Corcyreans and the Corinthians at Athens Write a 3-5 page typed, double-spaced essay in response to one of the following questions.
Be sure to answer all parts of the question in standard essay form (introduction, body, and conclusion) and to support your claims with specific evidence from the assigned readings. You will not need to consult outside sources for this assignment. Your essay is due no later than the beginning of class on Wednesday, September 26. 1. Analyze in detail any one of the following sets of speeches. Questions you might Consider: What practical aim did the speakers hope to attain by speaking, and with what arguments did they attempt to persuade their audience? What obstacles (e.g., moral, political, strategic) did they face, and how did they try to overcome them? How do the issues raised contribute to our understanding of the war as a whole and of the nature of international politics? (Warning: your essay should not be a mere summary of the speeches but an analysis of them.) a. The Corcyreans and the Corinthians at Athens (I.32-43) b. Cleon and Diodotus (III.37-48) d. The Melians and the Athenians on Melos (V.84-111) 2. Analyze Diodotus as he comes to sight in Thucydides’ book. Focus your analysis on a close examination of his one speech in the book (III.42-48) and the events surrounding this speech. 3. At the outset of the Peloponnesian War, most Greeks condemned the Athenians for their empire over unwilling subjects (II.8). And Thucydides himself tells us that it was inevitable that Sparta would go to war against Athens because of its fear of Athenian power (I.23). Did Thucydides thus hold Athens morally responsible for the Pelopennesian War? Why might he not have done so? 4. Thucydides claims that his account of the war of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians is a “possession for all time” that will as such be of use to anyone who wishes to investigate the truth of things. What is the truth about human nature and international politics that Thucydides saw in and through this war? Be sure to ground your answer in the text and, preferably, in a close analysis of a few key episodes in the war or in the events leading up to it.
