He gave this oration at a ceremony honoring those who had fallen in battle. Following immediately on the funeral oration, that brilliant account of Athenian democracy delivered by Pericles, and standing in juxtaposition to it, is Thucydides' clinically vivid description of the plague that attacked the city like an invading army. himself can bear the load that rests upon the State, is it not right for us all to rally to her Pericles fell victim to the disease shortly after his speech, however, Thucydides survived it. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions The prime minister has often quoted admiringly the stirring oration given by Pericles to honour the dead after the first year of a destructive war against Sparta. Pericles and the Plague: Civil Religion, Anomie, and Injustice in Thucydides* Donald A. Nielsen Sate Umvasin *,f Nts, Yœk C()llege, Ot(Jnta ... Pericles's speech, in occcasion as well as content, is a premier instance of Bellah's usage, despite the latter's American focus (e.g., on Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; for comparisons between the two speeches, see Finley 1963: 144, 183). Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s political hero, the Athenian leader Pericles, had experienced a devastating plague which has parallels to the current coronavirus pandemic. disaster in your homes that you are losing your grip on the common safety; you are attacking It comes immediately after the funeral oration; that’s certainly worth looking … We oversee more than 150 serial publications as well as 28 periodicals and publish such renowned series as Historia, Hermes and Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie. Read your article online and download the PDF from your email or your account. The speech was delivered by Pericles, an eminent Athenian politician, at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) as a part of the annual public funeral for the war dead. Ancient Greek civilization - Ancient Greek civilization - The Peloponnesian War: The causes of the main Peloponnesian War need to be traced at least to the early 430s—the Great Gap period—although if Thucydides was right in his general explanation for the war, namely Spartan fear of Athenian expansion, the development of the entire 5th century and indeed part of the 6th were relevant. The story gradually changes into a shocking story about moral corruption, which serves as a mirror to the "Funeral Speech of Pericles ", in which the virtues of the Athenians have been praised. Franz Steiner is one of Germany's most prominent academic publishing houses. Pericles's Third Oration is a famous speech attributed to Pericles in Thucydides 's History of the Peloponnesian War. Despite their hubris, Athens did control its neighbors through imperial expansion. When the plague hit the Athenians and they had lost momentum in the war effort and were considering sending peace envoys to Sparta, it was a speech by Pericles that was able to increase the Athenian energy to the war. Pericles is to be understood in the plague description. Pericles, an eminent Athenian politician, delivered it in 430 B.C. been twice devastated, and they had to contend with the war and the plague at the same time. In the History, the narrative of the plague follows and seems to answer the funeral oration for Athens’ war dead delivered by Pericles, as well as an earlier speech by Pericles on war strategy in the lead-up to the war. The speech that Pericles delivers is such a dramatic departure from the customary oration that it is often considered a eulogy of Athens itself. As you might have read, the great Pericles died of the plague only two years later, in 429 B.C. Access supplemental materials and multimedia. Original articles feature research on Greek and Hellenistic history, the Roman Republic and Empire as well as late antiquity. Neville: The plague itself is found in the middle of book two. secure, individuals have a much greater chance of recovering from their personal misfortunes. Almost immediately following Pericles’ Funeral Oration, delivered in the winter of 431, the plague breaks out. Pericles' speech to rise above it. We only publish those projects which proved their academic value in external anonymous peer assessments. Now they began to blame Pericles It starts about chapter 47 in book two. When Athens held an assembly to determine whether they would concede to the concessions of Sparta, it was the speech of Pericles that invigorated the Athenians with confidence to declare war against Sparta. Currently the journal is edited by Kai Brodersen, Mortimer Chambers, Martin Jehne, Mischa Meier and Walter Scheidel. It seemed to them a worthy thing that such an honor should be given at their burial to the dead who have fallen on the field of battle. Foster goes on to show how the juxtaposition of “this confident list of everything Pericles could take from Athens to fund the war” with the evacuation of the Attic countryside (2.14–17) creates an effect similar to that of the Funeral Oration with the plague: both reveal how Pericles’ policy destabilized Athenian culture and society. JSTOR®, the JSTOR logo, JPASS®, Artstor®, Reveal Digital™ and ITHAKA® are registered trademarks of ITHAKA. The plague raged in Athens through the summer of 430 BC, with people dying inside the city walls by the tens of thousands. Historia is an international, peer-reviewed journal focusing on Greek and Roman antiquity. It is no accident that he precedes the description of the plague with the funeral oration given by Pericles, Athens’ ruler. The speech, often called “Pericles’ Funeral Oration,” remains one of the most famous political speeches of all time. ... Holding out in its walled city, the Athenians found death from the plague everywhere. Photo by markara / Shutterestock Athenian democracy had its ups and downs, but Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a stern reverence of its culture. But I should have preferred that, when men's deeds have been brave, they should be honored in deed only, … The two works mentioned above were produced at about the same time. Pericles begins by mentioning the struggles of the Athenian ancestors whom “…after many a struggle transmitted to us their sons this great empire.” ... Untold numbers would die and Athens itself would suffer a great plague and an eventual defeat at the … Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, Read Online (Free) relies on page scans, which are not currently available to screen readers. I expected this outbreak of anger on your part against me, since I understand the reasons for His description of the plague that struck Athens in 430 BC follows on from his renowned account of Pericles’ Funeral Oration, the speech that was given by Pericles in Kerameikos cemetery during the public funeral in honor of the war dead. A degree of picking and choosing… at least start with some of the big set piece passages, so the opening, Pericles’ funeral oration, the plague, the civil war in Corcyra, things like that. In it he defended his leadership and actions. Most of those who have spoken here before me have commended the lawgiver who added this oration to our other funeral customs. Check out using a credit card or bank account with. History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 2 ... the state being still in the flower of her strength and yet unvisited by the plague. The play Oedipus was probably produced about 429 BC, and th… john.p.adams@csun.edu. " Prior to the plague's devastation, Athenians were already dying as a result of the war. Request Permissions. It’s not that long of a passage, in some ways. Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte defense? Then the resident aliens who joined in the incursion were … Pericles delivered a rousing speech lauding democracy on the occasion of funerals, shortly after the start of the war. Thucydides, Pericles' Funeral Oration. Pericles’ funeral oration glorifies Athens, boasting about the superiority of her democratic system of government, the quality of life enjoyed by Athenians (i.e. His head was slightly out of proportion. The Funeral Oration in Ancient Greece . in the midst of the Peloponnesian War, after a large plague caused public opposition to his leadership. individual than when private interests are satisfied but the State as a whole is going down At any rate, Pericles eventually succumbed to and died from this plague. Pericles' Policy and the Plague 17 At 143.5 Pericles is made to continue this theme of the importance of human life over possessions by wishing he could ask the Athenians 'to destroy their me for having spoken in favor of war and yourselves for having voted for it. In a speech shortly before the outbreak of war, he had given advice on how to continue the war — including a crucial tip not to try to expand the empire while still fighting the Spartans. Select the purchase The plague of Athens took place between the years 430-426 BC, at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War.The plague killed an estimated 300,000 people, among which was the Greek statesman Pericles.It is said to have caused the death of one in every three people in Athens, and it is widely believed to have contributed to the decline and fall of classical Greece. All Rights Reserved. In Thucydides’ version (2.34-46), Pericles does not call out particular individuals among the dead for praise, as one might expect. A dramatic reading of Pericles Funeral Oration as it appears in Thucydides 'History of the Peloponnesian War'. it; and I have called an assembly with this object in view: to remind you of your previous This book includes Pericles's Funeral Oration; for other translations, see Pericles's Funeral Oration. With a personal account, you can read up to 100 articles each month for free. It covers all aspects of political, economic, religious and social life and deals with legal, archaeological, numismatic and epigraphical questions. © 1983 Franz Steiner Verlag John Paul Adams, CSUN The plague started at the onset of the second Peloponnesian invasion in the spring of 430. T HE H ISTORY OF A NCIENT G REECE C IVILIZATION 9 P ERICLES ’ S S PEECH: I N P RAISE OF A THENS Please read a speech given by Pericles, the Athenian leader, at the end of 431 B.C., almost one year after Sparta and Athens began fighting. Full ten thousand heavy infantry were in the field, all Athenian citizens, besides the three thousand before Potidaea. For you have been so dismayed by Our focal point is ancient history, but also social and economic history, as well as history of science; furthermore regional studies, Eastern European history and transatlantic studies. The Athenians, whom Pericles has just described as “ready to encounter every legitimate danger” and “equal to so many emergencies,” buckle in every way under the onset of a devastating illness. opinion is that when the whole State is on the right course it is a better thing for each separate Their society initially tried to cope, its members caring for … resolutions and to put forward my own case against you, if we find that there is anything The plague ultimately claimed Pericles’ life when he was in his sixties. The optimism Pericles expresses in the Funeral Oration edges progressively closer to hubris as the speech goes on, praising the invincible strength and miraculous abilities of Athens, notions the plague quickly dispels. However well off a man may be in his private life, he will still be involved in the On the other hand, so long as the state itself is In the early 430s … Therefore, since a State can support individuals in their suffering, but no one person by The plague struck Athens in the summer of the second year (430 B.C.). option. About 270 years after the Iliad, or thereabouts, plague is the centrepiece of two great classical Athenian works – Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, and Book 2 of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. The funeral oration Pericles delivers at the end of the first year of the war is general ruin if his country is destroyed. Thucydides (c.460-400BC) and Sophocles (490-406BC) would have known one another in Athens, although it is hard to say much more than that for a lack of evidence. Pericles’ wartime strategy was a terrible strategy for containing a contagious disease. Is it not wrong to act as you are doing now? It was slightly longer than usual, which led to him becoming … JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. The contextual differences between the funeral oration proper and Pericles’ final speech are important for understanding the arguments of both Clifford Orwin and this paper. This diptych - the speech and the medical description - leave the reader with some questions about human nature. unreasonable in your anger against me and in your giving way to your misfortunes. To access this article, please, Access everything in the JPASS collection, Download up to 10 article PDFs to save and keep, Download up to 120 article PDFs to save and keep. His wife and two of his sons also died. This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. free-born, adult male citizens), and the city’s … When the plague hit the Athenians and they had lost momentum in the war effort and were considering sending peace envoys to Sparta, it was a speech by Pericles that was able to increase the Athenian … Pericles: Last Speech (Thucydides Book II, 59-64) After the second invasion of the Peloponnesians there had been a change in the spirit of the Athenians. delivering the third speech, Pericles succumbed to the plague and died. But soon after Pericles gave that prideful speech, the original democracy got sick. … hill. My own Pericles wrapped up the first year with his famous Funeral Oration, encouraging them to fight on. ©2000-2021 ITHAKA. 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