Thucydides, Pericles, and Periclean Imperialism

Abstract

Edith Foster compares Thucydides' narrative explanations and descriptions of the Peloponnesian War in Books One and Two of the History with the arguments about warfare and war materials offered by the Athenian statesman Pericles in those same books. In Thucydides' narrative presentations, she argues, the aggressive deployment of armed force is frequently unproductive or counterproductive, and even the threat to use armed force against others causes consequences that can be impossible for the aggressor to predict or contain. By contrast, Pericles' speeches demonstrate that he shared with many other figures in the History a mistaken confidence in the power, glory, and reliability of warfare and the instruments of force. Foster argues that Pericles does not speak for Thucydides, and that Thucydides should not be associated with Pericles' intransigent imperialism.

The Political Significance of Luck: A Thucydidean Perspective

“…Rather than meet an ignominious end or live a long but undistinguished life, an Athenian should consider it good luck to catch an arrow through the helmet. Whereas Herodotus’ (1987, 46–48) Solon had argued that human fortunes were so unstable that one could not call a man happy before he was dead, Pericles suggests that the Athenians make their own good luck in battle (Edmunds 1975, 76–84; Foster 2010, 205). Rhetorically and conceptually, Pericles explodes traditional motifs of luck and mortality.…”

“…In addition, at the climax of the speech, Pericles directs the Athenians to “keep your minds on the fine future that you know will be yours”; this future will bring the Athenians “glory that will be remembered for ever after” (2.64.5–6). Josiah Ober (1998, 90–91) has remarked that Pericles’ presentation of invincible Athenian sea-power is “quasi-mystical”; the same could be said of his vision of unending imperial glory (see also Foster 2010, 187–189; Orwin 1994, 20–22). It is striking that in the course of inflating Athenian hope with these promises of omnipotence and glory, Pericles issues a warning against unwarranted hopefulness, especially as it relates to perceived good luck:Confront your enemies not just with confidence but with disdain.…”

“…At the same time, Thucydides’ commitment to accuracy may distinguish him from Pericles—even beyond the obvious difference between the sweeping, retrospective gaze of the political historian and the active, deliberative orientation of the statesman. For all that Pericles urges the Athenians to rely on themselves and to view bad luck as an excuse, he also constructs a highly embellished vision of Athenian democracy, the empire, and his own statesmanship (Foster 2010, 197–198). In the Funeral Oration, Pericles holds up the city’s imperial history as a kind of autobiography that exceeds Homeric poetry in its power and beauty (2.41.4).…”

Daring and deliberation: Virtue, rhetoric, and diplomacy in Thucydides’ account of the Athenian empire

“…Having stripped away any illusions of Athens seeking to rule with justice or benevolence, Pericles reframes the maintenance of the empire as an act of noble defiance, daring enemies and fate itself to knock them off their perch. As Edith Foster (2010) notes, he describes the supremacy of the Athenian navy as sufficient to ensure dominance over “not only the allies, but nature, the Persians, and any other enemy that may appear” (Foster, 2010: 186). Athens is thus free to “confront [its] enemies not merely with spirit but with disdain” (Thucydides, 1996: 125).…”

Thucydides and Political Order

“…12 For examples of the way that Thucydides' understanding and representation of events are clearly shaped by his own ideas about politics, see Taylor (2010) and Foster (2010). 13 Orwin (1988).…”