Only when revenge had been achieved, the Greeks believed, could the imbalance of timê be restored and only then would wrath abate and peace be reached. The only way to react to an act of hybris and regain timê was an overwhelming sense of wrath followed by exacting revenge. This insult was termed hybris which the Greeks saw as giving rise to much of human conflict. Yet if the state did not accept its role as inferior, they saw the command as an insult, an attempt by the commanding state to deprive them of their timê. If one Greek state gave a command to another, this usually implied that the commanded was inferior to the commander. The biggest danger lay, Lendon argues, in the political dimension. The strife between Agamemnon and Achilles, where Agamemnon claimed higher timê than Achilles, led to the Trojan War. In chapter three, Lendon discusses how the war began as a war of revenge, fueling his study of timê, and continues in chapters four through eight discussing various campaigns within the larger war, concluding with the march for peace in chapter nine.īefore delving into the particulars of military and diplomatic history, Lendon provides his readers with an extensive explanation of timê using the Iliad as an example. Chapter one examines the origins of the rivalry between Athens and Sparta followed in chapter two by the motivations and actions that led to the coming of the Ten Years' War. The book is divided into nine chapters, each dealing with important aspects of the Ten Years' War. Thucydides wanted his history to be a "possession for all time," but he assumed that "all time" would be inhabited by the ancient Greeks, taking for granted that his reader would always bring those Greek assumptions to his work. Thucydides was so enveloped in this concept, argues Lendon, because it was a such a natural part of existence, that he did not feel the need to explain timê. Weaving together cultural and military history, Lendon seeks to explain what the ancient historian Thucydides could not: the role of timê (glory, honor, and worth) in the various aspects of ancient Greek life, particularly the Peloponnesian War. Lendon's Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War Begins excellently blends popular narrative with historical insight.
0 kommentar(er)
