Thucydides

After the defeat at Leuctra (371 BC), Sparta lost the powers that allowed the city to claim the hegemonic role in the political affairs of Greece. The unanticipated failure on the battlefield and the subsequent geopolitical weakening soon contributed to institutional and social decline and, ultimately, to recession. In the years that followed, social inequalities were exacerbated, and the number of warrior peers (homoioi) was significantly reduced. In contrast, the number of disenfranchised people (hypomeíōnes) increased, and thus the deteriorating economic situation led to social decay. The loss of Messinía and the foundation of the city of Megalopolis sealed the deadlock. However, in the middle of the 3rd century, two kings, Agis IV and Cleomenes III attempted a radical social reform of land redistribution and debt cancellation, seeking to revive the Spartan model. Cleomenes sought to gain momentum in foreign policy and render Sparta in a position to dominate the Peloponnese again. His effort, though, provoked a rupture in the regional security system, alerting the rival Achaean League and later the "superpower" of Macedonia. The conflict between Sparta and Macedonia was thus the product of specific geopolitical and social reasons, which are examined in the following lines. More specifically, it is argued that Cleomenes' policy directly threatened Achaean sovereignty, forcing the latter's leadership to ally with the Macedonians. Simultaneously, Macedonia foresaw the danger of systemic and social destabilization if Cleomenes' reformist ideas diffused among the Greek city-states. Under these conditions, war was inevitable.

*The present paper is dedicated to the memory of Panagiotis Gennimatas (1949-2022), Honorary Vice President of the European Investment Bank, author and thinker. He was of Messenian descent and his penetrating thought has been a luminous source of inspiration.

Within Sophocles' Ajax, Menelaus is generally regarded as an unsympathetic, authoritarian, and typically Spartan character. Indeed, scholars have often treated him as a common despotic ruler who, despite his wise words about civic order, was inevitably hated by the audience. The first part of this paper contextualises Menelaus' speech on the principles of fear of and respect for the law within the πόλις, suggesting it was actually a rather legitimate statement which included universally shared (i.e. Panhellenic) political views paralleled by several fifth-and fourth-century BC historical, philosophical and literary sources. While appreciating Sophocles' technique in portraying 'negative' mythological figures and assigning 'positive' features, the second part of this discussion analyses the resulting conflict between the particular situation of the tragic world and the universal principle of fearing and respecting the law, which may have led the audience to wonder about the possible injustices ensuing from the creation of a world governed by such an extreme and prevailing principle theorised by Menelaus.

There is no other idea that has caused so much commotion and trouble. Thinkers from all over the world have been twisting and turning it for thousands of years without arriving at a reasonable solution. Or rather, they have arrived at 1,001 different clarifications! Of course, what it's all about is that damned Relativism; whether what we believe we know only applies to ourselves or if there is something that is real and thus objectively true out there. This text presents the opening chapters of work that have been haunting the author for over forty years. Ever since the Firebrand was thrown out by professor Hjalmar Wennerberg at the Lund University.

The Pnyx hill was not only one of the most important spheres of decision but also a unique place of knowledge in the Athenian democracy. Once the citizens gathered there, the operation of the assembly enabled a form of speaking and debating in which a specifically political knowledge was configured. This procedure entailed speakers and audiences interacting to constitute a collective, decision-making agent. In this paper, this interaction is studied by investigating the function of persuasion in the work of the respective roles.

La colline de la Pnyx n’était pas seulement l’une des sphères décisionnelles les plus importantes, mais aussi un lieu de savoir unique dans la démocratie athénienne. Une fois les citoyens rassemblés, le fonctionnement de l’assemblée permettait la prise de parole et le débat pour configurer un savoir spécifiquement politique en ce lieu. Cette procédure impliquait la constitution d’un agent collectif au sein duquel les orateurs et le public interagissaient dans la recherche de la décision. Ce texte étudie cette interaction en examinant la fonction de persuasion dans la conception des rôles respectifs.

Pericles is said to have been affected by Anaxagoras and therefore having improved his speaking skills. A generic influence of philosophical studies is usually supposed but there may be a more specific reason: it was possible to interpret the works of meteorologoi in a limited way, strictly rhetorical, renouncing cosmological speculation but acquiring an effective instrument of persuasion. Some anecdotes in Pericles' life help to understand how this philosophy was translated into political action. Anaxagoras not only improved Pericles' speaking skills but also provided a model of behaviour for any contingency.

