Conference - Thucydides : A possession for all time
By P.J. Rhodes, Durham University
Hosted by Edith Foster (USIAS Fellow 2014)
The study of Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian War, like the study of the classics more generally, has changed in focus over the decades. Formerly, more elementary students had to understand and translate his text, while historians regarded him as a paragon of objectivity and truthfulness, and there was a Thucydidean Question, like the Homeric Question, about what parts of his text were written at what times. But since about 1950 classical texts have been subjected to literary study of newer kinds, Thucydides has been seen as an ‘artful reporter’ rather than as a chronicler of truth, and the question of composition has been brushed aside, so that the text can be read as if it were exactly the finished work which Thucydides wanted his readers to have. In view of Thucydides’ own involvement in the events of which he writes, it was always misguided to regard him as totally dispassionate, but there are no good grounds to doubt that he tried hard and intelligently to establish the truth, even though he may not always have succeeded.
His history is particularly valuable because he used it not only to chronicle the Peloponnesian War but to reflect on more general issues. He was not totally pessimistic, as some readers have thought, but believed that intelligent people could learn from history; the frequency of discussions of the nature of Athenian power perhaps results from his being torn between admiration of what his city had achieved under Pericles and horror at its being achieved through lawlessness on a large scale. Nearly always he wrote as a man not believing in religion or interested in religion, but there are some passages where perhaps he was careless or perhaps some interest and belief can be found after all. And he has been found ‘good to think with’ by people facing a variety of situations in the world’s later history. The study of the Greeks and Romans is valuable not only because it teaches us to think, but because in various fields it presents us with material which is worth thinking about; for those who engage in it, it is an enjoyable study; and there are still able people who study the subject in interesting and worthwhile ways.
The English-language text of his public lecture can be downloaded from here.
P. J. Rhodes
P.J. Rhodes is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History, Durham University, England. He was was educated at the University of Oxford, where he studied Classics and wrote his D. Phil. thesis that was published as The Athenian Boule (1972). He has worked at the University of Durham, in the north-east of England, since 1965, was Professor of Ancient History from 1983 to 2005, and is now Honorary Professor and Emeritus Professor. Prof. Rhodes is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Foreign Member of the Royal Danish Academy, a Fellow of the Fondazione Lorenzo Valla and an Honorary Member of the Greek Epigraphic Society. In the last 2 years he has been the President of England’s Classical Association.
Prof. Rhodes has taken a particular interest in political institutions and political behaviour in Greece, and also in the sources for Greek history, both literary and epigraphic. His authored books include A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia (1981), with D. M. Lewis, The Decrees of the Greek States (1997), A History of the Classical Greek World, 478–323 BC (2006), Ancient Democracy and Modern Ideology (2003), A Short History of Ancient Greece (2014), and other short books on Alcibiades (2011) and Thucydides (2015). For Penguin Classics Prof. Rhodes has translated [Aristotle] The Athenian Constitution (1984). He has, in addition, produced editions of Thucydides, Books I, II, III and IV.1–V.24 (1988–2014) and, with J. L. Marr, [Xenophon] The Athenian Constitution (2008). With R. G. Osborne Prof. Rhodes is currently editing Greek Historical Inscriptions, 478–404 B.C. and has published Greek Historical Inscriptions, 404–323 BC (2003).
Programme
16:00 Introduction (English and French) by Dr David M. Pritchard (USIAS) and Prof. Dominique Lenfant (Institute of Greek History)
16:15 Public Lecture: Thucydides: A Possession for All Time (English) by Prof. P. J. Rhodes.
17:15 Questions (English and French)
17: 45 Drinks
Organised by Dr David Pritchard, University of Queensland and USIAS Fellow 2015, together with the Institute for Greek History.
