Thesis (MPhil (Ancient Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The main purpose of this thesis is to examine examples of information-gathering and political intelligence in Herodotus' Histories. In Herodotus' account, dialogues, anecdotes, and even inserted authorial commentary describe how leaders obtain politically relevant and timely information about other individuals and nations (intelligence). Herodotus links political decisions, based on gathered information, with his presentation of historical causation. In his multi-themed account, Herodotus provides tales of commissioned information-gathering missions, espionage, secret messages, and even disguises as nations and political leaders attempt to find out about their enemies and their allies. While the various anecdotes of information-gathering may not be historically precise, they may, in fact, infer real goals and problems of ancient Greek intelligence practices. The second purpose of this thesis is to explore Herodotus' use of cultural information within decision-making and statecraft. Herodotus presents nomos (culture or custom) as a compelling force for human behavior and military action. By articulating the importance of cultural information to political and military intelligence, Herodotus' work foreshadows modern intelligence theories and practices. This nomos-aspect of Herodotus' information-gathering anecdotes is especially relevant to current post-modern trend of culturally-based intelligence solutions to western counter-insurgency efforts. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die hoofdoel van hierdie tesis is om voorbeelde van inligtingversameling en politieke intellegensie in Herodotus se Histories te ondersoek. In Herodotus se verslae, dialoë, anekdotes en selfs ingevoegde ouktoriele kommentaar word daar beskryf hoe leiers polities relevante en aktuele inligting oor ander indiwidue en nasies (intellegensie) verkry. Herodotus verbind politieke besluite, gebaseer op ingewinde inligting, met sy voorstelling van historiese kousaliteitsleer. In sy vertellings met meervoudige temas, verskaf Herodotus verhale van opdragte wat gegee is vir inligtingsinwinningsendings, spioenasiewerk, geheime boodskappe en selfs vermommings waarmee nasionale en politieke leiers gepoog het om uit te vind oor hul vyande en bondgenote. Terwyl die verskeie anekdotes van inligtinginwinning moontlik nie histories presies is nie, is hulle dalk in werklikheid afgelei van regte doelstellings en probleme van antieke Griekse intellegensiepraktyke. Die tweede doel van hierdie tesis is om ondersoek in te stel na Herodotus se gebruik van kulturele inligting in besluitneming en regeerkuns. Herodotus stel nomos (kultuur of gebruik) as ‟n dwingende krag vir menslike gedrag en militêre aksie voor. Deur die belangrikheid van kulturele inligting vir politieke en militêre intellegensie te artikuleer, is Herodotus se werk ‟n voorafskaduwing van moderne intellegensie teorieë en praktyke. Hierdie nomos-aspek van Herodotus se inligtingsinwinningsanekdotes is veral relevant vir die huidige post-modernistiese neiging van kultuur-gebaseerde intellegensieoplossings vir westerse teen-insergensie pogings.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores how the feminine Other is used by Euripides in the Hecuba to highlight certain tensions between an aristocratic ideal of manliness and a classical democratic masculinity in the fifth century Athenian polis. The first chapter will establish the masculine nature of the Athenian polis and discuss the different elements which highlight the inherent masculinity of Athenian society. The second chapter provides a socio-political context for the position of women in fifth century Athens and explores the otherness of the feminine in the masculine polis. Chapter three explores the problematic nature of speech in the democratic state and uses the feminine Other in the Hecuba to examine possible tensions between an outmoded aristocratic ethos and the democratic ideal of manliness. In the fourth chapter Euripides' use of the Other in the Hecuba is utilized to discuss violence, revenge, and masculinity in the Athenian polis. The final chapter provides a discussion on nomos and how the tensions between aristocratic and democratic ideals problematise the authority of traditional laws and how Euripides uses the feminine Other in the Hecuba to emphasise these issues. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die wyse waarop Euripides die vroulike Ander in Hecuba gebruik om spanning tussen die aristokratiese ideaal van manlikheid en die klassieke demokratiese manlikheid in die vyfde-eeuse Atheense polis na vore te bring. Die eerste hoofstuk sal die manlike aard van die Atheense polis vestig en sal die elemente wat die inherente manlikheid van die Atheense samelewing beklemtoon, bespreek. Die tweede hoofstuk vervat die sosio-politieke konteks van die vrou se posisie in vyfde-eeuse Athene en verken die andersheid van die vrou in die manlike polis. Hoofstuk drie verken die problematiese aard van spraak in die demokratiese staat en gebruik die vroulike Ander in Hecuba om moontlike spanning tussen die verouderde aristokratiese etos en die demokratiese ideaal van manlikheid te ondersoek. Die vierdie hoofstuk ondersoek Euripides se gebruik van die Ander in Hecuba om geweld, wraak en manlikheid in die Atheense polis te bespreek. Die finale hoofstuk vervat 'n bespreking van nomos en die problematiek ten opsigte van die outoriteit van tradisionele wette as gevolg van die spanning tussen aristokratiese en demokratiese ideale en Euripides se gebruik van die vroulike Ander in Hecuba om hierdie geskilpunte te beklemtoon.

