The Tragedy of the Athenian Ideal in Thucydides and Plato

by John T. Hogan

Overview

John T. Hogan’s The Tragedy of the Athenian Ideal in Thucydides and Plato assesses the roles of Pericles, Alcibiades, and Nicias in Athens’ defeat in Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War. Comparing Thucydides’ presentation of political leadership with ideas in Plato’s Statesman as well as Laches, Charmides, Meno, Symposium, Republic, Phaedo, Sophist, and Laws, it concludes that Plato and Thucydides reveal Pericles as lacking the political discipline (sophrosune) to plan a successful war against Sparta. Hogan argues that in his presentation of the collapse in the Corcyraean revolution of moral standards in political discourse, Thucydides shows how revolution destroys the morality implied in basic personal and political language. This reveals a general collapse in underlying prudential measurements needed for sound moral judgment. Furthermore, Hogan argues that the Statesman’s outline of the political leader serves as a paradigm for understanding the weaknesses of Pericles, Alcibiades, and Nicias in terms that parallel Thucydides’ direct and implied conclusions, which in Pericles’ case he highlights with dramatic irony. Hogan shows that Pericles failed both to develop a sufficiently robust practice of Athenian democratic rule and to set up a viable system for succession.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498596305
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	07/01/2020
Series:	Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches
Pages:	374
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

John T. Hogan has a Ph. D. in Classical Languages and Literatures from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: Stasis in Corcyra Modelling Revolution for Thucydides and Plato

Chapter 2: Pericles: Aspiring Statesman in Thucydides, General and Sophist in Plato

Chapter 3: Athenian Speeches in Book 1: Can the Athenian Empire Aim at Justice?

Chapter 4: Democracy, Demagoguery, and Political Decline in Thucydides and Plato: The Debate between Cleon and Diodotus

Chapter 5: The Melian Dialogue & the End of the Political in the Statesman

Chapter 6: Alcibiades’ Desire for Sicily in Thucydides and for Sexual Conquest in Plato

Chapter 7: Harmodius and Aristogeiton and Political Myths

Chapter 8: Euphemus and Alcibiades: The End of the Athenian Logos

Chapter 9: Alcibiades as a Traitor and Grand Version of Meno

Chapter 10: Nicias and the Failure in Sicily

Chapter 11: Revolution in Athens: Why Democracy Failed

Conclusion

Bibliography

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

"This book analyzes Thucydides’ presentation of the deterioration of political debate and conceptual categories at Athens during the Peloponnesian War. In so doing, it also explores manifold points of contact between Thucydides and Plato, highlighting their common concerns and persistent examination of contemporaries such as Pericles or Alcibiades. It thus fills an important desideratum of contemporary scholarship, which is entirely lacking in book length studies of the relation between the two authors."

Edith M. Foster

"Hogan argues that a careful examination of the language that Thucydides chose in the speeches that are presented throughout The History of the Peloponnesian War reveals a theme of stasis. Thucydides focuses not only on the long war throughout ancient Greece, but also the unrelenting decline in values within Athens, which had tragic consequences for the birthplace of democracy. This is a book that merits study for itself, to better understand what took place in an important case 2,500 years ago, and for what yellow flags it raises for us in our own era.”

Lowell Gustafson

"John T. Hogan brings Thucydides and Plato into dialogue in this book. He does a masterful job of comparing Plato’s and Thucydides’ views of Athens as an imperial power, and their views on Pericles and Alcibiades, the nature and goodness of democracy, the purpose and value of democratic rhetoric, what counts as statesmanship, and more. The most intriguing content in this book is Hogan’s extensive treatment of Alcibiades as Thucydides saw him and Alcibiades, Socrates’ erstwhile lover, as Plato saw him. This book is an excellent resource not only for understanding ancient history but the impact of the decline in democratic rhetoric at any time."

Laurie Johnson

For Hogan, Thucydides contributes to Athenian civic conversations and, implicitly, to ours as well (xxv, 290). A colleague once asked how such an intricate book, written to be read and reread, could converse. Great question. The best answer I could muster was that it can be a resource for continuing conversations among its readers, always, of course, needing words. If that answer resonates at all, Hogan’s interpretive effort is a provocative contribution to that continuous revisiting.

The Review of Politics