...This chapter examines Thucydides's view of the possibilities and limits of human freedom by focusing on his presentation of Pericles. It begins with the Athenians blaming Pericles as the cause of the Peloponnesian War and goes on to assess the extent to which Thucydides presents Pericles...

...This chapter examines Alcibiades's place in Thucydides's reflections on freedom by focusing on his advocacy of the Sicilian expedition during the Peloponnesian War. During the sixteenth year of the war, the Athenians invaded the island of Melos. Soon after the Athenian forces destroyed Melos...

...This chapter details Alcibiades' entry into politics. The first mention of Alcibiades in Thucydides' work refers to the year 420 BCE. Thucydides' introduction lacks the personal charm found in Plato, but it goes straight to the heart of the man's character. The juxtaposition of contrasting motives...

...This chapter discusses Thucydides' and Hobbes's ideas of human nature, which are often said to be very similar. International relations theorists are just as much prone to this mistake as others, referring to Thucydides, as they do to Hobbes, as a “realist.” Hobbes's view is close to the view...

... describes to the audience. This description repeats some important episodes and tactics of the “battle of Delion” in 424 B.C., as told by Thucydides. Historians and critics have shown that the odd episode described in lines 678–79 resonates as an allusion to the presence in the Theban army of a special...

...This book explores Thucydides's commitment to the cause of freedom. Although historians are not known for embracing a cause, a closer look at History of the Peloponnesian War shows that freedom was a central theme for Thucydides. In this account, cities and individuals take freedom...

...This book concludes with a discussion of two digressions that Thucydides makes concerning Athens's past and their implications for his own freedom: the place of the supposed Athenian tyrant slayers in Thucydides's work and his digression on the Athenian statesman Themistocles. It first considers...

...This book argues for the centrality of the idea of freedom in Thucydides's thought. Through a close reading of his History of the Peloponnesian War, the book explores the manifestations of this theme. Cities and individuals in Thucydides's history take freedom as their goal...

...This concluding chapter argues that Thucydides' approach to politics is more preferable than Hobbes's. Hobbes, despite his pessimistic assumptions about human nature, is not realistic. Is it realistic to assume that all people act predictably, that they are always guided strictly by self-interest...

... objectives, was appalled by the risks Athens was taking. He used a subsequent session of the Assembly, supposedly to deal with armaments, to raise the question of the whole affair once more. Thucydides provided the two main speeches of Nicias and Alcibiades, followed by Nicias's final pitch. During the rest...

... seen in history. Alcibiades betrayed Athens in the middle of the war, switching from one side to the other. Moreover, in the speech given him by Thucydides, at the time of his arrival in Sparta, he is seen not only playing the part of a traitor providing Sparta with invaluable information; Thucydides...

... his career and attempted to assess it. First Thucydides, and shortly after, Xenophon's Hellenica. Questions about Alcibiades and opinions of him preoccupied many others. Alcibiades' son also underwent trials. Socrates was tried and condemned to death at this time, an event...

...This book has been consistently cited by scholars of international relations who explore the roots of realism in Thucydides' history and the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. While acknowledging that neither thinker fits perfectly within the confines of international relations realism...

...This chapter examines the difference between Thucydides and Hobbes on the issue of justice. The difference between what should be and what is reverberates in Thucydides' moral dramas. All the characters recognize the tension between justice and the demands of power politics. Thucydides equates...

...This chapter looks at the similarities and differences between Thucydides and Hobbes on the subject of regimes. Hobbes was convinced that Thucydides had proved the absurdity of democracy and the desirability of absolute monarchy. However, Hobbes misread Thucydides on this point. For Hobbes...

...This chapter examines Thucydides's account of Brasidas, Sparta's greatest military hero, who spearheads the liberation of subjected cities from Athens in the name of his city, Hellas. It begins by discussing Thucydides's introduction of Sparta through the Corinthians' attempt to move Sparta to war...

...This chapter examines Thucydides's account of the efforts of both Alcibiades and Nicias to return home once they leave Athens on the Sicilian expedition, along with the problems that their homecomings present for human freedom. Alcibiades is recalled home to stand trial for charges of impiety...