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Terminology
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The Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BC
In this course, Professor Paul Cartledge (University of Cambridge) gives a detailed account of the Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BC. We begin by clarifying some of the terminology used to discuss the war, including the question of what we should actually call it, before turning in the second module to the question of why the conventional dates for the war (431-404 BC) may be open to question. After that, we think about some of the sources available to the modern historian researching the Peloponnesian War, both literary (e.g. Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, Plutarch's Lives) and otherwise (e.g. epigraphic and archaeological evidence), before turning in the fourth module to the causes of the Peloponnesian War, including both the longer-term causes and shorter-term triggers for war.
In the following three modules, we look at the course of the war itself. First, we trace the events of the Archidamian War and the Peace of Nicias (431-15 BC). After that, we look at the Sicilian Expedition (415-13 BC). And then we explore the final phase of the war, known as the Decelean War or the Ionian War, ending with the Athenians' defeat (413-404 BC).
In the eighth module, we consider some of the shorter- and longer-term consequences of the Peloponnesian War, including the complicated set of events in the fourth century BC and the ultimate ascendency of Macedon in the later part of the century, which changed the complexion of the Greek world completely. Finally, in a short ninth module, we offer some suggestions for further reading.
Terminology
In this module, we clarify some of the terminology used to discuss the Peloponnesian War, focusing in particular on how we should actually refer to the conflict. Would referring to it as the Atheno-Peloponnesian War perhaps be more appropriate?
Hello there. I'm Paul Cartlidge. I am
00:00:02the senior research fellow in Classics at Clare College, Cambridge.
00:00:06And I'm speaking to you from Clare College, founded in 13 26.
00:00:11And I'm in the main old library of the college in the old court.
00:00:17I'm going to be talking to you about now.
00:00:24We have a little problem with the very title, and I'll explain that shortly
00:00:27either the Peloponnesian War or the Athena Peloponnesian War.
00:00:32And I'm going to give you a little bit of a rundown
00:00:36of how I'm going to divide that extremely complex topic up.
00:00:39So I've divided it into six
00:00:45episodes or chapters,
00:00:48and I shall begin with the terminology and the source is the
00:00:50nature of our evidence for this event or process or phenomenon.
00:00:55And then I shall go on to talk about the three C's. This is one way of remembering
00:01:01that is to say, the causes
00:01:08different sorts of causes,
00:01:11the course
00:01:13of the war
00:01:15and its consequences. Three seas.
00:01:16And in the process of that,
00:01:19I'll try to situate this not just within the ancient Greek world, or, we might say,
00:01:21Grieco Persian world, the ancient Mediterranean world, but also
00:01:28in global terms because this is one of those conflicts one of those events,
00:01:33the nature of the evidence for which is such that
00:01:40it has impressed itself upon the imagination of many,
00:01:44many subsequent generations.
00:01:48So I'm going to begin with the issue of terminology
00:01:52and then move on to the question of our evidence.
00:01:56Our sources,
00:01:59historian and we are nothing without evidence sources.
00:02:00First of all, what happened
00:02:05and then why what happened, happened. And so what?
00:02:07These are the sorts of questions that historians ask.
00:02:11So, as I say, it's typically referred to as the Peloponnesian War.
00:02:16But if you think about it,
00:02:21that's looking at this war from one particular point of view
00:02:22and specifically from a non or anti Peloponnesian point of view.
00:02:27Because
00:02:32if you call it the Peloponnesian War, it is the war against the Peloponnesian Ins.
00:02:33From the point of view of, well, specifically, the Athenians.
00:02:39I'll come back to why Peloponnesian shortly.
00:02:43The alternative. Suppose you're a Spartan
00:02:48and you're looking at this war from your point of view. Well, to you, it's not.
00:02:52The war against the Peloponnesian is because that's your side.
00:02:57It's the war against the Athenians So it is, alternatively, the Athenian war.
00:03:01Well, I'm neither a spot nor an Athenian.
00:03:08I'm a modern historian of ancient Greece,
00:03:11So I tend to want to think of it in a bipartisan terms, in other words,
00:03:14to look at it from both sides.
00:03:19So I tend to call it the Athena Peloponnesian War.
00:03:21Compare, for example, in the 19th century, the Franco Prussian War.
00:03:28That's an exact parallel war between French and the Russian Germans.
00:03:33Franco Prussian War. So why is it called the Peloponnesian War?
00:03:37Who are the Peloponnesian? Well, you've probably heard of the Peloponnese,
00:03:42the large near island peninsula
00:03:47in the southern part of mainland Greece, divided
00:03:51from the rest of the mainland by the isthmus,
00:03:55which is typically called the isthmus of current.
00:03:58Peloponnesian, though,
00:04:02is a word not just a geographical
00:04:03significance but what we call geopolitical significance.
00:04:06In other words,
00:04:10when one of our main sources wishes to describe one side in this war,
00:04:11he refers to them as the Peloponnesian Ins,
00:04:18meaning
00:04:22most of those people, the cities within that
00:04:23peninsula
00:04:28not actually all
00:04:29led by the most important, the most powerful.
00:04:30In fact,
00:04:34one of the two most important and powerful
00:04:34of all ancient Greek cities at this period,
00:04:37namely Sparta
00:04:40
Cite this Lecture
APA style
Cartledge, P. (2019, January 15). The Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BC - Terminology [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/the-peloponnesian-war-431-404-bc/terminology
MLA style
Cartledge, P. "The Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BC – Terminology." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 15 Jan 2019, https://massolit.io/courses/the-peloponnesian-war-431-404-bc/terminology