In the following study I reappraise the nineteenth century Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897). Burckhardt is traditionally known for having served as the elder colleague and one-time muse of Friedrich Nietzsche at the University of Basel and so his ideas are often considered, by comparison, outmoded or inapposite to contemporary currents of thought. My research explodes this conception by abandoning the presumption that Burckhardt was in some sense "out of touch" with modernity. By following and significantly expanding upon the ideas of historians such as Allan Megill, Lionel Gossman, Hayden White, Joseph Mali, John Hinde and Richard Sigurdson, among others, I am able to portray Burckhardt as conversely inaugurating a historiography laden with elements of insightful social criticism. Such criticisms are in fact bolstered by virtue of their counter-modern characteristic. Burckhardt reveals in this way a perspicacity that both anticipates Nietzsche's own critique of modernity and in large part moves well beyond him. Much of this analysis is devised through a genealogical approach to Burckhardt which places him squarely within a cohesive branch of post-Kantian thought that I have called heterodox post-Kantianism. My study revaluates Burckhardt through the alembic of a "discursive" post-Kantian turn which reinvests many of his outré ideas, including his radical appropriation of historical representation, his non-teleological historiography, his various pessimistic inclinations, and additionally, his non-empirical, "aesthetic" study of history, or "mythistory," with a newfound philosophical germaneness. While I survey the majority of Burckhardt's output in the course of my work, I invest a specific focus in his largely unappreciated Greek lectures (given in 1869 but only published in English in full at the end of the twentieth century). Burckhardt's "dark" portrayal of the Greeks serves to not only upset traditional conceptions of antiquity but also the manner in which self-conception is informed through historical inquiry. Burckhardt returns us then to an altogether repressed antiquity: to a hidden, yet internal "dream of a shadow." My analysis culminates with an attempt to reassess the place of Burckhardt's ideas for modernity and to correspondingly reexamine Nietzsche. In particular, I highlight the disparity between Nietzsche's and Burckhardt's reception of the "problem of power," including the latter's reluctance - which was attended by ominous and highly prescient predictions of future large-scale wars and the steady "massification" of western society - to accept Nietzsche's acclamation of a final "will to power." Burckhardt teaches us the value of history as an active counterforce to dominant modern reality-formations and in doing so, his work rehabilitates the relevance of history for a world which, as Burckhardt once noted, suffers today from a superfluity of present-mindedness.

After the defeat of the Greek forces in the Lamian War the Athenians agreed to Antipater's demand for unconditional surrender. As result of the terms the Macedonian general demanded Phocion became pre-eminent in Athens for a few years from 322/1 to 319/8 B.C. It is my belief that, although he did not seek to become leader in Athens, Phocion none-the-less accepted his new role out of a sense of duty and a firm belief that he was the only person suited for the job. Here was a man whose logical, pragmatic and unemotional attitude to political and world affairs enabled him to rise above what he believed to be the short-sightedness of his contemporaries and accurately assess the future for Athens and the city-state's place in the new world order. Of course our picture of Phocion is taken, mainly, from Plutarch's encomiastic Life of Phocion. According to his account the Athenian general and statesman did not want war but peace and prosperity. He did not believe the Athenians capable of defeating Macedonia. Instead, he felt that the people should accept their new position in the world and make the best of the situation. It should not be forgotten, however, that Plutarch was writing at a time when Europe was under the yoke of the new superpower: Rome. He saw the benefits of living in Greece at a time when the city-states were no longer continually involved in internecine warfare. It was, perhaps, this appreciation of the state of his own world, gained with the benefit of hindsight, that gave rise to his admiration of (what he perceived to be) Phocion's foresight. Phocion appeared to understand, as Plutarch did, that there was no reason why Athens could not still be prosperous. Plutarch's Phocion saw the city-state's future as no longer being primarily reliant on military preparedness but rather on trade and sound economic policy. With the protection of the powerful Macedonian overlord Athens would be free to enjoy life in relative peace and prosperity. Ultimately, Plutarch has had a significant influence on our understanding and appreciation of Phocion the general, statesman and man. The aim of this paper then is, with the use of other primary and secondary sources, to look beyond Plutarch's encomium and attempt to find the real Phocion. In particular, I will be examining the aging general's role in Athenian affairs after the Lamian War. This pivotal time in Athenian history has received too little attention. Life in Athens changed dramatically after Antipater defeated the Greek forces at the Battle of Crannon. The Athenians lost their freedom and autonomy and were fated never to regain the hegemony of the Greeks. Moreover, they had failed to live up to the glorious deeds of their ancestors. It was Phocion's task to help his people to come to terms with this new state of affairs and to find a place for Athens in the new world order. And so, political life in Athens was turned upside down as democracy was changed to oligarchy.

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This dissertation investigates the appropriation of material from one scientific field into another in the early Hellenistic period, 300-150 BCE. Appropriation from one science into another led to the emergence of new concepts in a community of scientists. Herophilus of Chalcedon’s appropriation of musical rhythms led to the emergence of the pulse as a materio-semiotic object for Rationalist physicians. Archimedes of Syracuse’s appropriation of mechanical concepts of weighing led to the emergence of the mechanical method as a scientific way of seeing for practicing mathematicians. But objects and concepts emerging from cross-scientific appropriation had ideological consequences for scientific methodology within individual scientific communities. Archimedes prioritized a formal Euclidean proof over that offered by the mechanical method because of the standards of proof demanded by the community of practicing mathematicians. The sect of Empiricist physicians rejected Rationalist medicine and promoted the individual doctor’s role and authority as a medical caregiver. The dissertation’s sum tells a story of increasing but limited strategies of naturalization within the sciences of the early Hellenistic period. / text

No description available.

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished