Possible paper topics

These are simply suggestions…you are free, nay, encouraged, to devise your own topic. I will add to this as we progress and as things occur to me.

1. Two possible ways to write about the speeches:

a. The speeches in Thucydides, which often appear in pairs, usually ‘respond’ to one another (one thus constitutes the ‘antilogy’ to the other). This allows the reader to see an argument from at least two sides. It is generally conceded, however, that one speech usually comes across as the more convincing of the two (the ‘kreitton logos’). Pick a pair of speeches in Book 6 or 7, and analyze the ways in which they respond to one another and which strikes you as the more persuasive (and why).

b. The speeches often pick up on remarks or observations made in the surrounding narrative. This is one way in which Thucydides makes the speaker seem prescient or ignorant, wise or foolish. Pick a speech (or a pair of speeches) from either Book 6 or 7 and discuss how they relate to the surrounding narrative…and the effect achieved thereby.

2. ‘Fear’ seems to play a prominent role in these Books. Trace its role in either Book 6 or 7…or in both. A good opportunity to do a word study. But cf. #13 below.

3. Why, in your view, does the Sicilian Expedition fail?

4. Nicias: hero…or idiot?

5. Alcibiades: idiot/traitor…or wise but misunderstood general/patriot?

6. The ‘visual’, or vivid description, is often quite prominent in Thucydides. Choose a scene or scenes in these books where Thucydides proves to be particularly descriptive. What are the elements to which he give particular prominence and why? What does he seem to omit? And why does he bother with such scenes at all?

7. Syracuse=Athens. Discuss (could be linked with #16 below)

8. Plemmyrium: good idea or bad luck?

9. Trickery is good; trickery wins. Discuss.

10. The bold win, the cautious lose. Discuss.

11. Whose strategy -- Nicias', Alcibiades', or Lamachus' (see 6.47-49) -- proves to be correct, at least as far as one can deduce from Thucydides' narrative?

12. Of the Harmodius and Aristogeiton digression at 6.54ff., Dover remarks, 'This digression has only marginal relevance to the main narrative of Book VI.' Is this correct? What in fact is its relevance to Book 6 -- or to the Sicilian Expedition in general?

13. "Stupid and irrational fear has the potential to upset an otherwise stable government." Would Thucydides agree with this? What evidence does he provide to support (or refute) the statement?

14. Another word study possibility: 'tyche' -- what is the role of 'luck' or 'fortune' in these books, but most especially in the final battles in the second half of Book 7?

15: Plutarch: this early 2nd cent. AD biographer is an important source for the events and characters detailed in Thucydides generally and Books 6-7 in particular. Choose one of the relevant 'Lives' -- Nicias or Alcibiades -- and compare what Plu. has to say about their role in these events (or about the events themselves) with what you've read in Thucydides.

16. Athens=Persia. Discuss (could be linked with #17 above)

17. What elements in Books 6-7 strike you as especially 'epic' or 'Homeric'? Is this coincidence...or deliberate?