What does the name Thucydides mean?

Meaning & History Means “glory of god”, from the Greek name Θουκυδίδης (Thoukydides), derived from θεός (theos) meaning “god” (genitive θεοῦ) and κῦδος (kydos) meaning “glory” with the patronymic suffix ἴδης (ides).

What is meant by Thucydides Trap?

Thucydides Trap, also referred to as Thucydides’ Trap, is a term popularized by American political scientist Graham T. Allison to describe an apparent tendency towards war when an emerging power threatens to displace an existing great power as a regional or international hegemon.

Why is Thucydides important today?

To historians, for example, he is a vital source for ancient Greek history, but has also been seen as a model for history-writing in general; to political theorists, however, he is a pioneering political theorist, and the originator of ‘realist’ approaches to understanding political life.

What is the point of view of Thucydides?

Thucydides, taking up the issue of anarchy within the international system, very much agrees with the realist point of view, saying that in a system where there is no overarching authority, the only way to maintain order is through some form of Balance of Power, which – in the case of Thucydides – takes the form of the …

What does Thucydides say about poverty?

To avow poverty with us is no disgrace; the true disgrace is in doing nothing to avoid it. An Athenian citizen does not neglect the state because he takes care of his own household; and even those of us who are engaged in business have a very fair idea of politics.

What characteristics describe Thucydides?

Thucydides was himself an intellectual of the Athenian kind; markedly individualistic, his style shows a man brought up in the company of Sophocles and Euripides, the playwrights, and the philosophers Anaxagoras, Socrates, and the contemporary Sophists.

Was conflict between Sparta and Athens inevitable?

The Peloponnesian war was inevitable because Athens was too hungry for power, and tried to take total control of Greece. Athens’s growth in military and economic power led to the beginning of a bloody war. Sparta feared that Athens was becoming too powerful and tried to avert war.

What did Thucydides think of Athens?

In his opening lines, Thucydides says he wrote about the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, “beginning at the moment that it broke out, and believing that it would be a great war and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it.” At the time, Athens was a great sea power with a democratic political …

Did Thucydides believe in democracy?

He did not approve of the democratic commoners nor of the radical democracy that Pericles ushered in, but considered democracy acceptable when guided by a good leader. Thucydides’ presentation of events is generally even-handed; for example, he does not minimize the negative effect of his own failure at Amphipolis.

What does Thucydides explain to be the primary motivators of human behavior?

Rather, all human beings are compelled by a necessity of their nature to want what is good for themselves, and pursue the power that is in their interest, without regard to justice. All are compelled to care more about self interest than justice.

What is human nature for Thucydides?

[20] These qualities manifest as a strange, yet very human combination of bravery, prudence, cowardice, and shame. Thucydides provides us with a fascinating dichotomy between ambition and survival to suggest that both human qualities dilute the purity of war.