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Thucydides, the patron saint of Realpolitik, continues to be read in many fields outside of classics. Why did his History succeed in setting the pattern for future scholars where Hereodotus's earlier Histories failed? In this fascinating study of the construction of intellectual authority, Gregory Crane argues that Thucydides was successful for two reasons. First, he refined the language of administration: Who was in charge? How much money was spent? How many people were killed? Second, he drew upon the abstract philosophical rhetoric developing in the fifth century, one in which the state and the public, rather than the family and the individual, stand at the center of the world. Ironically, it was through deeply personal alliances that aristocratic Greeks had defined themselves and exerted power. Thucydides's discursive practice was therefore fundamentally incompatible with his ideological goals.
| Foreword | ||
| Preface | ||
| 1 | Introduction: Selection and the Authority of the Text | 1 |
| The Prestige of Written Language | ||
| The Prominence of Written Language | ||
| 2 | Thucydidean Claims of Authority | 27 |
| Establishing the Authority of the Text | ||
| Herodotus' Atrekeia vs. Thucydidean Akribeia | ||
| The "Precision" of Speeches | ||
| Conclusion: Words, Deeds, and Textual Closure | ||
| 3 | Thucydidean Exclusions and the Language of the Polis I: Women and Kinship | 75 |
| Wives, Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, and Marriage | ||
| Children | ||
| Sons, Brothers, Fathers, and the Patriarchal Society | ||
| 4 | Thucydidean Exclusions and the Language of the Polis II: Oikos, Genos, and Polis | 111 |
| Elite Families, the Polis, and the Wider Greek World | ||
| Kleisthenes of Sikyon and the Traditional Politics of Household Prestige | ||
| Oikos and Genos in Herodotus and Thucydides | ||
| Individual and Group | ||
| 5 | Thucydidean Inclusions and the Language of the Polis: To Suggenes and the Appropriation of Kinship | 147 |
| 6 | The Politics of Religious Space | 163 |
| Delphi in Thucydides and Herodotus | ||
| Physical Delphi | ||
| Sacred Space in Herodotus | ||
| Sacred Space in Thucydides | ||
| 7 | The Rhetoric of Austerity | 209 |
| Thucydides and the Traditional Rhetoric of Poetry | ||
| Language, Emotion, and Pleasure | ||
| Thucydidean Speakers and the Rhetoric of Austerity | ||
| Thucydidean Discourse and the Rhetoric of Austerity | ||
| Tensions in Thucydidean Content and Style | ||
| Bibliography | 259 | |
| General Index | 269 |
Overview
Thucydides, the patron saint of Realpolitik, continues to be read in many fields outside of classics. Why did his History succeed in setting the pattern for future scholars where Hereodotus's earlier Histories failed? In this fascinating study of the construction of intellectual authority, Gregory Crane argues that Thucydides was successful for two reasons. First, he refined the language of administration: Who was in charge? How much money was spent? How many people were killed? Second, he drew upon the abstract ...