Thucydides

Κρ. ἄνδρες, τὰ μὲν δὴ πόλεος ἀσφαλῶς θεοί πολλῷ σάλῳ σείσαντες ὤρθωσαν πάλιν• ὑμᾶς δ' ἐγὼ πομποῖσιν ἐκ πάντων δίχα ἔστειλ' ἱκέσθαι, τοῦτο μὲν τὰ Λαΐου 165 σέβοντας εἰδὼς εὖ θρόνων ἀεὶ κράτη, τοῦτ' αὖθις, ἡνίκ' Οἰδίπους ὤρθου πόλιν, κἀπεὶ διώλετ', ἀμφὶ τοὺς κείνων ἔτι παῖδας μένοντας ἐμπέδοις φρονήμασιν.

Wielka, groźna historia wróciła. Katastrofa ekologiczna, światowy krach gospodarczy, pandemia, cierpienie mas uchodźców, okrutna wojna w Europie, kryzys liberalnej demokracji. Ta książka powstała z przekonania, że razem ze starożytnymi Grekami możemy lepiej zrozumieć nasz świat. To z ich cywilizacji wyrosła nasza. Przyjrzyjmy się z bliska ich kulturze, religii, teatrowi, rozrywkom, a także wojnom, polityce, demokracji. Od Homera do Aleksandra Wielkiego. Poznajmy sposoby radzenia sobie Greków z kryzysami i… uczmy się na ich błędach.

A deeper understanding of sport cannot remain only in rational discourse that transforms reality into quantified data but must descend into philosophical areas that also accept the multiple figurativeness of symbols. By means of not literal but metaphorical truthfulness, sport can then be examined as a potential space of hierophany, that is, the manifestation of the sacred in the sphere of the profane. The paper argues in favor of the thesis that a more precise description of hierophany can highlight the difference between the presentation and representation of the sacred. While the physical activities that were part of the religious cult of archaic societies can be considered hierophanies in the mode of presentation (making present) of the sacred, no such direct parallel can be drawn for modern sport. Sport can be seen through the lens of implicit religion as a representation (an agency), not a presentation of the sacred.

Among Nina Braginskaya’s many contributions to Classical studies,
two have changed the very shape of the field in Russia and internationally:
her translation of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and her publications
of Olga Freidenberg’s works. In a spirit of exploration that (it is hoped)
owes something to Nina Vladimirovna’s research, I attempt in what follows
to bring Aristotle’s theory of ēthos into dialogue with Freidenberg’s.

Política de Aristóteles não é famosa apenas por sua teoria das constituições, mas por suas declarações sobre a natureza humana. De acordo com a afirmação central da antropologia política de Aristóteles, o homem é, por natureza, um animal político (phusei politikon zôon). Essa famosa afirmação é apresentada como a conclusão do primeiro conjunto de argumentos que Aristóteles desenvolve no segundo capítulo do livro I da Política (Pol., I, 2, 1252a24-1253a3). A afirmação de Aristóteles está inextricavelmente ligada à alegação de que a polis existe por natureza (phusei), que ele menciona na mesma frase, como parte de sua conclusão: "A partir dessas considerações, é evidente que a polis é uma das coisas que existem por natureza, e que o homem é, por natureza, um animal político" (Pol., I, 2, 1253a1-3). Evidentemente, as afirmações de que a polis existe por natureza e de que o homem é, por natureza, um animal político são complementares. Este artigo apresenta uma interpretação das duas afirmações ou teses complementares, argumentando que, em Pol., I, 2, Aristóteles concebe exclusivamente os seres humanos como animais políticos porque todo o capítulo se concentra na análise da polis, uma comunidade peculiar aos seres humanos. Ele também examina a afirmação de Aristóteles de que a polis "é por natureza anterior (proteron) à família e ao indivíduo" (Pol., I, 2, 1253a18-19). O artigo discorda dos estudiosos que entendem essa afirmação como uma terceira tese e um teorema independentes e argumenta que a afirmação de Aristóteles funciona como um forte argumento para a tese de que o homem é, por natureza, um animal político. Além disso, afirma que Aristóteles não defende uma teoria orgânica da polis nem tem uma "tendência ao totalitarismo" (J. Barnes). Palavras-Chave: Aristóteles. Antropologia política. Existência natural. Polis. Animal político. Prioridade da polis. Unidade da política. Teoria orgânica da pólis. Totalitarismo.  A tradução deste artigo ao português foi autorizada pelo responsável editorial das Éditions de la Sorbonne. O texto original foi publicado por Dr. Manuel Knoll em: "Aristotle's Arguments for his Political Anthropology and the Natural Existence of the Polis", in: Refik Güremen/ Annick Jaulin (eds.

The aim of this paper is to show the active presence and participation of a conspicuous oligarchic family —through the three generations represented by Adeimantos, Aristeos and Aeneas— in the Corinthian public life and foreign politics during the fifth century B.C.

Hace cinco anos Lisa Kallet-Marx, en la introduccion de su celebrado libro Money, Expense and Naval Power in Thucydides 1-5.24 (Berkeley 1993), senalaba el placer y la recompensa que se obtiene siempre que se vuelve a trabajar sobre el texto tucidideo (pag. xi). Es una opinion que comparto plenamente, como tambien debe de hacerlo George Cawkwell, que despues de medio siglo de investigacion en el campo de la Grecia clasica nos ofrece ahora una obra (Thucydides and tite Peloponnesian War, Londres-Nueva York, Routledge, 1997, 162 pags), sobre la que propongo una reflexion critica desde estas paginas, que tiene como nudo central poner a prueba la validez del testimonio de Tucidides paralos sucesos que relata y los personajes que presenta, un nuevo desafio al dictwn de A. Powell: «es por ser tan respetado por lo que la critica hacia el trabajo de Tucidides continua» (Athens ?md Sparta, Londres 1988, pag. 137). El libro de Cawkwell es, por tanto, una prueba mas de la actualidad del debate...

This article discusses one of the basic concepts in political science and international relations, namely realism. As a perspective often used to analyze various political phenomena, it is essential to re-understand the concept of realism itself as a whole. This article attempts to provide a clear picture of what realism is meant and explain the history of realism from various realism thinkers. This article reviews the realism concept of 4 characters, namely Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Morgenthau. This article explains that each thinker has their arguments for explaining realism. Hopefully, this article can provide readers with a complete understanding of realism as a concept or perspective often used in political science.

This article reconsiders the remarkable sequence of funeral oration, plague description and Pericles’ final speech at Thucydides 2.34-65 as a test-case of the way in which the historian exposes the profound contingency of history and yet claims to interpret the underlying meanings of historical processes. The argument concentrates on a neglected feature of the passage – four occurrences (twice in Pericles’ mouth, twice in the historian’s narrative) of the term μεταβολή, a “transformation” or radical turn of events, and a word with tragic associations. The repeated appearances of this term are analysed as an index of Thucydides’ dramatisation of the historical dialectic between Periclean ideology (which treats the Athenian polis as a supra-personal entity whose fame will never die) and the uncontrollable forces of war, as symbolised by the radical contingency of the plague. Though acknowledging the risk of material disaster, Pericles’ funeral oration and final speech express an “anti-tragic” conviction that contingency can be transcended by a collective commitment to the beloved city’s perpetual glory. Thucydides’ own perspective, however, while affirming his admiration for Pericles, may itself be tragic in its perception of the disparity between a Periclean vision of Athens and the ultimate damage done to the city’s identity and values by the experience of war.