In questo contributo si cerca di ricostruire l'apparizione, circolazione e ricezione delle traduzioni francese, inglese e tedesca dell'opuscolo «Un anno di dominazione fascista» curato da Giacomo Matteotti e pubblicato anonimamente dal Partito Socialista Unitario all'inizio del 1924. Si cercherà di mettere in luce il percorso europeo di quel memorabile documento, percorso e le esigenze editoriali e politiche che lo caratterizzarono.

La comunicación pretende realizar una relectura de la continuación del
Lazarillo de Tormes publicada en Amberes en 1555 a partir de las codificaciones
actuales del género fantástico. Así, tal y como señala Or Hasson, la Segunda parte del
Lazarillo —igualmente anónima— ha dado lugar sobre todo a análisis comparativos
respecto al relato original, a consideraciones sobre la novela en cuanto alegoría o roman
à clef o bien a indagaciones acerca de las fuentes clásicas y folklóricas de distintos
elementos de la trama o los personajes, obviando así cualquier tipo de análisis
semiológico de la obra desde la recepción contemporánea. Por el contrario, el objetivo
de nuestra comunicación es descontextualizar parcialmente el texto original
considerando, al igual que Juan Herrero Cecilia, que el efecto fantástico se articula a
partir de una reacción de desconcierto o fascinación ante algo que “trastoca los
esquemas de la vida ordinaria”. En este sentido, el episodio central de la novela, esto es,
la metamorfosis de Lázaro en atún, en clara antítesis con el tono realista del relato de
referencia, ha otorgado a la obra, tradicionalmente, lecturas derivadas, bien hacia la
burla inocua, bien hacia la sátira malintencionada, siempre a partir de los débitos
intertextuales de la novela o de la lectura en clave metafórica de la transformación del
protagonista. En resumidas cuentas, el objetivo es por tanto reformular la lectura del
texto —apoyándonos en parte en la estética de la recepción—, desde el prisma y los
referentes teóricos de la narrativa contemporánea, con vistas a replantear la
consideración crítica hacia un texto tradicionalmente ensombrecido por los logros
revolucionarios del relato del que se hace deudor.

Presque chaque année, à l'époque classique, une oraison funèbre était prononcée en l'honneur des Athéniens morts au combat. Il y a quarante ans, Nicole Loraux a transformé notre compréhension de l'oraison funèbre. Son Invention d'Athènes a démontré l'importance de ce genre de discours, qui rappelait aux Athéniens leur identité en tant que peuple. Loraux a montré comment chaque mise en scène de l'oraison funèbre avait aidé les Athéniens à conserver la même identité de soi pendant plus d'un siècle. La contrepartie est que L'Invention d'Athènes est loin d'être un ouvrage exhaustif. Loraux a minimisé la spécificité de chaque auteur. Naturellement, cela lui a permis de prouver plus facilement que les discours funèbres qui nous sont parvenus faisaient partie d'une tradition à la fois longue et inchangée. Mais la conséquence négative fut que, de manière générale, L'Invention d'Athènes a laissé de côté la spécificité de chacun de ces discours. L'oraison funèbre était un genre exprimant un militarisme culturel frappant : elle affirmait que les Athéniens gagnaient presque toujours les guerres qu'ils menaient et qu'ils en tiraient de grands avantages. L'Invention d'Athènes n'a jamais comparé ce type de discours avec les autres genres littéraires produits par la démocratie athénienne. En conséquence, Loraux n'a pas pu poser la question de savoir si d'autres genres littéraires avaient, à un moment donné, contrebalancé le militarisme culturel de l'oraison funèbre. J'ai dirigé un grand projet dans le but de compléter systématiquement L'Invention d'Athènes. Les participants de ce projet se sont rencontrés une première fois à Strasbourg en 2018. Nous avons eu une deuxième rencontre à Lyon en 2020. Les presses universitaires de Cambridge publieront prochainement notre ouvrage collectif de dix-neuf chapitres. The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux répond aux questions importantes que Loraux a laissées de côté et complète l'analyse intertextuelle qui fait défaut à L'Invention d'Athènes. Ce qui émerge est un discours qui eut un impact politique beaucoup plus grand que Loraux ne le pensait.

Cet article offre une analyse d’un témoignage tardif concernant Thucydide contenu dans une scholie de Lactantius Placidus (in Stat. Theb. IV, 275) et ignoré par la critique jusqu’à présent. La scholie sera discutée dans son intégralité et ses références à des œuvres et des anecdotes anciens seront attentivement examinées. De cette façon, la présente contribution mettra en lumière l’importance de l’œuvre de Lactantius Placidus à propos de sujets divers (oratoire fragmentaire cicéronienne, idées anciennes sur la langue) et s’interrogera sur les possibles usages des Histoires de Thucydide dans les commentaires latins. Dans un appendice final, l’auteur souligne la valeur du Mythographe Vatican III dans l’établissement du texte de Lactantius Placidus.

