The Blinded Eye: Thucydides and the New Written WordThucydides, the patron saint of Realpolitik, continues to be read in many fields outside of classics. Why did his History succeed in setting the pattern for future scholars where Hereodotus's earlier Histories failed? In this fascinating study of the construction of intellectual authority, Gregory Crane argues that Thucydides was successful for two reasons. First, he refined the language of administration: Who was in charge? How much money was spent? How many people were killed? Second, he drew upon the abstract philosophical rhetoric developing in the fifth century, one in which the state and the public, rather than the family and the individual, stand at the center of the world. Ironically, it was through deeply personal alliances that aristocratic Greeks had defined themselves and exerted power. Thucydides's discursive practice was therefore fundamentally incompatible with his ideological goals. |
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Contents
Introduction Selection and the Authority of the Text | 1 |
The Prestige of Written Language | 9 |
The Prominence of Written Language | 18 |
Thucydidean Claims of Authority | 27 |
Motivation in Comparable Passages of Thucydides and Herodotus | 38 |
From Knowledge to Expertise | 50 |
The Precision of Speeches | 65 |
Words Deeds and Textual Closure | 73 |
Individual and Group | 140 |
Thucydidean Inclusions and the Language of the Polis To Sungenes and the Appropriation of Kinship | 147 |
The Politics of Religious Space | 163 |
Delphi in Thucydides and Herodotus | 165 |
Physical Delphi | 174 |
Sacred Space in Herodotus | 179 |
Sacred Space in Thucydides | 187 |
The Rhetoric of Austerity Thucydides and the Traditional Rhetoric of Poetry | 209 |
Thucydidean Exclusions and the Language of the Polls I Women and Kinship | 75 |
Wives Mothers Daughters Sisters and Marriage | 86 |
Children | 92 |
Sons Brothers Fathers and the Patriarchal Society | 95 |
Thucydidean Exclusions and the Language of the Polis II Oikos Genos and Polis | 111 |
Elite Families the Polls and the Wider Greek World | 112 |
Kleisthenes of Sikyon and the Traditional Politics of Household Prestige | 118 |
Oikos and Genos in Herodotus and Thucydides | 126 |
Language Emotion and Pleasure | 215 |
Thucydidean Speakers and the Rhetoric of Austerity | 222 |
Thucydidean Discourse and the Rhetoric of Austerity | 236 |
Tensions in Thucydidean Content and Style | 247 |
| 259 | |
| 269 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Aeschylus Agariste akribeia akribes Akropolis Alkibiades allies analysis apoikia appear archaic Archidamos Argive argues aristocratic Athenians Athens atrekeia atrekeos atrekes authority Boiotians claims Corcyra Corcyreans Corinth Corinthians dedications Delphi describes Dorians elite emotional Epidamnos Euripides example fathers fifth century force Funeral Oration gaze genos Gorgias Greece Greek Greek world Herodotean Herodotus Herodotus and Thucydides Hesiod historian Homer individual inscriptions Ionians Kimon kinship Kleisthenes Kleon Kroisos language monument narrative Nevertheless Nikias Odysseus oikeios oikos oracle Panhellenic particular passages Pausanias Peisistratos Peloponnesian Peloponnesian War Perikles Persian Plataians pleasure poetry polis political Poteidaia precision prestige prose reader references rhetoric role sacred space sanctuary Sicily Sikyon society Spartan king Spartans speaker speech sungeneia sungenes Syracuse tcov temple Tfjs Thebans Themistokles things Thuc Thucydidean discourse Thucydides Tr|v traditional tyrant verb victory women words writing written Xerxes
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Blinded Eye: Thucydides and the New Written Word Greek Studies: Interdisciplina Greek studies : interdisciplinary approaches Greek studies |
| Authors | Gregory Crane, Professor Gregory Crane |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Rowman & Littlefield, 1996 |
| ISBN | 0847681297, 9780847681297 |
| Length | 277 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Ancient / Greece Philosophy / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |