47. Such was the order of the funeral celebrated in this winter, with the end of which ended the first year of the Peloponnesian War. As soon as summer returned [430 B.C.]…the plague broke out at Athens for the first time…

50. The malady took a form not to be described, and the fury with which it fastened upon each sufferer was too much for human nature to endure. There was one circumstance in particular which distinguished it from ordinary diseases. The birds and animals which feed on human flesh, although so many bodies were lying unburied, either never came near them, or died if they touched them…

52. …The dead lay as they had died, one upon another, while others hardly alive wallowed in the streets and crawled about every fountain craving for water. The temples in which they lodged were full of the corpses of those who died in them; for the violence of the calamity was such that men, not knowing where to turn, grew reckless of all law, human and divine. The customs which had hitherto been observed at funerals were universally violated, and they buried their dead each one as best he could…

53. There were other and worse forms of lawlessness which the plague introduced at Athens. Men who had hitherto concealed their indulgence in pleasure now grew bolder. For, seeing the sudden change, how the rich died in a moment, and those who had nothing immediately inherited their property, they reflected that life and riches were alike transitory, and they resolved to enjoy themselves while they could, and to think only of pleasure. Who would be willing to sacrifice himself to the law of honour when he knew not whether he would ever live to be held in honour? ... No fear of God or law of man deterred a criminal.

Trojan Women, 415 BCE,

Euripedes

What could a poet carve upon your tomb?

‘A child lies here, whom the Greeks feared and slew. The fear that comes when reason goes away.’

(416 BCE) Melos: A Classic International Relations Case Study

Athenian Arguments Melian Arguments

(416 BCE) Melos: A Classic International Relations Case Study

• Compare with Trojan Women– Why the dialectic form? – Is Thucydides really as straightforward and

without an element of romance as Herodotus?

416: Sicilian Expedition

415-413: Expedition Failure

• Bad omen #1: vandalized Hermes• Failure #1: Poor leadership• Failure #2: Alcibiades’ betrayal• Bad omen #2: Lunar eclipse• Failure #3: Nicias’ delay and

Spartan strategy

412-404: Athenian Decline

• Alcibiades & Sparta• Alcibiades & Persia• Alcibiades & Athens• 405: Spartans defeat

Athenian fleet• 30 Oligarchs

Democracy• Weakened Sparta &

Athens

Peloponnesian Wars: Athenian Hubris?

• 490: Battle of Marathon• 480: Thermopylae and Battle of Salamis

– Delian League hijacked by Athens; spread of democracy• 431: Peloponnesian War begins

– Pericles’ Funeral Oration• 430: Plague strikes Athens• 416: Destruction of Melos

– Mob rule…?• 416-413: Sicilian Expedition• 404: Loss of fleet