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A escolha de Aspásia para autora de um epitaphios logos, no contexto da Guerra de Corinto (392-386 a.C.), não é só, face ao Górgias, um exercício retórico e satírico, na continuidade do epitaphios logos de Péricles (Thuc. 2.35-46): é também homenagem aos dotes oratórios e políticos de Aspásia, atestando a doutrina de Rp. V sobre a capacidade de intervenção das mulheres na Cidade. Há, não obstante, uma sensível vertente auto-paródica em temas afins ao livro III da República, que se desenvolvem em torno do gennaion pseudos "a nobre mentira" (414c). A lição da comédia faz-se sentir também nas frequentes inversões e exageros grotescos com que mito e história são convocados no epainos (elogio) de Atenas para afirmar uma physis distinta ateniense, explicada pela sua isogonia (igualdade de origem-a terra ática), estreitamente ligada ao mito da autoctonia. Para este atenocentrismo já anacrónico concorre ainda o tratamento burlesco das antíteses sofísticasphysis/ nomos, hellenikon/ barbaron. Por contraste, a seriedade da paramythia (consolação aos vivos), revela a outra face da ligação de Platão à Cidade, resumida no catuliano odi et amo, invocado por Friedlaender.

Already in ancient times, Greek authors often compare their characters to other characters found in the collective memory of myths. In Homer's works the mythical paradigm is introduced to encourage or to comfort the addressee. In order to produce similar paradigms, Homer is even ready to invent or alter significant details of the myth (Il. XXIV 599-620). Turning to the dramatic uses of the mythical paradigm, Ino’s example in Euripides’ "Medea" (1282-1289) and Procne’s example in Euripides’ "Heracles" (1016-1020) reload around the filicide committed by them. Taking into account the couples Medea-Ino and Heracles-Procne, it appears that in each couple one character is acting out of madness, while the other one in full awareness of her own deeds. So, Euripides compares his heroes with characters that, although similar, are not strictly identical to them. This chapter will argue via Ino’s and Procne’s specimina how Euripides, in the selection of examples from the collective memory of myths, appears to be suffering from a sort of “selective amnesia”. In particular, I will show that only exchanging the first illustrans with the second in the examples of both "Medea" and "Heracles", a complete relevance with the corresponding illustrandum can be obtained. Euripides separates the mythical example from the dramatic reality as much as possible, and, at the same time, he presents it emphatically as the most similar case offered by the whole tradition. In this way, he tries to isolate his characters and to present them as unjustifiable (in the case of Medea) or inconsolable (in the case of Heracles). Surely, Euripides could have chosen more suitable characters as examples for Medea’s and Heracles’ sufferings. An intentionality in his choice of antiphrastic examples is evident, especially in comparison with the Homeric use of mythical examples, which is totally opposed to the Euripidean one.

Das Paradigma aus dem Mythos wird von Homer verwendet, um zu ermutigen oder zu trösten. Bei Euripides hingegen dienen die meisten Paradigmen dazu, den Schmerz des Protagonisten zu verstärken. Das Ino-Paradigma (Med. 1282-1289) und das Prokne-Paradigma (HF 1016-1024) stellen zwei gute Beispiele dafür dar. Unter Berücksichtigung der Paare Medea-Ino und Herakles-Prokne lässt sich beobachten, dass bei jedem Paar eine Figur in einem Zustand des Wahnsinns handelt, wobei die andere bei vollem Bewusstsein ist. Somit vergleicht Euripides seine Helden mit kontrastierenden Figuren. Durch mein Kapitel möchte ich zeigen, wie Euripides-überspitzt formuliert-an einer Art ‚selektiver Amnesie' bei der Auswahl von Beispielen aus dem mythologischen Repertoire zu leiden scheint. Denn Euripides versucht, in seinen Paradigmen zwei Figuren in Beziehung zu setzen, die in der mythischen Tradition jedoch wenige Gemeinsamkeiten aufweisen. Somit zielt Euripides darauf ab, seine Figuren zu isolieren und sie als völlig hilflos (wie im Fall von Herakles) oder als unentschuldbar (wie im Fall von Medea) darzustellen. Euripides hätte geeignetere Paradigmen für Medeas bzw. Herakles' Schmerzen wählen können. Eine Intentionalität bei der Wahl gegensätzlicher Beispiele ist offensichtlich, insbesondere im Vergleich mit dem Einsatz von Paradigmen bei Homer.