Socrates is often called the founder of political philosophy. But according to Plato's depiction, Socrates' relationship to his own political community was often fraught. This course examines six Platonic dialogues treating Socrates' relationship to the city of Athens: two depicting his trial and detention on a capital charge, three depicting the type of conversations that Socrates suggests were the real cause of that charge, and one depicting what appears to be a posthumous reconciliation between Socrates and Athens. We will examine the sources of Plato's Socrates' loyalty to his city as well as of his conflicts with it, and we will explore what all this means for Plato's general view of politics and its relation to intellectual life.

Frente a la imagen tradicional de la politeia espartiata trasmitida, entre otros, por Jenofonte, Tucidides, Platon y Aristoteles, Herodoto nos ofrece en sus Historias una caracterizacion del edificio institucional lacedemonio que desmiente la pretendida concordia y equilibrio de poderes de sus magistraturas. El objetivo del presente trabajo es intentar dar cuenta del enfasis, en apariencia desmedido, de la narracion herodotea sobre las figuras de los reyes espartanos en la conduccion de la politica lacedemonia, en desmedro de las demas instituciones (el eforado, la Gerousia y la Apella). In contrast to the traditional characteristics of the Spartan politeia as depicted by Xenophon, Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle, among others, Herodotus conjures up in the Histories a vision of the Lacedaemonian institutional framework which runs counter to the alledged balance of power of its magistrates. The purpose of this paper is to account for the seemingly undue emphasis laid by Herodotus on ...

This thesis aims to analyze Greek perceptions of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and other Near Eastern empires taken as political entities, emphasizing the early look of Herodotus. The author first summarizes the state of scholarly research on Herodotus’ Histories and Greek attitudes towards Persia in an effort to clarify the complexity of Greco-Persian relations, which, according to the most recent research, were not only hostile, but also full of receptivity. The author examines next Assyrian and Persian ideas of empire and their concrete imperial organizations. One analyzes at length Persian royal iconography and political concepts such as bumi- and xšaça-, concluding that these could convey an innovative idea of empire, albeit deeply rooted in older Mesopotamian traditions. One describes the way classical sources named the “empire” over time, with particular attention to the wording of early authors such as Herodotus, Aeschylus, and Thucydides. The author strives to explain in each case the use of hēgemonía, archḗ, and even pólis to designate the Persian Empire. Finally, the author examines Herodotus’ terminology to name the Achaemenid Empire and how it conveys a strategy of allusions and resonances with critical overtones towards Athenian expansive policy. One proposes that Athens paradoxically incorporated Persian ideas of empire, while publicly denouncing Persian violence and international tyranny. This contradictory stance had its impacts over historians such as Herodotus and Thucydides and it is an instructive interpretative key to the Histories.     

Résumé
La présente thèse a pour but d'analyser les perceptions grecques de l’Empire Perse Achéménide et d'autres empires proche-orientaux, en tant qu’entités politiques, en soulignant le regard plus ancien d’Hérodote. Premièrement, l’auteur résume l’état de la recherche académique sur les Histoires d’Hérodote et les attitudes grecques face à la Perse afin de clarifier la complexité des rapports gréco-perses, que, d’après la recherche plus récente, n’étaient pas que d'hostilité, mais aussi réceptives. Ensuite, l’auteur étudie les idées perses et assyriennes d’empire, ainsi que ses organisations impériales effectives. On étudie en détail l'iconographie royale perse et les concepts politiques tels que bumi- et xšaça-, concluant qu’ils pouvaient véhiculer une idée innovatrice d'empire, bien que profondément enracinée dans des traditions plus anciennes de la Mésopotamie. On décrit la façon dont les sources classiques nommaient l’ « empire » au cours du temps, soulignant les formulations plus anciennes d’auteurs tels que Hérodote, Eschyle et Thucidides. L’auteur s’efforce pour expliquer dans chaque cas l’usage d’hēgemonía, archḗ, et même pólis pour designer l’Empire Perse. Finalement, l’auteur étudie la terminologie d’Hérodote pour nommer l’Empire Achéménide et la façon dont elle fait partie d’une stratégie de références et de résonances avec des connotations critiques par rapport à la politique expansionniste d’Athènes. On propose qu’Athènes a incorporé d’idées perses d’empire, en même temps qu’elle dénonçait, paradoxalement,  la violence et la tyrannie internationale de la Perse. Cette posture contradictoire eut des conséquences sur les historiens tels que Hérodote et Thucidides et c’est une éclairante clé interprétative pour lire les Histoires.

