Redeeming Thucydides’ book VIII : narrative artistry in the account of the Ionian War

211 Pages·2017·1.44 MB·English

by  Liotsakis

VasileiosLiotsakis
RedeemingThucydides’BookVIII
Trends in Classics –
Supplementary Volumes
Edited by
Franco Montanari and Antonios Rengakos
Scientific Committee
Alberto Bernabé · Margarethe Billerbeck
Claude Calame · Jonas Grethlein · Philip R. Hardie
Stephen J. Harrison · Stephen Hinds · Richard Hunter
Christina Kraus · Giuseppe Mastromarco · Gregory Nagy
Theodore D. Papanghelis · Giusto Picone · Kurt Raaflaub
Tim Whitmarsh · Bernhard Zimmermann
Volume 48
Vasileios Liotsakis
Redeeming Thucydides’
Book VIII
Narrative Artistry in the Account of the Ionian War
ISBN978-3-11-053207-4
e-ISBN(PDF)978-3-11-053307-1
e-ISBN(EPUB)978-3-11-053209-8
ISSN1868-4785
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… for my parents, Antonis and Agathi Liotsakis

Foreword
Thisbook is a revisedversion of mydoctoral dissertationwhichwas composed
duringtheperiod2011–2015attheAristotleUniversityofThessaloniki.Allthese
years,there were plentyof people who helped me by reading the initial text of
myworkandbyofferingmetheirpreciousadvicesonalllevels(style,argumen-
tation, methodology). Above all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my
supervisor Professor Antonios Rengakos for his constant willingness to meet
me and discuss with me whenever I needed him, for his invaluable guidance
andobservationsonthedraftsofthisbook,aswellasforhisgenerousandun-
grudgingsupportinaseriesofprojectsthatItookoverduringmyPhDstudies.I
amalso deeplyindebtedto ProfessorsIoannisKonstantakos,NikosKaltabanos,
Eugenia Makrygianni, Evangelos Alexiou, Evina Sistakou,Christos Tsagalis, Ai-
miliosMavroudis,DimitriosChristidis,andYannisTzifopoulosforreadingcare-
fully the final version of my dissertation and for helping me improve certain
problematic parts of it. My thanks are also due to Semina Rouni for working
on the tables of this book and to Professors Walter Lapini, Mario Baumann,
andStefanFeddernandthestaffoftheLibraryoftheSchoolofClassicalPhilol-
ogyintheNationalandKapodistrianUniversityofAthensforprovidingmewith
bibliography.IalsowishtothankthePapadakisFoundationforfundingmydoc-
toral research in the years 2012–2015. I would also like to thank the editors of
Trends in Classics, Antonios Rengakos and Franco Montanari, and the anony-
mous readers. Last, but not least, I am grateful to my family and students for
theirpatiencewhenevertheyneededmeandIwas“absent”duetomyresearch
activity.
Heidelberg, February 12, 2017
V.L.

Contents
Introduction 1
 Forschungsbericht 3
 Objectives and methods 11
Chapter 
The revolt type-narratives and the account of Chios (8.1–24) 20
 The motifs of the revolt type-narratives in the case of Chios (8.1–
24) 24
 Techniques of coherence 32
 The place of the Chios narrative in the wider plot of the
History 46
. The fulfillment of the foreshadowing of ch. 4.81.2–3: The echoes of
Brasidas’ diplomacy in the Ionian war 46
. The Chios narrative as a foreshadowing of the defeat of the Spartans
at Cyzicus 59
Conclusions 63
Chapter 
The loss of prestige and recovery I: The echoes of Phrynichus’ admonitions
(8.25–107) 64
 A minor battle as the prelude to the great defeat 66
 The great defeat 78
 Depicting the low morale of the defeated 84
 The presentation of the events that prove the low morale 86
 The final comeback: The Spartans at Mantinea and the Athenians at
Cynos Sema 98
Conclusions 101
Chapter 
The loss of prestige and recovery II: The retardation before the battle of
Cynos Sema (8.25–107) 103
 The retardation before the battle of Mantinea 104
 The retardation before the battle of Cynos Sema as the second
narrative thread of ch. 8.25–107 111
Conclusions 138
X Contents
Chapter 
The battles of Miletus and of Cynos Sema 141
 The motifs of the Thucydidean military descriptions in the battle of
Miletus 142
 The motifs of the Thucydidean military descriptions in the battle of
Cynos Sema 155
 The narrative role of the battle at Cynos Sema in the arrangement of
the History 159
Epilogue 165
 The three traditional if: speeches – omissions and inaccuracies –
documents 165
 The narrative functions as a method with which to unify the
heterogeneous information 167
 Book VIII and the History 168
 Type-narratives and the penetration into the events 171
Bibliography 173
Index locorum 188
Index nominum et rerum 197