Peloponnesian War

play Lysistrata during the Peloponnesian War in 411 B.C. Aristophanes created plays that symbolized his own opinions and views on topics affecting him and other Athens. The play Lysistrata describes Aristophanes views of the Peloponnesian War and the possibility of peace through uniting the forces of the Greek women. The play contains the themes of humor and sexuality, but the straightforward expression of war in the play describes how Aristophanes feels about the war. Synopsis The story…

is to review the sources available to us and examine any information they provide about the impact of the Megarian decree, as well as the conclusions modern scholarship has arrived at concerning the decree. Thucydides, a contemporary of the Peloponnesian War, provides our first details about the Megarian decree. The historian references the decree several times throughout the first book…

Greece, its culture, and its people had a major impact on the development of Western civilization. The Greek people made major scholarly advances and became the birthplace of many subjects that are still taught today. Philosophy, medicine, astronomy, and many other contributions to the scientific world brought rise to a new way of thinking and a new way of life. Greece even became the birthplace of federalism, shaping the future of politics. It is not only important to know how Greek advances…

ambition was the loss of the alliances that had helped repel the Persians and in some cases their subjugation (Brand, n.d., p.28). National unity of purpose was replaced by resentment, and serious conflict with Sparta emerged. The three-decade Peloponnesian Wars eventuated (431-404 BCE), and Athenian democracy was replaced and reinstated at intervals during the ebbs and…

As tradition dictated in Athens during the 5th century B.C.E., a funerary ritual was held to honor those who were killed during the first of the Peloponnesian wars. Pericles, the leader of Athens at the time, was chosen by the state to give a speech in honor of those lost in battle. Reading the oration of Pericles we realize it is not just a eulogy but is in fact more than that. This leads one to ask, what is the purpose of this speech that Pericles gave to his nation? In addition to paying…

different events that take place during the Peloponnesian War. Keeping the chronology in mind, he gives us each and every detail of the war that he also lived through. Thucydides uses elaborative speeches throughout the text, Pericles’ eulogy being the best of them. While these elaborative speeches and debate are persuading and motivating, they also reflect the oral culture among the Greeks. Thucydides interpretation of the causes and events of the Peloponnesian War is really commendable; his…

In the famous words of one Allan Poe E., ‘the glory that was once Greece’ did not live for as long many would have expected it to. In fact, mighty Greece only survived for a short while and remained confined to a geographically minute area. As of the 5th Century BC, mighty Greece was primarily Athens. The state as a whole was Attica but Athens was its driving force at the time. To many, Athens was the “eye” of Greece based on it being a rich artistic hub and highly democratic (Brody et al.,…

they won’t be opposed so they can act self-interestedly. Thrasymachus, in Thucydides’ accounts on the Peloponnesian war explains this point of view best by stating, “Justice is nothing other the advantage of the stronger.” (Plato pg. 14). Although violence places fear in your enemies or subordinates, it leads to dismal consequences. The characters of Thucydides accounts on the Peloponnesian war, Plato’s Republic, and Sophocles Antigone demonstrate the use of force to ensure one’s position of…

To students just embarking on the study of Greek history and historians alike, It might seem absurd to pose the question of whether the great city of Athens was the leading promoter of democracy in the rest of the Greek city-states during the 4th and 5th centuries. After all, the majority of personal accounts of Greece in that period allege that the Athenian empire was the first to advocate for the establishment of democracy. However, we find little to no concrete confirmation of this widely…

Socrates. Socrates’ first offense is the corruption of the youth in Athenian culture. Socrates is guilty on this offense because of the way he treated and “taught” the young men. He told them to dress as Spartans and go against Athens at a time of war. His students, “... acted as if they were drunk…” (Nardo 9) He is explaining the effects that Socrates has had on his students and that they will do most anything he does. When Socrates does these things the…