HIST 1A ESSAYS
-- Compare and contrast the historical method of Herodotus with that of Thucydides. -- What are the goals and methods of these two historians? --- Why, according to each of them, do things happen? -- In what ways does Herodotus resemble and/or differ from his predecessors in these respects? -- In what ways does Thucydides resemble and/or differ from Herodotus? -- Be sure to support your argument with specific examples from the texts of these two authors.
- Herodotus is considered the world's first historian, "the father of history." - Thucydides is credited with writing the first "scientific" history - Gods and legends played no role in his history of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, which took place in the late fifth century BC - Herodotus explored centuries of contacts between the ancient Greeks and the Persian Empire, culminating in the Persian Wars of the early fifth century BC. - Thucydides wrote only about events that occurred during his lifetime that he could verify through examination of written records and eyewitness accounts. He strived for complete objectivity, and in this way he pioneered the historical method used by historians today. - He tried not only to recount events, but to make sense of them. - Thucydides records one of the figures in his history as observing that men go to war out of "honor, fear, and interest," a formulation not improved upon in subsequent centuries. - To compile his history, Herodotus relied on oral accounts and he included gossip, myths, and rumors. Sometimes he would provide conflicting accounts of events and invite the reader to decide which to believe. - Thucydides determined that war could be avoided if humans would base their choices on reason rather than force. According to Thucydides, it was because Athenians violated this principle that they eventually suffered defeat at the hands of Sparta. - Herodotus' historical reliability depends on that of his predecessors, as his historical account is a composition that includes their notions of history, geography, natural history and anthropology, in a political and literary context. - A major distinction between Herodotus' and Thucydides' writings consists in their different assessment of what history is. - Herodotus' concept of history, focusing on the diversity of the universal human experience, contains an expansive field of human inquiry that, later, became to be known as Cultural History. - Thucydides, who presented history in context, focusing on political and military facts and events of his times, has been credited with writing the original "scientific" history. - Herodotus and Thucydides employ different strategies in recounting the story of history. - Herodotus narrates centuries of history within the mystery of cultures while Thucydides employs a reductionist and analytical strategy. - Thucydides rejects Herodotus' invocations of supernatural explanation when accounting for historical conflict. - Instead, Thucydides uses a scientific, inductive method of inquiry to construct his theory of history. He considers the actual events, examines the constraints and options available to the protagonists, and then searches for possible consequences of the events in order to speculate about the causes of the initial event. - His notions are always open to revision, without necessarily rejecting his previous explanations, but rather expanding his explanation in order to include this new information.
- Using the assigned selections from Plutarch's Lives of Lycurgus and Solon, and your readings in Herodotus and Thucydides - compare and contrast the political and social systems of Athens and Sparta from the Archaic period to the aftermath of the Persian Wars. - What factors account for the differences between these two cities?
- Greek city-states developed different forms of governance with very different political structures and strengths. - DIFFERENCES: The territory of Greece is mountainous; as a result, ancient Greece consisted of many smaller regions, each with its own dialect, cultural peculiarities, and identity. - Regionalism and regional conflicts were a prominent feature of ancient Greece. Cities tended to be located in valleys between mountains or on coastal plains and dominated the countryside around them. ATHENS - Athens developed democratic institutions and a culture of philosophy, science, and culture; it emerged as a powerful state and allied with other city-states, forming the Delian League. - Resistance to Athens' power among the other Greek city-states, particularly Sparta, prompted the Peloponnesian War. - its power and wealth was further bolstered by the discovery of silver in the neighboring mountains. - Athens transitioned through different systems of government as its population grew and became wealthier through maritime trade. - The first series of laws written to address these inequities was provided by the statesman Draco around 621 BCE, but the laws were considered too severe—the penalty for most infractions was death - An aristocrat named Solon was called upon to modify and revise these harsh laws; he created a series of laws which equalized political power. - Two of the changes for which Solon was responsible were the cancellation of debts and the abolition of debt slavery - He also created opportunities for some common people to participate in the government of Athens. In doing so, Solon laid the groundwork for democracy in Athens. - Still, Athenian democracy was limited to its male citizens. Foreigners, enslaved people, and women were excluded from these institutions. SPARTA - Usually classified as an "oligarchy" (rule by a few) - The strict separation of classes and militaristic system was put into place by Lycurgus in the 7th century BC. - three classes: spariates, perioeci, and helots - said to visit the Oracle of Apollo and brought back a document called the Great Law that would become the cornerstone of Greek law - Spartans held helots under the spartan state - Spartan society itself did not have a complex social hierarchy, at least in theory. Instead of wealth being a distinguishing marker, social status was determined by military achievements. Strength and discipline were emphasized, even in children at a very young age. - At age seven, Spartan boys were separated from their families and sent to live in military barracks, where they underwent serious military training, leading up to active service when they were barely out of their teens. - The Spartan political system was unusual in that it had two hereditary kings from two separate families. These monarchs were particularly powerful when one of them led the army on campaign. - Women in Sparta had more rights than women in other Greek city-states.
-- Consider Sophocles' Oedipus the King as an example of Greek tragedy. -- What typical elements are present in the play? -- how do they manifest themselves in the particular case of Oedipus? -- What can we learn from the play about Greek ideas concerning fate, guilt, and the character and role of the divine?
- The main tragic character must possess great status and ideal qualities; but he must also have a weakness, though not a moral flaw —this weakness is called 'hamartia'. - The consequence of the character's own error of judgment or of his wrong action must bring the fall, from which there is no escape. - The consequence of the character's own error of judgment or of his wrong action must bring the fall, from which there is no escape. - This character also exhibits a tragic flaw and takes responsibility for their actions and accepts the punishment. - This should give us the sense of inevitability, making us accept and realize the reality and the weakness of the character. - The reversal and discovery must reveal to the character and the audience the cause of the character's undoing and downfall. It should not be the doing of the external forces, like supernatural forces or of fate and chance. - His tragic weakness is that in the confidence of what he knows or can know he becomes too careless and disrespectful towards the gods, the fate that the oracles have disclosed for him: he defies to any inner voice and wisdom with regards to fate and destiny. - We are moved to fear and pity at the end of the play not because Oedipus is sinful, but because he's always tried to do the right thing. The terrible irony is that his desire to do the right thing that brings about his destruction. When Oedipus gouges out his eyes at the end of the play, he symbolically becomes the thing he's always been: blind to the unknowable complexity of the universe.