During the early Hellenistic period, the Athenians found themselves entangled in the competition of the Diadochoi, struggling between subjugation and autonomy and the different factions of the Macedonians. The democratic regime, one of the main characteristics of the Athenian political imaginary, was repeatedly targeted, forcing responses, when possible, by its civic body. This paper discusses some of these responses, as attested in the epigraphic data, where the reception and use of the past are vividly imprinted. The epigraphic evidence demonstrates civic needs where ties with the historical past of the polis are established to address the present and solidify a particular image of co-belonging.

The following paper is a metafictional reading of Caragiale’s Abu Hassan, a tale usually neglected by many critical voices. The game that the Calif, an authorial figure, initiates makes his victim, the young Abu Hassan, whom we may see as the intended reader of the text, aware of the illusionary nature of the world that he thought he lived in.
Because he wished to be a calif for one day, he was abducted and made the ruler of Bagdad, while the actual Calif watched his every move from a window above. When Abu Hassan returned to his actual life, he refused to acknowledge it and got mad. After a long period of suffering his sanity came back, but he was abducted once again. This time, the Calif revealed to him the game he was playing all along. Thus, his story may be interpreted as a meditation on the concept of fiction. His abduction is similar to a relocation from the actual world to the possible world initiated by the game of the Calif. What he failed to understand in the first place is the ontological status of the world he got to live in temporarily: a textual one, an illusion, an artefact. Thus, the calif, as an authorial figure, shares his reader the knowledge necessary for him to finally understand the dual nature of the world he is reading: as narrative and as text.

The collapse of the Morandi bridge in Italy, which took place in the summer of 2018, has had enormous emotional, economic, and social consequences for the inhabitants of the area, which are felt throughout the world. As seen in the literature, collective traumatic events increase the experience of insecurity and paranoia, thus increasing the perception of vulnerability. The present work aims to bring out the emotions most experienced by the participants connected to the traumatic event in question, paying attention to the possible solutions to be proposed to local stakeholders from a sustainability perspective, this way favouring community empowerment. The research, carried out with the photovoice technique, involved 30 young adults residing in areas near the event. The results illustrate how the participants experienced mainly feelings of emptiness, vulnerability, and fear as well as anger, despair, and mistrust of the institutions. It was also stressed that the economic and struct...

Wielka, groźna historia wróciła. Katastrofa ekologiczna, światowy krach gospodarczy, pandemia, cierpienie mas uchodźców, okrutna wojna w Europie, kryzys liberalnej demokracji. Ta książka powstała z przekonania, że razem ze starożytnymi Grekami możemy lepiej zrozumieć nasz świat. To z ich cywilizacji wyrosła nasza. Przyjrzyjmy się z bliska ich kulturze, religii, teatrowi, rozrywkom, a także wojnom, polityce, demokracji. Od Homera do Aleksandra Wielkiego. Poznajmy sposoby radzenia sobie Greków z kryzysami i… uczmy się na ich błędach.

A deeper understanding of sport cannot remain only in rational discourse that transforms reality into quantified data but must descend into philosophical areas that also accept the multiple figurativeness of symbols. By means of not literal but metaphorical truthfulness, sport can then be examined as a potential space of hierophany, that is, the manifestation of the sacred in the sphere of the profane. The paper argues in favor of the thesis that a more precise description of hierophany can highlight the difference between the presentation and representation of the sacred. While the physical activities that were part of the religious cult of archaic societies can be considered hierophanies in the mode of presentation (making present) of the sacred, no such direct parallel can be drawn for modern sport. Sport can be seen through the lens of implicit religion as a representation (an agency), not a presentation of the sacred.

Among Nina Braginskaya’s many contributions to Classical studies,
two have changed the very shape of the field in Russia and internationally:
her translation of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and her publications
of Olga Freidenberg’s works. In a spirit of exploration that (it is hoped)
owes something to Nina Vladimirovna’s research, I attempt in what follows
to bring Aristotle’s theory of ēthos into dialogue with Freidenberg’s.

