Chapter 4: The Peloponnesian War
• Reading 4a: The Revolt at My3line
• Thucydides used hard facts to provide an objec6ve diagnosis of
the human condi6on
• For Thucydides, the disturbance of the normal order of things and
the subjec6on of states to extreme pressures and changing
circumstances revealed the underlying causes of things
◦ I.e. How human nature operates in different condi6ons, how
people respond to change and reason, and how they reach
decisions
• Wrote the history of the Peloponnesian War because he wanted
future leaders to learn from these events (I.e. What the general
forces that underlie human life/history are)
◦ Thucydides was concerned with how social order and
poli6cal state are affected by different circumstances
• Thucydides claimed that the Peloponnesian War was the greatest
suffering upon the Greeks, affec6ng a large part of the non-Greek
world and all of mankind too
• Thucydides claims that the cause of the war was "the growth of
Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta"
• 428 B.C.- City of My6lene (on the island of Lesbos in the Aegean),
encouraged by Sparta, withdrew its allegiance to Athens and
stopped tribute payments
◦ Athens eventually squashed the revolt and then, debated as
to how My6lene should be punished
• Decided to destroy the city BUT, the next day re-
opened the debate and the charge was revered
• Pericles had died in the beginning of this war; He was responsible
for a lot of Athenian strategy
◦ As a result, Athens was going through tough 6mes which
allowed poleis, like My6lene, to revolt
, ◦ Cleon became one of the top poli6cal leaders aYer Pericles
died
• Every city had oligarchic fac6ons, including My6lene and Athens
•
The My3lenian Debate (Thucydides 3.36-50)
• Salaethus (Lacedaemonian governor) was put to death
• At this 6me, Plataea is being blockaded by the Peloponnesians
• Athenians decided to put all male ci6zens of My6lene to death
and enslave the women and children
• My6lenaeans had not been subjects, but were free AND the
Peloponnesians had helped in this revolt- These made their revolt
that much more hur]ul to the Athenians
• The day following the debate, they reflected and decided their
judgement monstrous
◦ Fickle-mindedness of Athenians is simply out of emo6onal
distress
• Rhetoric:
◦ Compe66ve system that meant you had to be persuasive
(though not necessarily en6rely truthful)
◦ Cleon- The whole affair is a spectacle where the most
truthful doesn't necessarily win
◦ Diodotus- Rhetors have to lie in order to make their
arguments persuasive
◦ Uses emo6onal manipula6on and deceit to win over the
assembly
◦ Thucydides wants to show that while this form of decision-
making works in the beginning, it later doesn't work when
the popula6on increases exponen6ally and becomes more
diverse
• The Speech of Cleon
• Cleon (son of Cleaenetus) had previously (and s6ll) proposed to
put the My6lenaeans to death
◦ He was the most violent and influen6al man of the assembly
(much to Thucydides' dismay)
• Believed that a democracy can't control an empire
• Reading 4a: The Revolt at My3line
• Thucydides used hard facts to provide an objec6ve diagnosis of
the human condi6on
• For Thucydides, the disturbance of the normal order of things and
the subjec6on of states to extreme pressures and changing
circumstances revealed the underlying causes of things
◦ I.e. How human nature operates in different condi6ons, how
people respond to change and reason, and how they reach
decisions
• Wrote the history of the Peloponnesian War because he wanted
future leaders to learn from these events (I.e. What the general
forces that underlie human life/history are)
◦ Thucydides was concerned with how social order and
poli6cal state are affected by different circumstances
• Thucydides claimed that the Peloponnesian War was the greatest
suffering upon the Greeks, affec6ng a large part of the non-Greek
world and all of mankind too
• Thucydides claims that the cause of the war was "the growth of
Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta"
• 428 B.C.- City of My6lene (on the island of Lesbos in the Aegean),
encouraged by Sparta, withdrew its allegiance to Athens and
stopped tribute payments
◦ Athens eventually squashed the revolt and then, debated as
to how My6lene should be punished
• Decided to destroy the city BUT, the next day re-
opened the debate and the charge was revered
• Pericles had died in the beginning of this war; He was responsible
for a lot of Athenian strategy
◦ As a result, Athens was going through tough 6mes which
allowed poleis, like My6lene, to revolt
, ◦ Cleon became one of the top poli6cal leaders aYer Pericles
died
• Every city had oligarchic fac6ons, including My6lene and Athens
•
The My3lenian Debate (Thucydides 3.36-50)
• Salaethus (Lacedaemonian governor) was put to death
• At this 6me, Plataea is being blockaded by the Peloponnesians
• Athenians decided to put all male ci6zens of My6lene to death
and enslave the women and children
• My6lenaeans had not been subjects, but were free AND the
Peloponnesians had helped in this revolt- These made their revolt
that much more hur]ul to the Athenians
• The day following the debate, they reflected and decided their
judgement monstrous
◦ Fickle-mindedness of Athenians is simply out of emo6onal
distress
• Rhetoric:
◦ Compe66ve system that meant you had to be persuasive
(though not necessarily en6rely truthful)
◦ Cleon- The whole affair is a spectacle where the most
truthful doesn't necessarily win
◦ Diodotus- Rhetors have to lie in order to make their
arguments persuasive
◦ Uses emo6onal manipula6on and deceit to win over the
assembly
◦ Thucydides wants to show that while this form of decision-
making works in the beginning, it later doesn't work when
the popula6on increases exponen6ally and becomes more
diverse
• The Speech of Cleon
• Cleon (son of Cleaenetus) had previously (and s6ll) proposed to
put the My6lenaeans to death
◦ He was the most violent and influen6al man of the assembly
(much to Thucydides' dismay)
• Believed that a democracy can't control an empire
