Thucydides Essay

Shams 1

Jack S.

Mrs. Mitchell

Ancients World History Period 4

4 February 2015

                                          Human Nature is the Worst Nature

In Ancient Greece a man named Thucydides would record events in a non biased way Thucydides wrote about many events but two very insightful events he wrote about were "The Plague" and "The Civil War at Corcyra". In these pieces we see Thucydides shes his own perspective on human nature in times of struggle. Societies and humans themselves begin to break down and become dysfunctional. For example, we see lawlessness, loss of religion, and loss of hope and incentive to live. One major point one can take away from his writing is that Thucydides demonstrates through his writing that in times of struggle humans are not as admirable as one would think.

In Thucydides writing he exhibits that when communities being to struggle people disregard the law. Thucydides writes, "For the catastrophe was so overwhelming that men, not knowing what would happen to them next, became indifferent to every rule of religion or of law" (Thucydides, page 155, section 52, lines 10-12). This shows that people did not care for law anymore. People were so overwhelmed with the sadness and negativity around them that they did not care for rules any longer.  Thucydides believes that the plague brought a new sad and unruly way of life. He writes, "In other respects also Athens owed to the plague a state of unprecedented lawlessness" (Thucydides, page 155, section 53, line 1) The plague brought a negative new way of living. This new way of life has no laws which motivated people to act however they pleased. With how deadly the plague was, people were dying very rapidly and did not expect to live long whatsoever. Because of this people did many illegal things because they would not live long enough to be brought to trial. Thucydides writes, "As for offenses against human law, no one expected to live long enough to be brought to trial and punished" (Thucydides, page 155, section 53, lines 17-18). This quote shows that people were so sure that they were going to die in the near future that they would commit crimes because they were not worried about being brought to trial in time to be punished. When people are constantly struggling and they begin to not care about restraints such as the law, their natural human nature of greed and selfishness are exposed.

Thucydides makes it apparent in his writing that with a loss of law also came a loss of religion. With so many people already dead the living did not take the time to burry them. Thucydides shows that people did not take the time to bury the dead and did not mourn for them or pray for their well being in the after life (Thucydides, page 155, section 52, lines 12-20). People became so scared with the idea of them dying in the coming months that they now began to disregard things that they used to take very seriously and just focus on themselves. Religion would hold people down and Thucydides shows this by writing, "No fear of God or law of man had a restraining influence" (Thucydides, page 155, section 53, line 14). The use of the word "God" represents religion in this quote and helps support the idea that people were not afraid to break the rules of the law or religion. While the importance of religious virtues faded, the importance of religious places faded as well. Thucydides writes, "Men were dragged from the temples or butchered on the very altars" (Thucydides, page 241, section 81, lines 26-27). People had completely lost respect for holy places such as temples and altars and began to use them for the most unholy purposes. For example, men would slaughter others inside of the temples or on the altars themselves. As certain things such as law become less important to people religion did as well. Both law and religion are used as ways to control people and when they lose their power to control people they become useless and unimportant. When people realize this, true unrespectful human nature begins to show. 

With so much sadness and loss in Ancient Greece during this time of everyday struggle people began to lose incentive to live or even treat themselves properly. We see Thucydides voice this when he writes, "As for what is called honour, no one showed himself willing to abide by its laws" (Thucydides, page 155, section 53, lines 9-10). Thucydides is saying that the plague  was so destructive to people mentally and physically that no one had enough incentive in their life to even respect themselves anymore. Thucydides shows in his writing that when people found out they had the plague they fell into an attitude of utter hopelessness (Thucydides, page 154, section 51, lines 12-14). When people discovered they have the plague it would not only take a large physical toll but also quite a big mental one as well. The plague was such a terrible burden that was placed upon the people of Greece that words could not even describe it. Thucydides shows this by writing, "Words indeed fail one when one tries to give a general picture of this disease" (Thucydides, page 153, section 50, line 1). This quote describes the complete and utter power of the plague by showing that people did not even feel the need to describe their suffering, but would rather just give up. As humans are surrounded by more and more negativity and loss they begin to not care for anyone or anything including themselves. 

Throughout "The Plague" and "The Civil War at Corcyra" Thucydides demonstrates that in times of struggle humans are not as admirable as one would think. True human nature is not as beautiful as one might think and it can only be exposed by very few things and one of those things is everyday struggle. Struggle can expose things such as lawlessness, loss of religion, and loss of incentive to live. None of these aspects are admirable or positive which leads one to realize that human nature is not completely flawless. These three particular facets lead to much bigger things such as revolt or a countless loss of lives which is seen throughout today's world. For example, in the 60's the people of Iran overthrew the Shaw. It was complete and total chaos because there was absolutely no law. People were killed in the streets and exiled every day. The people of Iran wanted a new leader not only for political reasons, but also for religious reasons. Ayatollah Khomeini was brought to power and implemented a completely new government and religion. All of this was started with the breakdown of law and loss of religion. 