Política de Aristóteles não é famosa apenas por sua teoria das constituições, mas por suas declarações sobre a natureza humana. De acordo com a afirmação central da antropologia política de Aristóteles, o homem é, por natureza, um animal político (phusei politikon zôon). Essa famosa afirmação é apresentada como a conclusão do primeiro conjunto de argumentos que Aristóteles desenvolve no segundo capítulo do livro I da Política (Pol., I, 2, 1252a24-1253a3). A afirmação de Aristóteles está inextricavelmente ligada à alegação de que a polis existe por natureza (phusei), que ele menciona na mesma frase, como parte de sua conclusão: "A partir dessas considerações, é evidente que a polis é uma das coisas que existem por natureza, e que o homem é, por natureza, um animal político" (Pol., I, 2, 1253a1-3). Evidentemente, as afirmações de que a polis existe por natureza e de que o homem é, por natureza, um animal político são complementares. Este artigo apresenta uma interpretação das duas afirmações ou teses complementares, argumentando que, em Pol., I, 2, Aristóteles concebe exclusivamente os seres humanos como animais políticos porque todo o capítulo se concentra na análise da polis, uma comunidade peculiar aos seres humanos. Ele também examina a afirmação de Aristóteles de que a polis "é por natureza anterior (proteron) à família e ao indivíduo" (Pol., I, 2, 1253a18-19). O artigo discorda dos estudiosos que entendem essa afirmação como uma terceira tese e um teorema independentes e argumenta que a afirmação de Aristóteles funciona como um forte argumento para a tese de que o homem é, por natureza, um animal político. Além disso, afirma que Aristóteles não defende uma teoria orgânica da polis nem tem uma "tendência ao totalitarismo" (J. Barnes). Palavras-Chave: Aristóteles. Antropologia política. Existência natural. Polis. Animal político. Prioridade da polis. Unidade da política. Teoria orgânica da pólis. Totalitarismo.  A tradução deste artigo ao português foi autorizada pelo responsável editorial das Éditions de la Sorbonne. O texto original foi publicado por Dr. Manuel Knoll em: "Aristotle's Arguments for his Political Anthropology and the Natural Existence of the Polis", in: Refik Güremen/ Annick Jaulin (eds.

The aim of this paper is to show the active presence and participation of a conspicuous oligarchic family —through the three generations represented by Adeimantos, Aristeos and Aeneas— in the Corinthian public life and foreign politics during the fifth century B.C.

Hace cinco anos Lisa Kallet-Marx, en la introduccion de su celebrado libro Money, Expense and Naval Power in Thucydides 1-5.24 (Berkeley 1993), senalaba el placer y la recompensa que se obtiene siempre que se vuelve a trabajar sobre el texto tucidideo (pag. xi). Es una opinion que comparto plenamente, como tambien debe de hacerlo George Cawkwell, que despues de medio siglo de investigacion en el campo de la Grecia clasica nos ofrece ahora una obra (Thucydides and tite Peloponnesian War, Londres-Nueva York, Routledge, 1997, 162 pags), sobre la que propongo una reflexion critica desde estas paginas, que tiene como nudo central poner a prueba la validez del testimonio de Tucidides paralos sucesos que relata y los personajes que presenta, un nuevo desafio al dictwn de A. Powell: «es por ser tan respetado por lo que la critica hacia el trabajo de Tucidides continua» (Athens ?md Sparta, Londres 1988, pag. 137). El libro de Cawkwell es, por tanto, una prueba mas de la actualidad del debate...

This article discusses one of the basic concepts in political science and international relations, namely realism. As a perspective often used to analyze various political phenomena, it is essential to re-understand the concept of realism itself as a whole. This article attempts to provide a clear picture of what realism is meant and explain the history of realism from various realism thinkers. This article reviews the realism concept of 4 characters, namely Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Morgenthau. This article explains that each thinker has their arguments for explaining realism. Hopefully, this article can provide readers with a complete understanding of realism as a concept or perspective often used in political science.

This article reconsiders the remarkable sequence of funeral oration, plague description and Pericles’ final speech at Thucydides 2.34-65 as a test-case of the way in which the historian exposes the profound contingency of history and yet claims to interpret the underlying meanings of historical processes. The argument concentrates on a neglected feature of the passage – four occurrences (twice in Pericles’ mouth, twice in the historian’s narrative) of the term μεταβολή, a “transformation” or radical turn of events, and a word with tragic associations. The repeated appearances of this term are analysed as an index of Thucydides’ dramatisation of the historical dialectic between Periclean ideology (which treats the Athenian polis as a supra-personal entity whose fame will never die) and the uncontrollable forces of war, as symbolised by the radical contingency of the plague. Though acknowledging the risk of material disaster, Pericles’ funeral oration and final speech express an “anti-tragic” conviction that contingency can be transcended by a collective commitment to the beloved city’s perpetual glory. Thucydides’ own perspective, however, while affirming his admiration for Pericles, may itself be tragic in its perception of the disparity between a Periclean vision of Athens and the ultimate damage done to the city’s identity and values by the experience of war.

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