Although, trade and financial advantages were often the most prominent, yet hidden cause of conflict in the Greek World. The Sicilian Expedition overwhelmingly demonstrates that the Economy was of major importance to Athens, which directly led to a large scale conflict. Athens sailed Thousands of miles to Sicily as they misbelieved the Island was full of treasures which the local towns possessed. Also, Sicily was in a advantageous position, being close to the African and Italian coast, which would help enhance Athens’s wealth. Although it can be argued that Alcibiades initiated the invasion, Athens’s would not have led a costly campaign to Sicily just because of one man.
In the eighth century B.C.E., Hellenic Athens was an oligarchic government. The few kings, however, were overruled by the nobility due to the rise of the middle class. This allowed the tyrants to influence the archons and the popular assembly to ratify laws that protected the people. Many significant figures influenced this movement such as Draco, the man who helped establish written laws in Athens in 621 B.C.E. ; Solon, the man who encouraged trade and the popular assembly’s ratification of laws, creating an oligarchic plutocratic democracy in 594 B.C.E.
Therefore, Greek history itself clarifies to some extent that Tyranny was not thought of by Greeks as a bad title, not in the context of certain tyrants, though. Greek Writers like Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Thucydides make it clear that democrats thought that the power of tyrants was uncontrolled, so that they easily became violent and mean despots, surrounded by sycophants. Democracy, in this philosophy, was the exact opposite: people were free to speak and power was controlled and balanced. Within the long Greek timeline it shows that apart from Peisistratos, his predessesors; The "older" tyrants in mainland Greece of the seventh and sixth centuries were often dissatisfied aristocrats who managed to seize control of the state by cooperating
His decision for expressing these words is mainly based on historical facts. King Archidamus claims that if their unprepared population decides to ignore these facts, it will bring a greater harm to their population. In contrast, their foe, the Athenians have access to a variety of essential resources such as, a strong navy and their numerous tax-paying allies allows them to achieve a higher chance of victory at war. (1.80). Therefrom, due to these important facts, the wise king Archidamus strongly encourages their population to postpone their attack and to prepare their army instead.
Assess the contribution of speeches in Thucydides’ work. Thucydides’ introduces his work by presenting it as a “history of the war fought against each other by the Peloponnesians and the Athenians”. However his work was not a simple narrative of the events that unfolded, Thucydides wanted his work to be judged as useful because he believed that history repeats itself. He wrote his work largely to explain the fall of the Athenian empire. Thucydides’ work, however, was not simply a book written about Athens as the protagonist which was defeated by its foolish over-ambition, he wrote about the Athenians and Spartans with similar objectivity, acknowledging both their weaknesses and virtues.
Both Lysander and King Pausanias actions demonstrated their incapability to lead Sparta which consequently resulted in the ineffective leadership of Sparta as hegemon of Greece. Lysander was the dominant figure in Spartan politics presiding the fall of the Athenian Empire in 404 BC, and his and Sparta’s aim was a far as possible to secure Greek hegemony allowing for Spartan Imperial expansion. The ‘anomaly’ of Lysander’s dominance within Sparta’s military and political enterprises, traditionally governed by the Kingships, saw him exploit his foreign policy across the populas of the Aegean much to their discontent “The Spartans reckoned that they themselves, having defeated the Athenians, would now securely dominate the whole of Greece” (Thucydides 8.2.4). Lysander installed a brutal pro-Spartan oligarchy (known as ‘The Thirty Tyrants’) on Athens, reciprocating this system of government in other Greek states in order to suppress prevailing democracies. Installed to govern were pro-Spartan Harmosts, all supported by a garrison of troops who served under the orders of Lysander.
It is said by Plutarch that Miltiades enjoyed the highest prestige from the battle, and this would have increased Athenian reputation among the Greek states (it is important to note that one factor of the formation of e empire was that the Ionian States chose Athens), and would thus have made them more inclined to choose Athens as the hegemon, and allowing them to create their empire. Pausanius also played an influential role in the formation of the Athenian Empire; however it was through his negative actions and behaviour that this came to be. Pausanius was the Spartan
Pericles skipped over the greater achievements of Athens’ past and indicated that it was a theme too well known by his listeners to dwell upon at that time of misfortune. Instead, he primarily aimed to focus on “the road by which we reached our position, the form of government under which our greatness grew, and the national habits out of which it sprang." The speech was not necessarily a glorification of Athens’ achievements; it was a ritualized formality to the Athenian soldiers that fell during the battle of the Peloponnesian War and used to enlighten the spirits of the state still at war. The Peloponnesian War was fought by the empire of Athens against the Peloponnesian area led by Sparta. The war has been conventionally separated into three
Diodotus was more of the wiser, older man that has seen a lot in his day; Diodotus was only looking for the future good of his country. Never once did he say that it was okay what the Mytilenians did, but that as a politician you should use them to better your country rather than just disposing of them to get an irrational state of justice. The question of the day did not seem to be whose side you were taking because both men were Athenians, but the question was which side of justice for Athens were you taking? It would be wrong for me being in my early twenties to side with Diodotus because I once heard a quote saying something along the lines that being twenty is to be liberal and to be forty is to be conservative. It may have no actual basis in this topic, but I perceive it as having enough time when you are older to think more wisely and act more conservatively.
| | Plato.Greek philosophers influenced our form of government. A Greek philosopher, Plato, wrote The Republic. The Republic is about the ideal, or perfect, State.Plato believed that government should be based on reason and wisdom, not on rhetoric, meaning talk, and persuasion. Plato was not fond of the direct democracy of Athens. He thought most people were unfit to make good decisions, and did not know what