This paper mainly focuses on rejecting the much-upheld view regarding the rise of China as a global power. It is widely believed that China being a socialist polity will try to overthrow the liberal world order. The paper tries to establish the view that China because of its political priorities will uphold the current system and will emerge as what the Singaporean political analyst, Mahbubani has called the "Asian Inheritors of Western Legacy". The paper explores China's economic engagement with the rest of the world according to the rules of the liberal multilateral world order. It also discusses China's role as a "responsible player" in world affairs. The conclusion arrived at rejecting the position of China as a revisionist power.

E.H. Carr’s thought and approach to international relations have been the subject of several recent works. Though the insights offered by this new literature are extremely valuable, the lack of engagement with Carr’s wider oeuvre—including Britain: A Study of Foreign Policy from the Versailles Treaty to the Outbreak of War, Conditions of Peace, The New Society, Nationalism and After, History of the Soviet Union Series, and articles—has inhibited the level of understanding we have gained of his thought. This paper offers a reinterpretation of Carr’s theory of international law that challenges the prevailing arch-realist reading of his theory. It explores the distinct elements of Carr’s thought on the limits and problems of international law, revealing his insights into the nature of international law and the ways in which it is affected by national interests and nationalism. Finally, this paper argues that this rarely tackled and misunderstood aspect of Carr’s theory of international relations is clearly present in his works and that it provides a powerful commentary on the fundamental problems faced by international law.

This book contributes to the dissemination - first and foremost to a Western audience - of the Chinese intellectual life at the beginning of the 20th. Century, and specially of the metaphysical and political thought of Zhang Binglin, with a deepening analysis of his usage of Yogacara Buddhism for a foundation of the new Chinese subject that was to give way to a movement of freedom, independence and autonomy in the oppressive historical setting of those times. It concludes with a reflection on the world traditions of critique of expansionism and on the presumably special position that China might have adopted basing on this principles and approaches.

A decade ago, “great power competition” was an arcane term but now it is a common cliché. What is the intellectual history of great power rivalry and how does it relate to the infamous political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli? This seminar will explore these questions by examining major articulations of political realism in their historical context. We begin by studying the birth of “republican realism” in Renaissance Florence through the writings of Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) and Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540). We then turn towards the redeployment and reinterpretation of these early realist ideas in German political thought during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Subsequently, we consider the impact of these two historical moments in shaping the burgeoning field of international relations (IR) during “the American century.” In the final weeks of the course, we consider realism’s legacy in our present as we grapple with global climate change and Sino-American competition. Through this seminar, students will explore the relationship between domestic politics and foreign affairs; the cultivation and maintenance of civic virtue; problems of empire, hierarchy, class, and race; and the ever-evolving dynamics between the individual, the state, and the broader geopolitical environment.