Video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kY0ixG94cHE

Shams 5

Works Cited 

Thucydides, , Rex Warner, and M I. Finley. History of the Peloponnesian War. Harmondsworth, Eng: Penguin Books, 1972. Print. 

Lawlessness- http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01174/naidu_1174981f.jpg

Religion- http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01174/naidu_1174981f.jpg

Loss of incentive to live- http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01174/naidu_1174981f.jpg

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kY0ixG94cHE

Jack S.

1/23/15

Per. 4

                          Thoughts and Reflections on: Thucydides View on Humans 

Thucydides was a man who recorded events in Ancient Greece without bias. Thucydides also took the time to research things he wrote about and took accounts from eye witnesses to ensure he only recorded true information. Thucydides had very specific views on certain things including humans themselves. 

During times of war people would lose loved ones, homes, and lives just to name a few. Even though so much life is lost during war, there is an overarching sense of patriotism that inspires life rather than taking it away. Thucydides wrote, "Revenge was more important than self preservation." This means that people were willing to sacrifice themselves to get revenge on another city-state. People also came together as one during war because if specific people fought together it built an unbreakable bond between them. Thucydides showed this by writing, "The members of these parties felt confidence in each other not because of any fellowship in a religious communion, but because they were partners in crime." The spilling of blood brought two people closer together than anything els during war but it also tore others apart. This is why war was such a vicious cycle because once a group of people took life they couldn't stop until their own life was taken away from them. The one goal in most of these peoples lives was to make sure their city-state was flourishing. Thucydides showed this by writing, "Their one standard was the pleasure of their own party at the particular moment." During war, people bought into the idea of that the community always comes before them. War fueled the sense of community in Greece and the reason war even took place was because of the nature of the Greeks. Thucydides wrote, "An idea of moderation was just an attempt disguise one's unmanly character." Thucydides shows through his writing that in times of turmoil and loss if people have some thing to defend that has meaning to them it will bring a sense of community and togetherness.

According to Thucydides, the Plague brought out the true face of the people he was around. For example, Thucydides wrote, "For the catastrophe was so overwhelming that men, not knowing what would happen to them next, became indifferent to every rule of religion or of law." This shows that when people became so scared for their lives during the plague that they lost respect for the authority of religion and law. After this people were too unorganized and crazed to have funerals so there were the bodies of the dead lying out in the streets. Thucydides showed that people become completely overwhelmed and selfish when they fear for their own life by writing, "People now began to openly venture on acts of self-indulgence which before then they would keep dark." This means that people didn't show how selfish they truly were until they felt like they had to fulfill their selfish deeds. Thucydides also mentioned that when people realized that death is inevitable they begin to freely spend money and time on things that are of no use to any one but that are just for recreation. This shows that loss of hope and depression are infectious throughout communities. This also exposes the true lack of hope that humans had during this time period. During the plague people began to think they had nothing to live for and they began to lose respect for themselves as humans. Thucydides shows this by writing, "As for what is called honour, no one showed himself willing to abide by its laws." This tell one that people had lost their sense of honor in themselves and the world around them. At this point, humans were just walking sacks of meat that had no motivation to even live anymore. While some of the population had forgotten about religion and accepted death, the few that turned to religion had it much better. Thucydides wrote, "At this time of distress people recalled old oracles". Oracles were priestesses or people who were considered close to God in Ancient Greece and others used them as beacons of hope. People thought that getting closer to God would put him on your side and protect you. Thucydides wrote, "When they inquired from the God whether they should go to war, they received the reply that, if they fought with all their might, victory would be theirs and God himself would be in their side." This shows that God served as a light at the end of the tunnel for humans during this dark time. Thucydides believed that in times of distress and sadness, the humans that lose sight of honor, law, and religion lose everything and those who can find the small bit of light in a world of darkness can prevail. 

In times of war Thucydides wrote about how people would band together and become one, but in times of sickness where there is nothing left to work for people simply give up. What this tells us about human nature is that if people feel like they have a purpose as an individual it will positively affect the attitude and well being of the whole community.  

Jack S.

