Thucydides on Athens

THUCYDIDES

In 460 B.C.E., a general named Thucydides was born. He became

a Greek historian who wrote the History of the Peloponnesian War, in

which he participated. This war between the Spartans and the Athenians

occurred from 431B.C.E to 404B.C.E. Being that Thucydides was an

Athenian aristocrat, he was exiled by the democracy because of the failed

attempt to keep Athenians from losing against the Spartans. Soon after

this incident, he continued to gather and analyze evidence of what was

happening at that time. He focused on the principle of cause and effect.

Due to his rationalization, he was considered the father of “scientific history.”

Thucydides had a strong interest in studying human nature to better his

knowledge of behavior.
In our society today, some people do not realize the importance

of history. Thucydides acknowledges that human nature is unchanging,

meaning that events that have happened in the past will likely reoccur in

the future. In his analysis, it is not the gods who are entirely responsible

for people’s downfalls, but it is the people themselves. He felt that humans

are never satisfied and always seem to want more. They are eventually

defeated by this form of greed and blame the gods instead of taking
responsibility for their actions.
Developing an understanding of Thucydides’s thoughts brings us to

the point that he was an intellectual man who believed that Athenians

were their own worst enemy. Athens was prosperous in the beginning, but

because of bad decisions, on the part of the leaders, it came to a crash.

Even though some one can tell us how to prevent a situation, does not

mean that we will abide by the certain warning.