Thucydides was an Athenian historian who lived from 460-395 BC. His great contribution to Classical Studies was "The History of the Peloponnesian War", a large record of the war between Sparta and Athens that took place in his lifetime. The war lasted approximately 30 years, and Thucydides considered it to be of enormous historical importance. Accordingly, he gives detailed accounts from eyewitnesses or recounts events or speeches he witnessed himself. Unlike Herodotus, Thucydides does not regularly reference the will of the gods, and so many scholars consider his work to be a relatively objective account of the war.
The excerpts in the post below come from Book 2 of this work, a section known as Pericles' Funeral Oration. In this passage, Pericles, a famous Athenian politician, is giving a speech at a customary public funeral for Athenian soldiers killed during the war (as seen in the painting below). Pericles starts his speech in the customary way, by refering to the glory of the ancestors. However, he soon deviates from this and focuses instead on praising Athens and exhorting the living to continue to live up to the reputations of tose who have been killed in battle.
These public funerals and Pericles' interest in the city rather than individual glories show us a culture that is shifting away from individual glory towards a more democratic, egalitarian death ritual. It is interesting that the 5th C Athenian form of democracy, which is more interested in equal rights among different classes, applies this group death ritual, while in current United States culture death is viewed as a very private and isolated affair.
There are several passages from Pericles' Funeral Oration (Thucydides, "The History of the Peloponnesian War") that espouse what I would consider typical middle class American beliefs. In fact, I would say that it is only the rhetoric, rather than the content that allows us to detect the difference between Pericles' statements and some of our own. However, the fact that these are what we would consider national ideals does not mean that we always act on them. This can be seen from some of the controversial topics below. Based on the controversies within our own society, it seems safe to assume that the ancient Greeks also had similar conflicts within their society.
Example 1: Immigrants
" We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occaisionally profit by our liberality; trusting less in system and policy than to the native spirit of our citizens"
-Pericles
It is important to note here, that though Pericles claims that Athens is a worldly city, and is highlighting the opportunities available to foreigners, he is simultaneously distinguishing them from citizens. He is not claiming that foreigners can come to Athens and be equal to citizens, but simply that there are opportunities here for them in addition to citizens.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
-Inscription from the Statue of Liberty
This inscription from the Statue of Liberty depicts a US that professes to be a melting pot, a country where nearly everyone came from somewhere else and all are welcome. However, in reality the US, like so many other places has struggled to accept foreigners and grant them full citizen rights. Two fairly modern controversies involving immigration/foreignes can be seen in the videos below.
Rush Limbaugh on illegal immigration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHPm_TEQ0PA
PBS on Manzanar internment camp: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgmY2P-xT_Y
I see a strong parallel between Pericles' assertion that the Athenians have a worldy city where people can come from all over and be given all kinds of opportunities, and the US's similar assertion that it is a country where anyone who is downtrodden or persecuted can go. Regardless of both cultures' insistence on openess and opportunity, it appears that we still struggle with the same concerns and issues the Greeks did over 2000 years ago.
Example 2: Privacy
"The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes.."
-Pericles
Many Americans consider privacy a crucial right, and would like to think that Pericles' statement above applies to the current government of the United States. However, as can be seen in the pictures below, there are still groups of citizens and even government agencies that "excercise jealous surveillance" and are "angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes". So, here again we can see a parallel between the current United States and the ancient Greek culture.
Members of Westboro Baptist Church
Senate Subcommittee on Investigations - McCarthy Hearings
Example 3: Equal Rights
"If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition"
-Pericles
"The Department of Education— enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination in programs and activities receiving federal funds and ensures equal access to education for every individual.
The Department enforces five civil rights statutes to ensure equal educational opportunity for all students, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, disability or age. These laws extend to all ... entities that receive U.S. Department of Education funds." (http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/focus/what_pg2.html#howdoes)
While the United States has consistently moved towards equal justice for all citizens, there are undeniably some areas where discrimination still exists. Sometimes this discrimination is personal and intentinal, but more often it is unintentionally integrated into a system, such as the public school system, where it cannot be easily eradicated. While the Athenians worked hard to ensure that class/economic differences did not influence their political system, they were not concerned about eliminating discrimination against women, slaves, or foreigners. So, when Pericles says that the laws afford equal justice to all, he means al citizens, not all people. It is important to note this difference between the Athenian culture and our own, because it has a strong effect on the governmental structure and its success.
Pericles' statements rendered here by Thucydides speak to fundamental ideas of democracy still deemed important today. This is augmented by the complexity of the details surrounding these statements and the controversy that is generated by said details. While most of us would agree that the points layed out here by Pericles are excellent qualities to have in a democracy, we often disagree when weighing between qualities and settling details and policies.
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