Desde siempre guerras y democidios han impactado más que otros desastres o causas de muerte y han dejado rastros más duraderos en la memoria colectiva. Las sociedades mono-étnicas tendian a darle a la Violencia Colectiva una explicación sobrenatural, atribuyendo la responsabilidad a los dioses o a los “otros”. Solían disfrazar tal explicación en forma épica y en mitos. El ejemplo más famoso es la Iliada de Homero.
En ese artículo se propone la teoría, que ha sido una conjunción de urbanización multi-étnica con una apertura social la que ha facilitado a dos historiadores de lengua griega un apliación de su esfera empática y un cambio de paradigmas, con lo qual pudieron encarar el pasado y sus eventos bélicos de forma racional y puramente “terrestre”. Se propone considerar como componente fundamental de ese proceso la pérdida de credibilidad de los dioses olímpicos. La hazaña civilizatora de Roma ha sido sucesivamente la de extender la esfera empática de los individuos a todos los conciudadanos de un territorio de extensión continental.
De hecho han sido los primeros indagadores del pasado de su propria ciudad/isla/región (y non de su tribu), los “logógrafos” (“que escribían en prosa”), los que a partir de mediados de la mitad del primer milenio antes de Cristo han efectuado el desacople de la historiografía de la mitologia/religión. Esa emancipación fue culminada por Heródoto, el “padre de la historiografía”. Ha sido el que acuñó el termino “história” (que en griego significa “investigación”), que debía abarcar tambien a los hechos y los puntos de vista de los “barbaros” y ha sido el que definió como finalidad de la “investigación del pasado”: descubrir las causas de la Violencia Colectiva, evidentemente para evitar que continue martirizando a los seres humanos.
En ese artículo se pasa revista en forma resumida a las obra de más de 150 historiadores de la Antigüedad bajo los aspectos, en que medida han focalizado la Violencia Colectiva y que marco explicatorio le han dado. Resulta que algunos (entre ellos Tucídides, Catón el Viejo, Polibio, Terencio Varro, Pompoyo Trogo y Apiano Alejandrino) llegaron a conclusiones que todavia hoy no están aceptadas por el “mainstream” científico: que los verdadores actores de la História y de la Violencia Colectiva son los “constructos sociales” (estados, ideologías) y non los individuos involucrados. Ya antes del Crisitianismo varios historiadores antiguos (ente otros Heródoto, Tucídides, Posidonio de Apamea, Diodoro Siculo, Lucano) le dieron una finalidad humanitaria a la historiografía: la de contibuir a la proteccion del Individuo de uno de los abusos del Poder que es la Violencia Colectiva.
Con el advenimiento del Cristianismo la religión y elites mono-étnicas volvieron a tomar el poder explicativo sobre la historiografía y lo mantuvieron hasta el Alto Medio Evo. Retomando una famosa frase de Gustave Flaubert, podemos entonces definir la historiografía occidental de la Antigüedad como surgida en el interreino, cuando los dioses olimpicos de los conquistadores proto-griegos no más dominaron y el dios abrámico del Cristianismo no había todavia tomado el poder

Eusebius has been recognized as the most innovative Greek historian of the later Roman Empire, largely on the grounds that his Chronicle, Ecclesiastical History, and Life of Constantine diverge from, and creatively combine, previous historical models. The Caesarean scholar's awareness of his innovations, however, has been disputed: was he consciously generating new paradigms for writing about past events, institutions, and individuals, or obliviously applying Christian forms alien to the Greek historical tradition? This paper addresses this question with a test case: Eusebius' knowl

This article considers the vocabulary of sexual violence in the Periegesis Hellados. The vocabulary of sexual assault in the Periegesis encompasses the related noun and verb pairings ἁρπαγή and ἁρπάζω, αἰσχύνη and αἰσχύνω, βία and βιάζω, and ὕβρις, ὑβρίζω. All denote ‘rape’ defined as ‘nonconsensual sex’ (though matters of consent are sometimes ambiguous), but they are not used interchangeably in the text. Several patterns emerge from this analysis: first, the language of violence and sacrilege correlates with suffering in Pausanias’ usage, so the more explicitly violent and transgressive the sexual assault, the more likely it is that aspects of the victim’s experience and agency will be included in the account. Second, racial formation is a key operator in the narratives of sexual assault, so Greek stereotypes about barbarian alterity are amplified in the representations of rape in Pausanias’ text.

