Plutarch s Lives Volume III
Mauricio Ricardo Parisotto
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Abstract
As it appears to me that the life of Nikias forms a good parallel to that of Crassus, and that the misfortunes of the former in Sicily may be well compared with those of the latter in Parthia, I must beg of my readers to believe that in writing upon a subject which has been described by Thucydides with inimitable grace, clearness, and pathos, I have no ambition to imitate Timaeus, who, when writing his history, hoped to surpass Thucydides himself in eloquence, and to show that Philistius was but an ignorant bungler, and so plunges into an account of the speeches and battles of his heroes, proving himself not merely one "Who toils on foot afarBehind the Lydian car," as Pindar has it, but altogether unfit for the office of historian, and, in the words of Diphilus, "Dull-witted, with Sicilian fat for brains."
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Is Plutarch Fair to Nikias
1988
It is almost generally admitted that Plutarch was of a kindly and well meaning nature, and that, owing to this, he had a tendency to look sympathetically at historical figures, bring into relief the good aspects of a man's character rather than the bad ones, and treat with leniency and understanding the weaknesses and shortcomings of his heroes.1 Acknowledged exceptions, although not on moral but on philosophical or philological grounds, are his fierce attacks against the Stoics and the Epicureans and, above all, his treatise on the malignity of Herodotus. The aim of this paper is to indicate a similar exception of this kind, which occurs in the Lives and concerns Plutarch's unexpectedly severe judgement on Nikias, and to try to give some explanation for it. Plutarch's prejudice against Nikias is perhaps most evident in the Comparison with Crassus, but several unfavorable judgements and innuendos can be also discerned in the Life proper. This does not mean that Plutarch ...
Thucydides and Pericles (M.) Taylor Thucydides, Pericles, and the Idea of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. Pp. xii + 311, maps. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Cased, £56, US$85. ISBN: 978-0-521-76593-0
The Classical Review, 2012
Nicias and Pericles. WIENER STUDIEN 134 NannoMarinatos SD
Nicias and Pericles, 2021
Thucydides included short biographies for two of his principle characters, Pericles and Nicias. The structure of their parallel lives (as it were) are compared in this article; it is concluded that they have some striking similarities as concerns their character and civic principles. As well, it is argued that each had a tragic fate since they did not see their vision materialise.
A New Hero Comes to Town: The Athenian Career of G. Julius Nicanor the ‘New Homer’ and ‘New Themistocles’
G. Julius Nicanor, the Syrian poet-benefactor of late Augustan Athens, remains a unique figure in the history of Athens under the early empire. Despite 150 years of periodic scholarship Nicanor’s career and the era of his activities remain poorly understood. This study therefore offers the first fully comprehensive analysis of the subject and firmly substantiates a date in the first decade of the 1st century A.D. for Nicanor’s career. A firm chronology also permits a comparative historical analysis, in which the relationship between Athens and its ambitious Syrian benefactor can be contextualized within the cultural and historical experience of the Greek world under the early Roman empire. An appendix offers an extensive analysis and new edition of the lost honorific decree for Julius Nicanor in IG II2 1069.
Book review of N. Marinatos and R. K. Pitt, eds., Thucydides the Athenian (Athens, 2022)
Histos, 2023
A Noble Alliance: Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon’s Procles
Thucydides and Herodotus, pp. 316-44. Edited by E. Foster and D. Lateiner. Oxford University Press
Related papers
The Complex Depiction of Nicias in Thucydides
UCLA Historical Journal, 2017
Author(s): Niedzielski, Benjamin | Abstract: The main source of information about the Peloponnesian War, which took place between Athens and Sparta at the end of the fifth century BCE, is an account written by the historian and Athenian general Thucydides. Unfortunately, it is problematic to try to recover the historical figures who participated in this war from Thucydides’ work. Oftentimes, he was not present for speeches that he provides and his biases are frequently evident. It is, however, possible to study historical figures as Thucydides depicts them, through both his narrative and the speeches he attributes to these figures. This paper examines Thucydides’ depiction of the Athenian general Nicias, who unwillingly led a failed expedition to Sicily during the Peloponnesian War. An analysis of both Nicias’ speeches and his actions in Thucydides’ narrative shows a complex depiction. Nicias has many faults and only some of his predictions to the people of Athens come true. Ultimat...
Alcibiades, Athens, and the Tyranny of Sicily (Thuc. 6.16)
Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 2009
Rhodes (ed.), Thucydides: History IV. I–V. 24
The Classical Review (New Series), 2000
ARISTOPHANES' CLEON AND POST- PELOPONNESIAN WAR ATHENIANS: DENUNCIATIONS IN THUCYDIDES
2018
This paper explores some important ways in which the assembly scenes in Book of Thucydides ( -and . -) reactivate the themes and strategies of characterisation from Aristophanes' Knights. Scholars have often argued that the consistency between Thucydides' and Aristophanes' representations of Cleon and the assembly reflects a shared bias against Cleon. The paper suggests that we should review this opinion in the light of the fact that Thucydides' post-war readers were in the opposite situation from Aristophanes' triumphant post-Pylos audience of , and examines Thucydides' resuscitation of Aristophanic characterisations and themes in terms of his aims in respect to these post-war readers. As a particular example of Thucydides' re-use of Aristophanic modes, the paper examines Thucydides' close attention to depicting and explaining Cleon's denunciations of others. It goes on to mention other commonalities of theme and attitude between the two authors, and finally suggests that Thucydides' reactivation of Aristophanic themes links him to further developments in fourthcentury historiography, for which comedy was an important source.
LEÃO 2022 Athenian civic identity in Plutarch’s portrayals of Phocion and Demetrius of Phalerum
Athenian civic identity in Plutarch’s portrayals of Phocion and Demetrius of Phalerum, 2022
Despite the fact that the fourth century was a period of great literary vitality for Athens, the city no longer exercised the political and military hegemony it had throughout much of the fifth century. Moreover, neither Sparta nor any of the other Greek poleis were able to occupy such a dominant position for an extended period of time, thus leaving space for the rise of Macedonia. This is the historical context behind figures such as Phocion and Demetrius of Phalerum, who tried their best to find a balance between Athens and Macedonia at that turning point, at least in the way Plutarch portrays them. Like the case of Phocion (albeit in a more drastic manner and with a more violent ending), the activity of Demetrius of Phalerum, probably the last great Athenian nomothetes, illustrates the limitations and contradictions of a polis as great as Athens, which had to learn how to reinvent itself within the framework of effective Macedonian rule, despite alleged attempts to 'restore' democracy and the true 'ancestral constitution'. Both men are therefore good examples of the way in which various 'identities' could be negotiated and reshaped, paving the way for a broader identity constructed from a synthesis of encounters with 'otherness' in a wider kosmopolis that would be progressively integrated into the Roman domain. Preliminary Remarks: The Polis and the Making of the Polites In the opening of An seni respublica gerenda sit (784b), Plutarch considered it pertinent to recall the famous saying of Simonides, who declared that the 'polis is a man's master'.¹ With that sort of declaration, the great poetic voice of Greek ¹ Fr. 90 West²: πόλις ἄνδρα διδάσκει. Unless expressly stated otherwise, the translations presented throughout this study are made by the author. The outline of these introductory remarks is based on
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