

- Athens: easy to conjecture that city had been 2x as powerful as it actually was

Dēmokratia

- Democracy (Athenian)

Isonomia

- Equality (Athenian)

Eleutheria

- Freedom (Athenian)

Parrhēsia

- Freedom in speech

- Every citizen's right to address his fellow citizens in the POLITICAL ASSEMBLIES (Athens)

- Freedom in speech and ability to speek in Assembly meant it is NECESSARY to know how to speak (RHETORIC) --> present proposals to Assembly and defend oneself in front of a jury (no lawyers)

Bēma

- Speaker's platform

Sophistēs

- One who exercises WISDOM (Sophists)

- Itinerant (mobile, NOT at university) --> TEACHERS of higher education

Sophists

- Sophistēs: one who exercises wisdom

- Itinerant teachers of higher education --> teach RHETORIC and VIRTUE (ARETĒ)

- Charge FEES for teaching (highly frowned upon)

- Important Sophists: Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus, Antiphon

- Great stress on the force of PERSUASION (GORGIAS)

School Scenes (cup by Douris)

- c. 480 BC, Classical Period, Athens, Greece

- Significance: Sophist Revolution of the 5th century --> Sophist teaching created huge controversy and social tensions in Athens and Gorgias was a major Sophist figure

Aretē

- Virtue

- Taught by Sophists for money

Sophists and Rhetoric

- Great stress on the force of PERSUASION (especially Gorgias)

- Dialectic method (questions to find answer)

- Antilogic method (ability to argue BOTH sides of the case)

- Main goal: to WIN the argument --> to make weaker argument stronger (right and wrong irrelevant)

Dialectic Method (Sophism)

- Asking questions to get to the answer

Antilogic Method (Sophism)

- Ability to argue BOTH sides of the case (regardless of right/wrong --> trying to WIN)

Cultural Relativism

- If everything depends on PERSUASION --> there is NO absolute TRUTH

- SOPHISM

Ethical Relativism

- Individuals SUBJECTIVELY decide what is right/wrong for THEMSELVES

- SOPHISM

Sophists & Relativism

- Cultural Relativism (no absolute truth if everything depends on persuasion) --> Ethical Relativism (no absolute truth so individuals decide what's right/wrong for themselves; subjective) --> Religious Agnosticism or Atheism (no absolute truth = no gods/divinities) --> Protagoras ("Man is measure of all things")

Protagoras (Sophist)

- Claimed that "Man is a measure of all things" --> reflects RELATIVISM

Physis

- Nature

Nomos

- Law, convention

- From nomizō ("I think," "I believe," --> "what the people believe")

Physis vs. Nomo

- Nature (physis) vs. law/convention (nomos)

- Seen in Euripides' Bacchae

- Sophists are Physis

Maenad (Attic white-ground cup)

- c. 490 BC, ARCHAIC Period, Athens, Greece

- Maenads were followers of Dionysus --> physis vs. nomos debate which is relevant to Sophist teachings (rejected convention --> physis)

Physis & Nomos in RELATIVISTIC ETHICS

- Justice: inborn characteristic of humanity (physis) OR convention (nomos) invented by weaker as defense against stronger

- If Justice is a CONVENTION --> Right and Wrong are merely matters of convention (nomos) and inherently go against nature

- Nature/physis: superior individuals win over the weak --> superior individuals must pursue their own advantage (contradicts justice)

Charges AGAINST Sophists

- Negative view mainly derived from PLATO and ARISTOTLE --> believed sophistry to be unsound argumentation

- Charge 1: Sophists have NO INTEREST in TRUTH and only care about WINNING the argument (right or wrong)

- Charge 2: Sophists teach "virtue" (aretē) for MONEY to anyone who pays --> challenge aristocratic view that virtue cannot be taught and make it more widely accessible

Realpolitik

- Real Politics (& power politics)

Mytilenian Revolt (428-427 BC)

- Special status of Lesbos and Chios --> only Athenian "allies" to have a fleet

- Mytilene rebels against Athens and appeals to Sparta --> Mytilenian ambassadors sent to Olympia (Thucydides 3.8-15)

- Mytilene SURRENDERS to ATHENS (Thucydides 3.27-28)

- Peloponnesians arrive too LATE (Thucydides 3.29-33)

- Leaders of revolt are sent to Athens as prisoners --> Mytilenian ambassadors also present (Thucydides, 3.35)

Mytilenian Debates

- First Debae (Thucydides 3.36): Athenians decide to punish Mytilene harshly and EXECUTE ALL ADULT MALES, enslave women and children (NO SPEECH in Thucydides)

- Second Debate: Athenians revisit issue decided in first debate --> CLEON argues for HARSH punishment and DIODOTUS argues to punish ONLY LEADERS (Diodotus WINS)

Cleon on Free Speech (Mytilenian Debate)

- City is better of with BAD but FIXED LAWS than with good laws that are constantly altered

