Selections from Greek Authors: Thucydides

Catalog description

Thucydides Book 5: It begins with a corrupt line that seems to tell us that Athens’ truce (4.117-19) with the Spartans would continue; it ends with the diplomatic failure of the Melians’ conference with the Athenians. In between and inter alia, there are the deaths of Brasidas and Kleon, the story of Thucydides’ exile from Athens, and three verbatim or ‘raw’ (?) treaties: the peace of Nikias, the alliance of Athens and Sparta, and the ‘Quadruple Alliance’ (a treaty between Athenians, Argives, Mantineians, and Eleians—to which we shall compare IG I3 83). We shall translate the book with nitty-gritty philological attention; and we shall also be concerned with the overall narrative structure and the way the diplomatic documents fit into the text. Why did Thucydides insert verbatim or ‘raw’ treaties into his history? And are they in fact the real thing?