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Thucydides’ Sparta: Law, Piety, and the Regime

My dissertation investigates Thucydides’ presentation of Sparta. By viewing the war through Sparta, one is confronted with debates on the moral dimensions of war. Sparta decries the imperialism of Athens as unjust and while the Athenians imply that such claims are merely Spartan ‘hypocrisy’ and therefore that Sparta does not truly take justice seriously, my study contends that the Spartan concern with justice and piety is genuine. While the Athenians present a sophisticated and enlightened view of what they believe guides all political actions (a view most scholars treat as Thucydides’ own) my study argues that Sparta raises problems for key arguments of the ‘Athenian thesis.’ Through a closer study of Thucydides’ Sparta, including his neglected Book 5, I locate details of both Sparta’s prosecution of the war and their regime that must be considered before agreeing with the apparent sobriety and clear-sightedness of the Athenians, thus leading the reader into the heart of Thucydides’ view of morality in both foreign affairs and domestic politics. A portion of this research is currently being prepared as an article-length study on the broad and important issue of hypocrisy in foreign affairs among states.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc699880
Date08 1900
CreatorsHadley, Travis Stuart
ContributorsRuderman, Richard, Forde, Steven, Mason, T. David (Thomas David), 1950-, Yaffe, Martin D.
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formativ, 248 pages, Text
CoverageGreece
RightsPublic, Hadley, Travis Stuart, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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