The Historic and Dramatic Implications
of the Peloponnesian War

Ellen Greenstein
Brown University

The Greek world of the late fifth-century B. C. was a world torn asunder by the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B. C.). The Archidamian War, which initially pitted Sparta and her allies against Athens and her allies, ended with an uneasy truce in 421 B. C. The war, however, was resumed in 418 B. C. and tended to be much harsher in its final stages as the once-glorious city-state of Athens was finally defeated in 404 B. C. According to M. I. Finley in his introduction to Thucydides' history, "that war lives on not so much for anything that happened or because of any of the participants, but because of the man who wrote its history, Thucydides, the Athenian."[1] While Thucydides was chronicling the events of the war, the Greek dramatist Euripides wrote two lays that were concerned with the implications and the consequences of the war. The Trojan War, however, is the focus of his plays. The first of the two works, the Hecuba, was written in 425 B.C., two years after the revolt of Mytilene. The Trojan Women was written in 415 B. C., a year after the Athenian subjugation of the island of Melos. Although Thucydides, as an historian, deals with the political, social, and economic phenomena that lead to an accompany war, his work resembles that of Euripides in that he deals with the purely emotional and human side of war throughout his account. "For Thucydides, history was in the most fundamental sense a strictly human affair, capable of analysis and understanding entirely in terms of human behavior."[2] In both dialogue and subject matter Euripides' plays about the consequences of the Trojan War are often commentaries on the horrors, moral issues, and conflicts that took place before the eyes of Thucydides.

Of the many conflicts mentioned in Thucydides' history, one of the major events in the Archidamian War was the revolt of Mytilene in 427 B. C. According to Thucydides, the Mytilenians were forced into the war by the Athenians. Athens had sent a fleet of forty ships in order to force the Mytilenians to surrender their ships and to destroy their fortifications. Mytilene was by this time an acknowledged ally of Sparta; but she was forced to come to terms with the Athenians because the Peloponnesian ships had not arrived in time, and the food supply had run out. Thucydides discusses at length the debate between the figures of Cleon and Diodotus over the fate of the Mytilenians. Cleon is the proponent of the death penalty for the Mytilenians while Diodotus adopts the lenient view. Cleon's argument is not based on humanitarian concerns but rather on expedience:
Let me sum the whole thing up. I say that, if you follow my advice, you will be doing the right thing as far as Mytilene is concerned and at the same time will be acting in your own interests; if you decide differently, you will not win them over, but you will be passing judgment on yourselves. For if they were justified in revolting, you must be wrong in holding power. If, however, whatever the rights and wrongs of it may be, you propose to hold power all the same, then your interest demands that these too, rightly or wrongly, must be punished. (Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 3.40)

The Peloponnesian War, as seen by Thucydides, was a period in which the city-state of Athens evolved from a position of supremacy in the Aegean to a city that was desperately attempting to hold onto her empire in 406 B. C. The urgency of victory can be seen in Thucydides' account of Athens' handling of the Mytilenian Revolt and later in his account of the subjugation of the island of Melos. Wen discussing these events, Thucydides reveals the Athenian and the victims' attitudes toward the lives of Athens' victims through various debates. As for Cleon's stand, the dominant concern is one of political necessity as opposed to the concern for life. Political necessity, in this case, is the preservation of Athenian supremacy in the Aegean. In addition, since Thucydides makes Athenian leaders and Athens herself figures in various debates, his history, at times, is a drama as well as a narrative.

The attitudes and political motivations chronicled by Thucydides are also reflected in tragedies written during the war. The tragedies, however, examine the human motivation without narrating the events of the war. Tragedy goes beyond history; its purpose is to appeal directly to the emotions and it allows war to be seen through the eyes of both the aggressor and the victim as it is happening. Thucydides, on the other hand, tends to be less emotional in his history. His account of Cleo's speech in Book III, for example, is not concerned with the motivations and emotions behind the harsh words.

