Friday, January 11, 2008
Europides' "The Trojan Woman"
Euripides' play The Trojan Women, is not so much a tragic story as a portrayal of a tragic situation whereby Euripides dramatizes the postwar conditions of these women of Troy, the spoils of war. In this play, the slave women possess a nobility of mind that stands in striking contrast to the inhumanity of the victorious Greek warriors. It also vividly recounts the final moments of Trojan civilization in the aftermath of the city’s sacking by the invading Greeks.It was written in the middle of the Peloponnesian War (431-405) and produced in the competitions of the festival of Dionysos in spring of 415, just months before the Athenians launched their great attack against Syracuse and Sicily. If The Trojan Women is a war play, it is not about a specific war; it is about all wars.
The Massacre at Melos
Athens wanted power. And by wanting power they wanted stronger allies. In so doing this, they went to the island of Melos, to ask to join their alliance. Melos, however, did not want to join Athens, and asked Sparta for help and support. In hearing this, Athens destroyed and attacked Melos. They killed all of the men, and the women and children who were left alive were then enslaved.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Cause and Effect of the War
CAUSE:
The underlying cause of the war was Sparta's fear of the growth of the power of Athens. This is Thucydides' own final judgment. The whole history of the rise and power of Athens in the 50 years preceding justifies this view, though the immediate occasion of the war concerned Corinth, Sparta's chief naval ally. Since the peace of 445 B.C. Pericles had consolidated Athenian resources, made Athens' navy incomparable, concluded in 433 B.C. a defensive alliance with the strong naval power Corcyra (Corinth's most bitter enemy), and renewed alliances with Rhegium and Leontini in the west. The very food supply of the Peloponnese from Sicily was endangered. In the Aegean Athens could always enforce a monopoly of seaborne trade. To this extent the Peloponnesian War was a trade war and on this ground chiefly Corinth appealed to Sparta to take up arms. The appeal was backed by Megara, nearly ruined by Pericles' economic boycott, and by Aegina a reluctant member of the Athenian Empire.
EFFECT:
The six-year truce was used by both sides to win more allies. The peace was doomed because the fighting thus far had settled nothing. On both sides there were men eager to renew the conflict. Alcibiades took the lead in promoting the Sicilian expedition in 415. When he was recalled to Athens to stand trial for religious offenses, he defected to Sparta. Athens was badly defeated at Sicily but survived for a few more years because Sparta did not press its advantage after the Sicilian losses.By 412 Sparta, with the help of allies, had built its own navy. This was done with aid from Persia, a traditional enemy of the Greek city-states. Sparta's alliance with Persia, however, made the other city-states uneasy, and they became less eager to revolt against Athens. Athens was in trouble politically by this time. An oligarchy (government by a few) overthrew the democracy in 411, and the oligarchs were soon replaced by a more moderate regime. Full democracy was restored in the summer of 410 after a major Athenian naval victory over the Spartans. Alcibiades was recalled by Athens and given supreme command. But in 406 his fleet was lost in the battle of Notium, won by Sparta's Lysander, who was the ablest Spartan commander in the war. Battles continued, mainly at sea, with each side trading losses.
The underlying cause of the war was Sparta's fear of the growth of the power of Athens. This is Thucydides' own final judgment. The whole history of the rise and power of Athens in the 50 years preceding justifies this view, though the immediate occasion of the war concerned Corinth, Sparta's chief naval ally. Since the peace of 445 B.C. Pericles had consolidated Athenian resources, made Athens' navy incomparable, concluded in 433 B.C. a defensive alliance with the strong naval power Corcyra (Corinth's most bitter enemy), and renewed alliances with Rhegium and Leontini in the west. The very food supply of the Peloponnese from Sicily was endangered. In the Aegean Athens could always enforce a monopoly of seaborne trade. To this extent the Peloponnesian War was a trade war and on this ground chiefly Corinth appealed to Sparta to take up arms. The appeal was backed by Megara, nearly ruined by Pericles' economic boycott, and by Aegina a reluctant member of the Athenian Empire.
EFFECT:
The six-year truce was used by both sides to win more allies. The peace was doomed because the fighting thus far had settled nothing. On both sides there were men eager to renew the conflict. Alcibiades took the lead in promoting the Sicilian expedition in 415. When he was recalled to Athens to stand trial for religious offenses, he defected to Sparta. Athens was badly defeated at Sicily but survived for a few more years because Sparta did not press its advantage after the Sicilian losses.By 412 Sparta, with the help of allies, had built its own navy. This was done with aid from Persia, a traditional enemy of the Greek city-states. Sparta's alliance with Persia, however, made the other city-states uneasy, and they became less eager to revolt against Athens. Athens was in trouble politically by this time. An oligarchy (government by a few) overthrew the democracy in 411, and the oligarchs were soon replaced by a more moderate regime. Full democracy was restored in the summer of 410 after a major Athenian naval victory over the Spartans. Alcibiades was recalled by Athens and given supreme command. But in 406 his fleet was lost in the battle of Notium, won by Sparta's Lysander, who was the ablest Spartan commander in the war. Battles continued, mainly at sea, with each side trading losses.
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