1/13/15

Per. 4

                          Thoughts and Reglections on: The Funeral Oration by Thucydides 

Athens was known for achieving many great things in their time. Some of Athens greatest achievements are still seen in the world today. One's mind might jump directly to achievements such as inventions, but Athens also had many moral and philosophical achievements. For example, the Athenians were extremely grateful to their ancestors and the wisdom they passed down. Athenian ancestors are praised for being the building blocks of all that Athens had achieved. It's rare to see a culture be so grateful for their ancestors. This shows that the Athenians were capable of thinking about people besides themselves which helps keep them humble and not become too obsessed with themselves. The Athenians also tired to keep their community involved in most decisions to keep them happy and make them feel like they have a say in what happens to their city. Keeping the citizens happy is crucial to staying in power as long as possible. As history demonstrated through the dynastic cycle dynastic cycle, when people get upset or bored with the government they have they begin to rebel. With the Athenians keeping their citizens happy and involve they maximize the amount of time and the overall amount of power they can have. Another reason Athens was so great is because the citizens followed the people in power and supported them because they included them and made them feel involved.   Doing this created a generally better environment in Athens which made everything work much smoother and efficiently. Athens was so great because for how hard working they were as a city, they had a healthy balance between recreation and duty. In Sparta boys were sent to the most rigorous military training camps at the age of 12. In Athens people were free to as they pleased which kept them happy. Allowing the youth to do whatever they wanted gave them the ability to pursue activities like the arts and politics. By doing this, Athens cemented themselves as one of the most sophisticated cities in the world. Giving people the choice of what they wanted to do made Athens even better. Unlike Sparta, Athens appreciated more things than just war. Athenians were much more worldly and diverse in their thinking which propelled their city to new heights. One of the biggest reasons Athens was such a great place is because they were friendly to others. Doing this created mutual friendships between Athens and other parts of the world. A city with more allies is much better and appealing than a city with many foes. Athens was such a tightly knit community and each Athenian had the others back. The Athenians were so loyal to one  another that they felt safe and were willing to help one another which make their community happier and more solid. This is important because if citizens do not feel like they are part of the community then their is potential that they could get others who feel the same way and rebel. Happiness was infectious in Athens and the Athenian citizens were extremely happy with their day to day life.  

Jack S.

1/13/15

Per. 4 

                                                                   Thucydides

Thucydides was a historian in Ancient Greece that was done with people incorrectly recording history. Historians would record events in very biased ways to make one group of people look better than another. Historians would also record events without taking the time to do more research on the event to see if it was even true. Thucydides only recorded events that he saw in person and he would converse with other eye witnesses to make sure his information was correct and collect more information. Thucydides did not write history for any general public, but he saw the importance of the events that were happen and wrote history for the many generations to come.  

Digital Scrapbook Entry #6

                                                 Digital Scrapbook Entry- China

Jack S.

1/7/14

Per. 4 

                                                          The Dynastic Cycle

In ancient China, dynasties were families of rulers who would run the country for a certain period of time. The Shang, the Zhou, the Qin, and the Han were the four major dynasties that ruled ancient China. With the rise of every dynasty another would fall. Each dynasty followed a cycle which was like its life cycle. This was called the Dynastic Cycle. When a new dynasty would begin they would bring peace, rebuild infrastructure, and give land to peasants. When the new dynasty began to wear old they would do things like tax people too much, stop protecting its people, let infrastructure decay, and treat people unfairly. After this happened this dynasty had lost power and control of China and a new dynasty would take over and the cycle would repeat.

In our world today, we see many different governments failing to please there people which ends in a revolution or a civil war. The goal of these conflicts is to rid the old government of that country and bring in a new one. For example, the people of Libya over threw Muammar Gaddafi who had ruled for many years and began to let the country crumble. People did not feel protected or cared about which drove them to over throw the current government at the time and bring in new leadership. 

The dynastic cycle is the course of how leadership and government rise and fall in China, and it still occurs in the world today. The main idea of the dynastic cycle is that each dynasty or form of government will lose control of their people at some point in time. Once the leadership of a country has lost the faith and trust of their people they have lost everything. The dynastic cycle has been tweaked throughout history, but still has the main idea that every dynasty or government will fall.  

 

Jack S

1/5/15

Per. 4

                     Thoughts and Reflections on: The Human Story- Sparta and Athens 

Sparta and Athens were two of the most storied cities in history. There are television shows, movies, and books about them. These two powerful cities were rivals in the same country which made things very interesting. While they were both very powerful and important they did have some differences. For example, Sparta was three times bigger than Athens, Sparta's upperclass was ruled completely by warriors and landowners, and Spartans were known as warriors throughout Greece. Sparta had a harsh and warrior like mentality with a Totalitarian government. On the other hand, Athens was much more of a community, they consulted with all citizens when making certain decisions, and citizens were allowed to vote on their leader. While Sparta was ruled with a harsh military caste government, Athens had much more democratic government. Both of the cities thrived they just decided to do things differently. In Athens we see a mature democratic government work extremely well and efficiently. This was a huge point in history because in today's world democracy is the government style many contribute use including the United States. Sparta had one of the most advanced armies and military tactics to date. In fact, the U.S. Military uses defense tactics that the Spartans used in combat. These are just a few of the advancements the Greeks made that left a lasting impression on the world. 

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