The grimness and the cold, calculating attitude toward human life, as seen in Cleon's speech, can also be seen in Euripides' Hecuba. This drama, written soon after the Mytilenian Revolt, takes place in Troy, a city devastated by murder and enslavement. These horrors are seen through the eyes of Hecuba, the widow of Priam who has witnessed her husband's death, seen her daughter Cassandra given to Agamemnon, watched while her other daughter was dragged off to be sacrificed on Achilles' tomb, and discovered the murdered body of her son Polydorus. Hecuba, along with her Trojan companions, takes revenge by killing the children of her son's murderer, Polymestor and by putting out Polymestor's eyes. These acts lead to a debate between Hecuba and Polymestor over Hecuba's fate. Polymestor, reminiscent of Cleon, attempts to justify murder in a rational sophistic argument. Euripides, therefore, makes Polymestor a symbol of the political leaders in Athens who justified their actions through an appeal to political expediency:

Hecuba had a son called Polydorus, her youngest. His father Priam, apprehensive that Troy would shortly be taken, sent the boy to me to be raised in my own house. I killed him, and I admit it. My action, however, was dictated, as you shall see, by a policy of wise precaution. My primary motive was fear, fear that if this boy, your enemy, survived, he might someday found a second and resurgent Troy. Further, when the Greeks heard that Priam's son was still alive, I feared that they would raise a second expedition against this new Troy, in which case these fertile plains of Thrace would once again be ravaged by war . . . [3]

Like Cleon, Polymestor reveals an attitude in which the concern for life is secondary to political necessity. Polymestor, however, since he is a figure in a drama, whose personal concerns and drives are analyzed, is more 'human' than the historical figure of Cleon. Cleon represents a "collective" viewpoint in that his position is at first shared by many Athenians who " . . . in their angry mood, decided to put to death not only those now in their hands but also the entire adult male population of Mytilene . . ." (Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 3.36). Polymestor, on the other hand, reveals a human mind concerned with greed and survival. Cleon's speech in Thucydides' account may be rather harsh, but Polymestor's savagery and debasement of human life has a greater appeal to the audience's feelings of outrage toward the aggressor and pity for the victim.

Although attitudes such as Polymestor's and Cleon's paint a grim picture, there was still concern for mankind and compassion for the vanquished during the Archidamian War. Athens did not condemn the entire population of Mytilene to death, although over one thousand males were put to death. Diodotus was a principal actor in bringing this about. Within Thucydides' work Diodotus not only opposes the harsh punishment of the Mytilenians, but he also condemns Cleon's rationalization for mass slaughter. Diodotus warns the Athenian leaders against accepting arguments based upon expediency and devoid of humanity:

. . . He is a fool, if he imagines that it is possible to deal with the uncertainties of the future by any other medium, and he is personally interested if his aim is to persuade you into some disgraceful action, and, knowing that he cannot make a good speech in a bad cause, he tries to frighten his opponents and his hearers by some good-sized piece of misrepresentation . . . . Though certainly it would be the best possible thing for the city if these gentlemen whom I have been describing lacked the power to express themselves . . . . (Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 3.42)

Euripides, too, writes of a figure who opposes needless destruction and the arguments political necessity over life. Hecuba does take revenge upon Polymestor, the murderer of her son. The punishment is exacted because of another kind of necessity, that of personal necessity. Although necessity takes precedence over life, this necessity arises out of love and appeals directly to the audience's emotion of pity. Hecuba, who has lost her loved ones, her city, and her position in society, defends her punishment of Polymestor. Her speech is similar to Diodotus' because she also condemns the rationalization of murder through persuasive speeches:

The clear actions of a man, Agamemnon, should speak louder than any words. Good words should get their goodness from our lives and nowhere else; the evil we do should show, a rottenness that festers in our speech and what we say, incapable of being glozed with a film of pretty words. There are men, I know, sophists who make a science of persuasion, glozing evil with the slick of loveliness; but in the end a speciousness will show. The imposters are punished; not one escapes his death. (Euripides, Hecuba, 1186-1194)

Hecuba, in this drama, is extremely effective in evoking sympathy for her incredible suffering. In addition, her arguments are logical and stress the cruelty of an attitude that places political necessity over life. One may assume that she expresses Euripides' horror at the disregard for human lives during the Peloponnesian War. In the context of the drama, she condemns Polymestor for being greedy, for killing a guest, and for betraying a duty. She refuses to accept the motives that prompt murder; namely greed, ambition, and political expediency. According to William Arrowsmith, " . . . just because necessity is hard and because the justification it gives-in politics, in love, in war-is unanswerable, it is the justification most frequently debased" (Euripides, Hecuba, introd., p. 5). Through Hecuba's speech Euripides is stating that expediency is no justification for slaughter.

