Thucydides and Athenian Democracy at War

Undergraduate / Graduate

In this course we will closely read the entirety of Thucydides' War of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians. Alongside Thucydides we will read selections from Plutarch's Lives as well as some of the tragedies and comedies of the war years. Our goal will be to read Thucydides' account in its political and cultural context in order to understand both the text and the event that have proved foundational to the western tradition of thinking on democracy, empire, and particularly international relations. Among the questions we will discuss: How did the Athenians' democratic politics and culture influence the course of the war? How did the pursuit of empire influence their practice of democracy? And how can we draw general lessons about war and the conduct of nations from a source so far removed from our own time? The course will conclude with a discussion of the realist tradition of international relations which draws from Thucydides and his account of the war, and of the problems posed by such readings.