Article2000

The historical context of Thucydides' Funeral Oration

82 citations0/0 files storedThe Journal of Hellenic Studies

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Classical Antiquity Studies Classical Studies and Philology Classical Philosophy and Thought

Abstract

For all its celebrity, Thucydides' Funeral Speech remains an enigma. ‘Unquantifiably authentic’ is how one scholar describes it, and the description betrays a measure of despair. We feel that the speech is authentic in some sense of the word. To some degree it corresponds to what Pericles actually said in the winter of 431/30 BC, but the degree of correspondence is a mystery. All agree that Thucydides framed the speech in his own words and integrated it with his historical narrative, so as to recall and answer Archidamus' encomium of Sparta in Book I. It also anticipates the forthcoming description of the plague with mordant, subtle allusions.

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References

1993A Commentary on Thucydides 1997Greek Tragedy and the Historian 1997Theseus, Tragedy and the Athenian Empire 2002Aristophanes: Acharnians 2015The Sacred and Civil Calendar of the Athenian Year 1992Studies in Greek History and Thought 1998The Black Hunter 2020War and Society in The greek World

Cited by

2007Time in Ancient Greek Literature 2010Thucydides, Pericles, and Periclean Imperialism 2017The Rule of Law as the Measure of Political Legitimacy in the Greek City States 2013‘THEIR MEMORIES WILL NEVER GROW OLD’: THE POLITICS OF REMEMBRANCE IN THE ATHENIAN FUNERAL ORATIONS 2010Thucydides, Pericles, and the idea of Athens in the Peloponnesian War 2024Life / Afterlife

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