Introduction to Political Science/Haley POLS 100/Lesson 1

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Thucydides, the History of the Peloponnesian War and the Classical Birth of Political Science

Overview

Why does this Greek man deserve to be the first personality that we study in our educational journey of Political Science? What makes him special, above others, that we should spend time learning about his persona? What has he contributed to the field and to humanity in general? The answer is: there is no better place to start. Thucydides is considered the father of "scientific history". Currently, he is considered the first to separate what we would refer to as mysticism and religion from the factually-based catalog of events that has become our basis of the study of history.

Although we know there were at least 9 millenia of recorded events prior to Thucydides, what we also know is that this man would, for the first time, make a record of a world-changing event from a relatively neutral perspective. Of course the fact that he was a Greek—Athenian—and the event that he observed, the Pelopponesian War, was a conflict between Athenians and Spartans, brings into question his bias towards Athenian greatness. But what makes the man great was his willingness to step beyond the confinements of social bounds and explore the world of scientific possibilities that could be gleaned from the events that he observed. Little did he know, that his work would spawn a complete revolution in the way that we conceive history and just how history and its observation can change the world. Quite a bit of the political world is rooted in history; from political parties to theory, history has painted a very cogent picture for the progression of human political interaction. That is why we want to know the man and his contribution to the world, the History of the Pelopponesian War.

As we briefly cover Thucydides, you would be wise to consider the themes of his works, non-inclusively: (1) an effort to be objective in his observations, (2) explicit observations of complex issues and finally (3) a willingness to break boundaries. In your writing and in your conversations dealing with political topics, you yourself should strive to be objective in your reporting as politics partial by their very nature. But you should not be unwilling to explain another's political position as it relates to a particular situation. As we will later find, Thucydides' observation/explanation of the Melian Dialogue would create a groundswell of political discussion years after he was gone. Finally, you should not be unwilling to break the bounds of typical political writing as sometimes we find much more in ourselves when we don't always abide by the standard rules.

Who Was Thucydides?

Bust of Thucydides residing in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Before we explore Thucydides' contribution to the world of Social Sciences, it's important that we understand who we are studying as this can be as enlightening as information about an intellectual's contribution. Although relatively little is known, about Thucydides, a smattering of facts garnered from his work provides a little insight into his life. First, Thucydides was an Athenian Greek. It's important to understand that Greece was not a monolithic society in the 5th century BC. The nation was divided into hundreds of city-states of which Athens and Sparta were the most prominent: Athens, due to its social and economic affluence and Sparta as a result of its military prowess. Herein lies a classic philosophical concept of the Athenian intellect versus the Spartan brawn, more to follow on that dichotomy. Thucydides was a Greek from the deme or subdivision of Athens called Halimous.

Early Life

Ancient Thrace

He tells us that his father's name was Olorus. Robert Strassler who wrote The Landmark Thucydides suggests that by the name of his father, Thucydides was probably of Thracian decent and of royal blood. In his work Thucydides divulges that he owned gold mines at Scapte Hyle (literally: Dug Woodland") which supports Strassler's suggestion as this area was near Thrace, opposite the island of Thasos. The possibility that Thucydides was from this area would later play an interesting part in his life at war. Little is known of his formal education, if any, but he reveals that he is a student of history himself throughout his work, especially in the application of power as he references the prosecution of the Trojan War.

The World of Thucydides

As previously mentioned, Thucydides was of Thracian descent. Ancient Thrace now span the modern states of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, at the core of what was once the Byzantine empire. Thrace was an important trade interest of Greece, given its proximity to Asia Minor and access to the Black Sea. Thrace designated the lands bordered by the Danube on the north, by the Euxine Sea (Black Sea) on the east, by northern Macedonia in the south and by the Illyrian lands (i.e. Illyria) to the west. For the most part, this part of the Greek empire was thought to be relatively safe from the Spartan alliance during the Peloponnesian Wars as the majority of the fighting occurred near the southern end of the peninsula.

Life at War

Strassler extrapolates that Thucydides was less than 30 years of age when the war began in 431 BC. During the war, Thucydides suffered from the plague that afflicted Athens from 430 to 427 BC. He, along with his command of seven ships stationed on the isle of Thasos, were sent to Amphipolis to help defend against a Spartan offensive however his relief did little to stop the Athenian onslaught and resulted in an Athenian defeat. Strassler suggests that Thucydides was called to Amphipolis because of his tie to the gold mining industry on the island Indeed it was because of Thucydides' failure at Amphipolis that he was exiled from Athens for twenty years and given the leisure to write this timeless work. Of note, we do know that Thucydides survived the entirety of the conflict from his own accounts.

The History of the Peloponnesian War

It's important to understand that the work is a compilation of that which Thucydides observed himself and catalogued from others, before, during and after the war; it is not a complete first-person account. Further, Thucydides admits that his bias might actually get in the way of communicating a completely objective piece but he does make the disclaimer. Before and during the times of Thucydides, embellished storytelling is how history was passed down from generation to generation; it's no wonder that we get the fantastical stories of the Greek gods and their human pawns. However Thucydides wanted to help begin the transition from this oftentimes inaccurate method of passing-on information to a much more structured method; in fact, he admits that his work probably would not be read as much as some of the other writers due to the lack of "romance" in his history.

Origin of Political Schools

Many political scientists point to Thucydides account and commentary as the origin of the school of classical realism however I would argue that Thucydides' work is the origin of both classical realism and classical liberalism. Realism in the sense that Thucydides seemed to favor the classic realist measure of a state's importance in the international system, vis-a-vis power but, he also acknowledged liberalism in the sense that he recognized the means and goals by which Athens and Sparta waged their war and understood that there was at least some liberal universal norms like the defense of equality, at least among men of equal station.

Realism

Although throughout the mentioning of the militaries in Greece we find remnants of Homer's description of size in terms of power, Thucydides bases his opinions on these observations. Thucydides gives some insight into his realist thoughts beginning with his short recount of the Trojan War and the epochs leading up to that point in that he mentions the "weakness" of ancient times in terms of their disjointed behavior. He places much stock in the power of the Greeks or the "Hellenes" not so much as individual states but more so as a conglomeration of those states focused on a particular goal but more importantly coalescing their power for the achievement of that goal. Indeed the prosecution of the Trojan War itself under the leadership of Agamemnon, Thucydides observes, was made possible only by the ''superiority in strength'' of the leader. Here we see that international relations is undertaken not out of a sense of honor or universal norms but rather as a result of the exercising of power. Agamemnon, according to Thucydides, was able to maintain his kingship due to his strength in numbers on the continent but later because of the amassing of a great fleet to subjugate the islands.

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