He is famous for his creation of a narrative for the Peloponnesian War, and double checking first person accounts to ensure a more accurate account of events. While this was a tremendous undertaking and worthy of praise, Thucydides himself admits to being subjective in his accounts. The speeches are not taken verbatim from the speakers, but they are in Thucydides’ own words to “make the people say what in my opinion, was called for by each situation,” (Thucydides 47). This means that the text is not entirely objective, but there are streaks of personal subjectivity throughout. This is not meant to criticize the work or the effort Thucydides puts forth to preserve the history of events as best he can, but it creates room to argue Thucydides’ critiques of events and his subjective commentaries are not the “gospel truth”, but the opinions of one
He is famous for his creation of a narrative for the Peloponnesian War, and double checking first person accounts to ensure a more accurate account of events. While this was a tremendous undertaking and worthy of praise, Thucydides himself admits to being subjective in his accounts. The speeches are not taken verbatim from the speakers, but they are in Thucydides’ own words to “make the people say what in my opinion, was called for by each situation,” (Thucydides 47). This means that the text is not entirely objective, but there are streaks of personal subjectivity throughout. This is not meant to criticize the work or the effort Thucydides puts forth to preserve the history of events as best he can, but it creates room to argue Thucydides’ critiques of events and his subjective commentaries are not the “gospel truth”, but the opinions of one