Thucydides and Internal War - Softcover

Price, Jonathan J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521036631 ISBN 13: 9780521036634

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

In this 2001 book Jonathan Price attempts to demonstrate that Thucydides consciously viewed and presented the Peloponnesian War in terms of a condition of civil strife - stasis, in Greek. Thucydides defines stasis as a set of symptoms indicating an internal disturbance in both individuals and states. This diagnostic method, in contrast to all other approaches in antiquity, allows an observer to identify stasis even when the combatants do not or cannot openly acknowledge the nature of their conflict. The words and actions which Thucydides chooses for his narrative meet his criteria for stasis: the speeches in the History represent the breakdown of language and communication characteristic of internal conflict, and the zeal for victory led to acts of unusual brutality and cruelty, and overall disregard for genuinely Hellenic customs, codes of morality and civic loyalty. Viewing the Peloponnesian War as a destructive internal war had profound consequences for Thucydides' historical vision.

About this title

Review:

'... valuable insights on virtually every aspect of Thucydides' work.' Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Book Description:

This 2001 book explains in detail Thucydides' abstract model of internal war, and then shows how, by the terms of the model itself, Thucydides perceived and narrated the Peloponnesian War not as a conventional war but as an internal conflict.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0521036631
• ISBN 13: 9780521036634
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 424