IDENTIFICATIONS

Confederacy of Delos
Peloponnesian War (434-415 B.C.)
Pausanias
*Pericles
Cimon
Cleon

LOCATIONS

*Sparta
*Athens
*Thebes
*Corinth
*Corcyra
Epidamnus
Potidaea
*Chalcidice
Megara
*Aegina
Scyros
*Boeotia
*Thessaly
*Mytilene
*Lesbos

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What causes, immediate or indirect, does Thucydides present for the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War? What facts does he adduce in support of his analysis?

Thucydides makes many observations in the long treatment of archaic Greece, but what was his purpose in including this "digression"? (1.2-19 & 23)

What value does Thucydides give to the traditions of early Greece? (1.20)

What principles does Thucydides lay down for the writing of history? How do speeches figure into his method? (1.21-23)

During the Debate at Sparta, who were the instigators (open or concealed) of a declaration of war on Athens? What were their complaints? What were their motives? (1.66-67)

What accusations do the Corinthians make against Athens? What do they say about Sparta? (1.68-71)

What response do the Athenians make to these accusations? How would you characterize Athenian statecraft? (1.73-79)

What is the advice of Archidamus, the king of Sparta? What are his rationales? (1.80-85)

What deeper motives does Thucydides ascribe to Sparta's decision to declare war on Athens? (1.88)

Why does Pericles deliver the Funeral Speech? What customs surrounded this event? (2.34)

Why does Pericles say that such a speech is difficult to deliver? What characteristic of human nature does he mention? (2.35)

Whom does Pericles praise first? Why? (2.36)

What does Pericles praise next? What elements does he focus on? (2.37-41)

What elements does Pericles focus on in praising the fallen? (2.42-43)

What comfort does Pericles offer the relatives of the fallen? (2.44-45)

What are the motives the led the Athenian assembly to order the destruction of Mitylene? (3.36)

What are the arguments of Cleon to uphold the decision to destroy Mitylene? (3.37-40)

What are the arguments of Diodotus to reverse the decision? In what ways do they agree or disagree with the arguments of Cleon? (3.42-48)