Apparently my re-reading of Herodotus last year represented good timing. I just stumbled across the Marathon2500 Project: “Commemorating the 2,500-year anniversary of The Battle of Marathon. Free phone/web-based lectures, reading groups & more”. While I have missed the lectures by Paul Cartledge, Peter Krentz, Victor Davis Hanson, and Thomas Harrison, the podcasts are available at […]
This post looks at Chapters 1 through 83 of Book Five, covering the end of the one-year truce, the second battle of Amphipolis, and the beginning of the “false peace”. All quotes come from the Thomas Hobbes translation. As usual with Thucydides, he has packed a lot of information into a short passage. I will […]
I’m going to take a break today from reading and posting. Well, except for this post, which will ramble about my first (remembered) introduction to Thucydides. I was an impressionable third-grader when my parents decided to go see “Patton”. For some reason, they decided to take me. The theater was so crowded we had to […]
This post looks at Chapters 89 – 135 of Book Four, covering the winter of 424/3 BC through the spring of 422 BC. Included in this section is the battle of Delium, one of the major ground battles during the entire Peloponnesian War. All quotes come from the Thomas Hobbes translation. Map of Ancient AtticaDelium […]
Thanks to Kerry at Hungry Like the Woolf for pointing to this post at Caustic Cover Critic on the Visual Editions’ The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Additional pictures of the edition can be found at Visual Editions’ Flickr page (above photo from that page) More pictures of the book from A Practice […]
Map of ancient Greece Five hundred chapters to go. Not that I’m counting. This post looks at Chapters 52 – 88 of Book Four, covering the summer of 424 BC. As you might have guessed from the subjects in the post heading it was a busy few months. All quotes come from the Thomas Hobbes […]
The first fifty-one chapters of Book Four cover activity that occurred in 425BC. I’ll focus on the Athenians setting up fortifications at Pylus (as spelled in my version, “Pylos” in most modern texts) and their siege of the Spartans on the island of Sphacteria. All quotes come from the Thomas Hobbes translation. Pylus can be […]
The last chapters of Book Three, from Chapters 86 to 116, reflect a change in strategy in the war for Sparta and Athens and Thucydides’ narrative changes to follow the activity. Also, as the war progresses, new characters emerge as significant players in the history. There is a lot going on in this short section […]
Map of Greece Corcyra (Corfu) is located toward the upper left (c1) Plataea isn’t depicted, but is southwest of Thebes (E4) Picture sourceThe post’s title comes from Leo Strauss’ essay on Thucydides and it describes perfectly the short section in Book Three, Chapters 51 – 85, covering the fall of Plataea and the civil strife […]
Map of ancient Greek world Picture sourceThis post looks at the first fifty chapters of Book Three, covering the revolt of Lesbos (with a focus on Mytilene) and the remarkable Athenian speeches of Cleon and Diodotus. All quotes come from the Thomas Hobbes translation unless otherwise noted. And you can’t imagine the restraint I’ve had […]
Library of Congress gets first big gift of major label music The largest music company in the world has just given the largest audio-visual gift ever to one of the largest libraries in the world, the US Library of Congress. Universal will donate more than 200,000 master recordings from the 1920s-1940s to the Library, which […]
The Athenian empire (and surrounding areas) around 450 BC Picture source (I’m recycling this picture since it has the cities/regions mentioned in this post)This post looks at the end of Book Two (Chapters 66 – 103), covering from Pericles’ last speech to the end of the third year of the war. All quotes come from […]
The Plague of Athens by Michael Sweerts Picture sourceThis post looks at Book Two Chapters 47 – 65, which covers part of the second year of the war (430BC). All quotes come from the Thomas Hobbes translation. I realize I’m loading up on the quotes in this post, but I hope they prove helpful. Plague […]
This post looks at Book Two through the first 46 chapters. All quotes come from the Thomas Hobbes translation. Spartan strategy The Spartan king Archidamus attempted to dissuade his countrymen from declaring war against Athens in Book One (chapters 80 – 85). Archidamus raised the following concerns: Athens would be a powerful foe, a war […]
Bust of Pericles Inscription: “Pericles, son of Xanthippus, Athenian” Picture sourceThe question I’m focusing on in Book One centers on Thucydides’ claim for the reason for the Peloponnesian War. Not that I’m hoping to resolve the actual reasons…it’s more like I’m trying to understand Thucydides’ outlook…knowing where to take him with a grain of salt […]
“Are you sure?” (Apparently not…we ended up with a Hank the Cowdog book)
The Athenian empire (and surrounding areas) around 450 BC Picture source Pentecontaetia (Greek, “the period of fifty years”) is the term used to refer to the period in Ancient Greek history between the defeat of the second Persian invasion of Greece at Plataea in 479 BC and the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. (from Wikipedia) […]
Speaking of pretexts, I was about to throw out (long overdue) my lone Shakespeare Santa Cruz shirt and wanted to test out my new phone’s camera. So here we go. Not pictured is the shoulder and sleeve discolored from falling down a hill during a hike on Kauai. The red-lava dirt permanently stained it, but […]
Chalcidice in northern Greece(For those that followed Herodotus, Xerxes’ canal northwest of Mount Athos is noted)Picture source “For they love innovation, and are swift to devise, and also to execute what they resolve on. But you on the contrary are only apt to save your own; not devise any thing new, nor scarce to attain […]
Map of ancient Greek world Picture source This was the first cause that the Corinthians had of war against the Athenians: namely, because they had taken part with the Corcyræans in a battle by sea against the Corinthians, with whom they were comprised in the same articles of peace. I’ll apologize about the length of […]