- States are better governed by man in street than by intellectuals

- Athenians have become "regular speech-goers" and only listen to accounts of action --> like listening too much and are more of an audience listening to a lecturer than parliament talking about matters of the state

- Claim: Athenians judge matters by FANCY SPEECHES (logoi) rather than by FACTS (erga)

- Cleon himself was a demagogue and a skilled orator --> using his own speaking skills to criticize obsession with speeches in Athens

- Contradicting Pericles

Logoi

- Speeches

Erga

- Facts

- Dēmagōgos

- Leader of the people (demagogue)

Diodotus on Free Speech (Mytilenian Debate)

- People against words as "guide to action" are either fools or someone with personal interest at stake

- Should NOT accuse speakers based on getting paid --> will cause counsellors to fear giving advice

- Claim: democracy NEEDS DISCUSSION and Athenians should NOT be overly SUSPICIOUS of speakers' MOTIVES (aligns with PERICLES)

Cleon on Mytilene

- Mytilenians were not subject but were FREE --> had NO REASON to REVOLT and instead were acting in deliberate AGGRESSON

- Harsh punishment must be used as a DETERRENT

- Guiding principle of international relations: SELF-INTEREST

- It is RIGHT to PUNISH Mytilenians' crime and also USEFUL to Athens

- Claim that it is "right" to punish Mytilene reflects pillars of JUSTICE (not found in Sophist argument of Diodotus)

Cleon on Human Nature & Politics

- "General rule of human nature that people despise those who treat them well and look up to those who make no concessions" --> harsh to garner respect

- If same punishment is given to people who are forced to revolt by enemies (Sparta) and those who do so by their own free will --> everyone will revolt because success means freedom and failure doesn't result in major consequences

- Must make an example of Mytilene to other allies

3 Things AGAINST Imperial Interests (Cleon)

1. "To feel pity"

2. "To be carried away by the pleasures of hearing a clever argument"

3. "To listen to the claims of decency"

- Philanthropy means surrendering empire

Diodotus on Mytilene

- Guiding principle: SELF-INTEREST (like Cleon)

- AGAINST HARSH punishment but NOT based on empathy

- Death penalty does NOT DETER --> men always take risks in hope of gaining advantage

- Other allies and democracies would be ALIENATED by harsh punishment from Athens

- USEFUL for Athenians to NOT punish HARSHLY

Diodotus on Human Nature and Politics

- Cities/individuals are disposed to do WRONG by NATURE --> no law will prevent it (SOPHISM)

- NOT based on PITY or ordinary decent feelings (like Cleon)

- Doesn't matter whether they're GUILTY OR NOT --> only SELF-INTEREST MATTERS --> "how Mytilene can be most usefuol to Athens"

- Does NOT care about JUSTICE --> SOPHISM

- Should not act "like a judge who strictly examines a criminal" (justice) --> should focusing on securing "full use of those cities" that bring Athens important contributions

- Men are inherently disposed to do wrong, no law can prevent it

Thucydides on Athenian Democracy

- Thucydides' opinions can be deduced from speeches --> truly voicing his own views

- Percles' Funeral Oraton: idealized portrait of Athenian Democracy

- Mytilenian Debate: harsh CRTIQUE of Athenian democratic politics --> deceptive rhetoric and guiding principles that a) humans are bad by nature, b) pity and decency have no place in politics, and c) self-interest & usefulness are the only rules to follow

- Did Thucydides support Realpolitik (Machiavelli, Hobbes, Kissinger) or was he critiquing Athenian Imperialism?

Plague at Athens (430-428 BC)

- From Piraeus to Athens --> potentially a form of typhoid fever, smallpox, or real plague

- THIRD of the population DEAD --> including PERICLES

- Thucydides caught plague and recovered (people didn't get it twice)

Thucydides & Hippocrates

- Hippocrates of Cos (c. 470-400 BC) vs. Hippocratic Corpus

- Medicine is profane and therefore RATIONAL --> against religion and magicians

- Symptoms --> diagnosis --> prognosis & treatments (diet, exercise, drugs, surgery)

Gignōsco

- To know

- Where word "prognosis" is derived from

Thucydides on the Plague

- Symptoms: burning feelings in head, sneezing, hoarseness, stomach, death on 7th or 8th day

- Treatment: NONE

- Immunity: no one got it twice

Thucydides' "Scientific" Method

- Wrote down symptoms of plague (having had it and survived) in order for people to recognize it if it ever broke out again

- Relates to his view on history --> wanted to document events so that people could use knowledge of past to deal with future events that would likely repeat past occurrences (human nature)

Thucydides: Social Consequences of Plague (Book 2)

- State of unprecedented lawlessness --> acts of SELF-INDULGENCE in the open (previously more discrete)

- MONEY SPENDING: quickly and on pleasure --> people figured they'd die soon anyway

- NO HONOR --> doubtful anyone would survive to enjoy the name for it

- "No fear of god or law of man had a restraining influence" --> people reverted to physis when they believed they'd die quickly regardless