Fortunately, Agamemnon spares Hecuba just as Athens spared the Mytilenians. Although life was placed above political expediency with regard to the Mytilenians, the war did not continue to be conducted in such a 'humane' fashion. The war resumed in 418 B. C., and the strife became even more bitter as Athens desperately attempted to hang onto her position of supremacy in the Greek world. One of the more horrific events in this phase of the war was the Athenian subjugation of the island of Melos. In 416 B.C. Athens sailed against Melos with 38 ships, 2,700 hoplites, and approximately 300 archers. Melos was a Spartan colony that had remained neutral. The Melians, however, became open enemies of Athens when the Athenians began to ravage their island. The Athenian generals sent representatives to negotiate with the Melians. Thucydides examines both sides of the issue in the Melian Dialogue (Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 5.84-116). Although Thucydides does not clearly state his opinion, the description of magnificent Athens attacking little Melos undercuts the Athenian argument. And Euripides, after the incident at Melos, never felt the same way about Athens or Greece. "His intellect and is heart were appalled by the cold ferocity of which his fellows showed themselves every year more capable."[4]

Thucydides' account of the Athenian attitude in the Melian Dialogue reminds one of Cleon's attitude toward the Mytilenians; it is a stand for political necessity. The Athenians attempt to rationalize their attitude toward Melos:

. . . We recommend that you should try to get what is possible for you to get, taking into consideration what we both really do think; since you know as well as we do that, when these matters are discussed by practical people, the standard of justice depends o the equality of power to compel and that in fact the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept. (Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 5.89)

Within this speech the moral implications of laughter and enslavement are noticeably absent while expediency and the doctrine of right equals might are stressed. The Athenians, in making such a speech, can hardly be seen in a favorably light. They disregard moral considerations in their attack upon the small island of Melos.

A speech exhibiting the same attitudes can be seen in Euripides' play The Trojan Women, which was written a year before the hostilities commenced at Melos. This play, similar to the Hecuba, deals with the Trojan War, but, like Thucydides' description of the second phase of the Peloponnesian War, it is extremely bleak. Hecuba loses her children and her city, but she does not achieve any revenge or temporary triumph in this tragedy as she does in the Hecuba. In a debate with Helen, Hecuba does manage to convince Menelaus not to give in to Helen, but the reader knows this to be a hollow triumph at best. Another reason why this drama is bleaker than the Hecuba is the murder of Hecuba's grandchild Astyanax. Within this tragedy there is no hope; the child is not spared. In addition the messenger Talthybius' speech pronouncing the necessity of the child's death is another speech of expediency and the triumph of might:

He must be hurled from the battlements of Troy . . . Let it happen this way. It will be wiser in the end. Do not fight it. Take your grief as you were born to take it, give up the struggle where your strength is feebleness with no force anywhere to help. Listen to me! Your city is gone, your husband. You are in our power. How can one woman hope to struggle against the arms of Greece? Think then. Give up the passionate contest.[9]

According to William Arrowsmith, "confronted by the fact of power which makes her helpless, Hecuba, like the Melians, can only plead honor, decency, the gods, the moral law (nomos) . . ." (Euripides, Hecuba, introd., p. 4). In this same vein, the Melians in Thucydides' work appeal to the humanity of the Athenians, and they place their hopes in the gods and the Spartans in their concluding speech:

