The Occasion of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War

2011

This thesis examines Thucydides" presentation of the Corinthians in his account of the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. It discusses how and where Thucydides manipulates his description of events in order to stress the impression of Corinthian belligerence as a cause of the war, and highlights how this presentation allows Thucydides to present Athenian actions in a positive light, by making them appear as reactions to Corinthian intransigence. This thesis also examines the background to the conflict and discusses how the Athenians can be seen as largely responsible for creating the tension between Athens and Corinth because of their desire for the natural resources of the west, which resulted in a policy aimed at controlling strategic locations along the Corinthian Gulf. Finally, the Corinthian navy is examined from two perspectives: Thucydides" presentation of it in action; and what the reality of Corinthian naval strength was at the time of the war"s outbreak. This section discusses how the less professional nature of the Corinthian navy allowed Thucydides to exaggerate certain weaknesses in order to make the Athenian navy appear even more superior than it already was. Ultimately, this thesis shows how a closer and more critical examination of Thucydides" presentation of Corinth helps us to understand better the complex background to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Patricia Hannah. It was a great privilege to study under Dr Hannah, who, somehow, can make even the most difficult Thucydidean issue seem relatively straightforward. The friendly and relaxed manner she went about helping me in my work is very much appreciated and I have benefited greatly from her guidance. I would also like to thank the other members of the Classics department at Otago for their support. In particular, I would like to acknowledge

2013

Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2019

This is an unpublished document for an individual assignment for the course SSA2033 - International Relations: Theories and Practices. DISCLAIMER: All documents may freely be used as reference materials for personal use, but not as a part of any form of published academic reference made available to the public sphere. All works cited within the documents are the sole property of its original author(s). Author's note: This isn't one of my finest pieces, but nevertheless I hope it'll be helpful to anyone who'd be interested to give this a look.

The Review of Politics, 2018

2007

MA dissertation, 2015

This master’s thesis focuses on the first book of Thucydides’ History and offers a theoretical approach that treats the work as a narrative with distinct literary qualities. These qualities are identified in the complex structure of the first book and the less historically grounded sections, particularly the reconstructed speeches - that is, the least historical part of Thucydides' work. These speeches are viewed as exercises in dialectic among the war’s protagonists, serving not only the historicity of the account, but also the author’s intended argumentation and the emplotment of the narrative. The speeches in direct discourse are referred to as the “direct dialectic level.” This thesis also identifies a second, “indirect dialectic level,” which emerges from the authorial commentary that complements the dialectical exchanges and establishes a dialogue between the author and the reader. Through this structured text, the author guides, while the reader follows. Based on this complex communication, this thesis argues that the first book can be characterized as a “readerly” text, according to Barthes’ structuralist theory, and it attempts to apply Barthes’ five codes of narrative structure to the first book of History.

The Classical Review, 2012

G. Parmeggiani (ed.), Between Thucydides and Polybius. The Golden Age of Greek Historiography. Washington D.C.: Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University Press, 2014