Drama, Oratory and Thucydides in Fifth-Century Athens: Teaching Imperial Lessons

Description

This study centres on the rhetoric of the Athenian empire, Thucydides’ account of the Peloponnesian War and the notable discrepancies between his assessment of Athens and that found in tragedy, funeral orations and public art. Mills explores the contradiction between Athenian actions and their self-representation, arguing that Thucydides’ highly critical, cynical approach to the Athenian empire does not reflect how the average Athenian saw his city’s power. The popular education of the Athenians, as presented to them in funeral speeches, drama and public art told a very different story from that presented by Thucydides’ history, and it was far more palatable to ordinary Athenians since it offered them a highly flattering portrayal of their city and, by extension, each individual who made up that city. Drama, Oratory and Thucydides in Fifth-Century Athens: Teaching Imperial Lessons offers a fascinating insight into Athenian self-representation and will be of interest to anyone working on classical Athens, the Greek polis and classical historiography. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgements 1 The Athenian . . . empire? 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Empire and rhetoric 1.3 Source problems and Athenian imperial rhetoric 1.4 “I would annex the planets if I could” (Cecil Rhodes) 1.5 “An empire exempt from all natural causes of decay” (Lord Macaulay) 1.6 “Imperious, irrepressible necessities of life” 1.7 “We do our humble best to retain by justice what we may have won by the sword” 1.8 The seductions of empire 2 Tragedy and Athens: Aeschylus and Sophocles 2.1 Introduction: Athens in and out of disaster 2.2 Aeschylus’ Persians 2.3 Aeschylus’ Eumenides 2.4 Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus 3 Euripides, empire and war 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Heraclidae 3.3 Suppliants 3.4 Heracles 3.5 Peirithous and Theseus 3.6 Ion 3.7 Erechtheus 3.8 Hippolytus 3.9 Trojan Women 4 Aristophanic Archē 4.1 Comedy, truth and Athens 4.2 Remnants of the ideal 4.3 Wasps 4.4 Acharnians 4.5 Knights 4.6 Peace 4.7 Birds 5 Thucydides: what was really said? 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Thucydides’ methods 5.3 Thucydides and mythology 5.4 Believing Thucydides 6 Thucydides’ Athens: Λόγῳ μέν . . . Ἔργῳι δέ 6.1 Book one 6.2 Book two 6.3 Book three 6.4 Book five 6.5 Book six 6.6 Book seven Bibliography Index