We are not prepared to give up in a short moment the liberty which our city has enjoyed from its foundation for 700 years: We put our trust in the fortune that the gods will send and which saved us up to now, and in the help of men-that is, of the Spartans; and we shall try to save ourselves. But we invite you to allow us to be friends of yours, and enemies to neither side, to make a treaty which shall be agreeable to both you and us, and so to leave our country. (Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 5.112)

Earlier in the negotiations the Melians appealed to the fact that they did not revolt against the Athenians, that the Athenians, that the Athenians would incite other islands to revolt, and that Athens would lose allies if they destroyed the Melians. The Melians would not give in to the Athenian speeches of practicality because they knew the outcome would inevitably be either slavery or war. Hecuba, however, in The Trojan Women seems to preach submission. This attitude can especially be seen in the encounter with Andromache in which she tells her daughter-in-law to "forget what happened with Hector. Tears will save you now. Give your obedience to the new master; let your ways entice your heart to make him love you" (Euripides, The Trojan Women, 697-700). This speech is a far cry from Hecuba's speech in the Hecuba which, in her appeal to the gods and moral law, reminds one of the strong spirit of the Melians:

I am a slave, I know, and slaves are weak. But the gods are strong, and over them there stands some absolute, some moral order or principle of law more final still. Upon this moral law the world depends; through it the gods exist; by it we live, defining good and evil. Apply that law to me. For if you flout it now, and those who murder in cold blood or defy the gods go unpunished, then human justice withers, corrupted at its source. (Euripides, Hecuba, 798-806)

Hecuba, in The Trojan Women, seems to have reached a sate of helplessness. In addition, Euripides stresses the bleakness of Troy in spectacular visual scenes such as the presentation of Astyanax's corpse. The picture of Hecuba standing over the dead body within his father's shield appeals to human emotions to a greater extent than does Thucydides' written history.

Like the child Astyanax, the Melians were destroyed. Since they would not submit, the Athenian generals immediately commenced hostilities and built a wall completely around the city. In the following winter after the Melians captured a part of the Athenian lines, another Athenian force conducted vigorous siege operations against Melos. The Melians surrendered unconditionally to the Athenians who put to death all the males of military age and sold the women and children into slavery. Such horror and devastation can be seen throughout both the Hecuba and The Trojan Women. Like Melos, Hecuba's Troy is completely destroyed:

O Troy, once so huge over all Asia in the dawn wind of pride, your very name of glory shall be stripped away. They are burning you, and us they drag forth from our land enslaved. O Gods! Do I call upon those gods for help? I cried to them before now, and they would not hear. Come then hurl ourselves into the pyre. Best now to die in the flaming ruins of our father's house! (Euripides, The Trojan Women, 1276-1283)

Both Thucydides and Euripides are keen observers of Athenian history. It is most probably that due to their ties to Athens, the offenses committed by the city during the Peloponnesian War inspired in them ambivalent feelings of loyalty and outrage. According to Richmond Lattimore:

During the earlier years of the war Euripides wrote a number of patriotic plays and may have believed or tried to force himself to believe in the rightness of the Periclean cause and the wickedness of the enemy. By 415 he had reason to conclude that at least in the treatment of the captives, neither side was better than the other. (Euripides, The Trojan Women, introd., p. 122)

As for Thucydides, his setting of the "Melian Dialogue" on the strategically unimportant island of Melos portrays Athens as a savage aggressor. Both Euripides and Thucydides assess the horrors of war and the justification of war by political necessity. Just as the Greeks killed Astyanax for political reasons in The Trojan Women, the Athenians put to death over one thousand Mytilenian males and either killed or enslaved the Melians. Although Euripides is ostensibly writing about the legendary Trojan War, his dramas comment on the historical Peloponnesian War described by Thucydides. The horrors of a war which changed the face of Greek civilization could not help but pervade the literature of this period.

[1] The Peloponnesian War, trans. Rex Warner, introd. M. I. Finley, ed. Betty Radice, (Great Britain: Penguin Books, Ltd.), p. 9.

[2] Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, introd., p. 20.

[3] Euripides, Hecuba, in Euripides III, trans. and introd. William Arrowsmith, ed. David Grene and Richmond Lattimore (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), ll. 1133-1145.