- Worshipping gods didn't seem to matter --> good and bad died indiscriminately

Civil War at Corcyra (427 BC)

- Civil war between DEMOCRATIC and OLIGARCHIC parties

Thucydides on Corcyra: Human Nature at War

- People went to every extreme and beyond it (typical in situations of war and death) --> fathers killed sons, men dragged from temples/butchered on altars

- HIGH STANDARDS are followed when cities are in times of PEACE because people aren't forced into situations where they don't have to do what they don't want to --> "War is a stern teacher" (Thucydides, 3.82)

- When CONVENTION is LOST (thrown into confusion) --> HUMAN NATURE (physis) will show itself in its "true" colors as "incapable of controlling passions" (even when laws exist --> physis OVER nomos)

Thucydides on Corcyra: Language as Expression of Social Change

- Words CHANGE usual MEANINGS

- "Thoughtless act of aggression" becomes "courage" of a party member

- Think of future/wait now simply means COWARD

- Moderation is merely a disguise for UNMANLY character

- Ability to understand a question from all sides means someone is totally UNFITTED for ACTION

- Real man: FANATICAL ENTHUSIASM

- Plotting against an enemy behind his back is SELF-DEFENSE

- TRUST VIOLENT OPINIONS and suspect anyone who objected them (Thucydides 3.82)

- WORDS are CONVENTION (nomos) --> can be CHANGED to SUIT human NATURE (physis)

Thucydides' Social Physiology

- Human body = Social body

- FRAGILE human institutions (law, religion, language --> nomos) vs. EVIL human NATURE (physis)

- Disasters (plague, war, etc.) reveal human nature as it really is: selfish, violent, cruel

- Just like disease ravishes human body, war breaks down society and destroys convention for favor of physis (evil human nature)

Homo homini lupus

- "Man is a wolf to [his fellow] man"

- Thomas Hobbes's motto (from Plautus, Latin playwright)

Peace of Nicias (421 BC)

- 50 years of peace (in theory)

- Conditions: Athens keeps empire, Sparta restores Amphipolis and the Athenian interests in Chalcidic Peninsula, prisoners on both sides liberated

- Immediate PROBLEMS: Peloponnesian league meets to ratify peace --> Corinth, Boeotia, and Megara do NOT sign, Chalcidians refuse to surrender Amphipolis back to Athenians

- Athens has no motivation to carry out her part of bargain

- 417-416 BC: Nicias and Alcibiades elected stratēgoi

Destruction of Melos (416 BC)

- Melos: Laconian colony --> NOT ALLIED with EITHER Sparta or Athens

- ATHENS orders Melos to join DELIAN LEAGUE --> Sparta doesn't help

- Athens KILLS ALL men and enslaves all women and children (unlike decision in Mytilenian debate --> HARSH punishment --> reflects increasing depravity in war?)

Melian Dialogue (Thucydides 5.85-5.113)

- Athenian representatives & Melian Oligarchs

- Like a DRAMA (tragedy), not a piece of historiographical prose

- Premises: SELF-INTEREST (not justice) as leading criterion for negotiations, no fancy speeches and focus on FACTS

- Athens argues on basis of physis --> strong can do what they want to weak, best interest of both is for Athens to take power over Melos (Natural law: everyone who wants to rule can rule) --> HOPE and HONOR IRRELEVANT (like Diodotus)

- Melos argues that slavery and forced submission are NOT in their self-interest --> turns to HOPE and HONOR of Spartans/JUSTICE defended by Gods --> call for no fancy speeches and only fact (like Cleon)

Natural Law of Imperialism

- "General and necessary law of nature to rule whatever one can" (Thucydides 5.105) --> Athenian representatives in Melian Dialogue

- Athenian representatives claim that anyone (including Melians) who had the same power would act the same --> NATURAL (physis)

Cleon & Pericles on Athenian Imperialism

- Cleon: "empire is a tyranny exercised over subjects who do not like it" --> subjects are always plotting against you and leadership depends on SUPERIOR STRENGTH not on goodwill of subjects

- Pericles: "empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go" ---> dangers arising from hatred incurred by acquiring empire

Sicilian Expedition (415-413 BC)

- Pretext (AITIAI): to help Egesta/Segesta against Selinus (Spartan ally)

- Real reason (PROPHASIS): to CONQUER Sicily

- Nicias (Athenian general) vs. Alcibiades (also an Athenian general originally but destroyed Hermae and was exiled --> turned to SPARTAN side and helped Sparta help Syracusans)

- Athenians were IGNORANT of size of island and number of inhabitants --> didn't realize they were taking on a war of almost the same magnitude as Peloponnesian War itself (THUCYDIDES)

Nicias

- Sought to get Athenians to put LESS money into expedition by asking for much more at Assembly --> Athenians instead sent HUGE FLEET

Segesta, Temple

- 420-409 BC, Classical Period, Segesta

- Greeks used pretext of helping Egesta/Segesta against Selinus to embark on expedition to conquer Sicily