Thucydides Trap, is a term popularized by American political scientist Graham T. Allison to describe an apparent tendency towards war when an emerging power threatens to displace an existing great power as a regional or international hegemon. It was coined and is primarily used to describe a potential conflict between the United States and People's Republic of China. Are US and China going to War soon? The continued rhetoric in the South China sea makes one want to believe so. War, as we know it, however, is not expected. Economic and social conflict will escalate as China continues to challenge United States 'global hegemony'. In the early twentieth century, Japan, riding high on victory in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars and with a growing sphere of influence in Korea and Taiwan, was bitten by the hegemonic bug…strong and powerful, ready to bully oops, control others! Well, the premise of a prominent theory in International Relations (by Robert Gilpin and Stephen D. Krasner, among others) is that a hegemonic power is necessary to develop and uphold a stable international political and economic order; westerners and their hegemonic ideas. As Japanese expansion, particularly into China, threatened the American-led "Open Door" order in the Pacific (equal trade and investment opportunity), the United States became increasingly hostile toward Japan in the 1930s. The Thucydides Trap was sprung. The US sought to contain Japan by putting embargoes on its raw material imports, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and rest is history. Moving ahead in time, on 7 Oct 2022, the US Govt imposed export control regulations to target China's AI and Semiconductor Industry. Their aim appears to be contain Beijing's technical and military ambitions; …….'the trap'….. has been sprung on China! The Post-Cold War world has come to an end, and there is an intense competition underway to shape what comes next. At the heart of that competition is technology (at the heart of all modern technologies are semiconductors) Will China respond with war? The answer remains-War, as we know it, is not expected. What then would be China's response? China can and will restrict US access to important rare earth metals that China controls. (Rare Earth Metals-a collection of 17 elements that are valued for their conductive and magnetic properties) In Jul this year, Beijing imposed export controls on the strategic metals Gallium and Germanium, raising global fears that China could block exports of rare earths or processing technology next. Galleium and Germanium metals are used in high-speed computer chips and in the military and renewable energy sectors……………… a tit for tat? While in the 20 th Centuries, many wars were triggered by the Thucydides Trap, in the current era, perhaps the conflict will be more in the Grey Zone. Getting back to Hegemony one last time, my interpretation is that Hegemonic Masculinity shapes the bullying behaviour in adolescent males, and it never goes away.

Las inscripciones funerarias atenienses aportan testimonios directos e indirectos sobre las prin¬cipales instituciones de integración de extranjeros en la polis. En este artículo se presenta una selección de los epígrafes más significativos. En primer lugar, aquellos que incluyen las menciones más antiguas en Atenas del término próxeno (πρόξενος) y meteco (μέτοικος). En segundo lugar, las inscripciones dedicadas a isoteleîs, en las que se puede observar la transmisión del privilegio dentro de una misma familia, aunque sólo a través de la línea masculina. Y en último lugar un epí¬grafe en el que se documenta una naturalización en una familia de metecos procedente de Sinope.Funerary inscriptions can be a source of direct or indirect evidence for the study of those Athenian institutions aiming to integrate the foreigners in the polis. This paper presents a selection of signi¬ficant epitaphs. On the one hand the most ancient examples for the words próxenos and métoikos in Athens are fou...

The contribution focusses on the Boiotian presence in Asia Minor. Despite the general dismissal
of the traditions on the Boiotian migration, the presence of this group can be detected
both in Aiolis and in Ionia. The author concentrates on the nature of the ancient literary
tradition and chooses two case studies: a first one is related to two Aiolian islands (Tenedos
and Lesbos), whereas the second one is the Boiotian contribution to the Ionian migration.
The nature itself of the sources allows us to detect the Boiotian presence and to identify two
strategies through which this tradition was preserved, namely the action of private aristocratic
families and the role of common sanctuaries as reservoirs of collective memory.

Thucydides’ Ukrainian War. Here is how, I submit, one may try to use Thucydides to interpret the war in Ukraine, with its moral and political implications.
A complementary article using Herodotus is to be found here: https://laviedesidees.fr/Vous-allez-detruire-un-grand-pays.html 
Both are forthcoming in a book (in Polish) to be published in Autumn by Wydawnictwo Iskry.