The Beginning of History

The Beginning of History

The Sophists

The Sophists Rejected the Materialist presupposition Rejection of nomos Truth is a function of the dialectic Logos Argument, story without examination cannot be true Dissoi Logoi Conflicting arguments Truth is a result of the agona the competition A well educated man must be able to argue

Xenophanes of Colophon 570 480 BC Attempts to define existence Founder of the Eleatic School Wrote Elegiac poetry One God, one Universe A supreme being cannot be created or destroyed God is the animating power of the universe Man s concept of God is an illusion

Parmenides of Elea Flourit ca 450 BC Possibly student of Xenophanes Pythagorean On Nature Written in verse Divine inspiration The goddess Wisdom revealed to him the unchangeable heart of Truth Translation

Parmenides - λόγος Man-made truths We are fooled by empiricism The Phenomenal world is illusion Absolute truth Existence is : cannot become or cease to be The true Existence is the mind. Logic and reason are the guides to Truth

Protagoras of Abdera 481 411 BC Coined the term Sophist Ethical Relativism Man is the measure of all things Visited Athens in 445 and 430 BC Composed the constitution for Thurii Plato, Protagoras Whatever each city judges to be just and fine, these thing in fact are just and fine for it, so long as it holds these opinions. (Plato Theaetetus 167c. 4-5)

Gorgias of Leontini Visited Athens in 427 Taught the dissoi logoi for a fee Plato, Gorgias Criticism: Aristophanes and Plato: to make the weaker argument the stronger Original: make the weaker argument stronger

Gorgias and the Sophists Criticism: Aristophanes and Plato: to make the weaker argument the stronger Original: make the weaker argument stronger

Historians

Hecataeus of Miletus ca. 500 BC Wrote a Periodos Ges Hecataeus of Miletus says (mutheitai) this: I will write only what I believe to be true because the many stories told by the Greeks are, I think, ridiculous. Hecataeus: FGrHist 1F1a.

Herodotus of Halicarnassus Born ca. 485 Halicarnassus Exiled Periodos Ges Thurii Died ca. 425 The Father of History

The Histories (Inquiries) ca. 429 BC The inquiries of Herodotus of Halicarnassus are here recorded (Hdt. proem). historia learning by examination, inquiry; the knowledge so gained. A processing of information to discover a truth. Implies critical evaluation, comparison, qualification. histor a wise man, a judge.

Narrative Structure Croesus of Lydia conquers the Greeks of Asia Cyrus of Persia conquers Lydia and Ionia (Book 1) Cambyses conquers Egypt (Books 2 3) Darius invades Scythia (Books 3 4) The Ionian Greeks revolt from Darius (Book 5) Darius retaliates Battle of Marathon (Book 6-7) Xerxes and the invasion of 480 (Books 7 8). Greeks victorious (Book 9).

Father of History Father of Lies Herodotus used the free-running style which comes to an stop only because there is no more to say (Aristotle Rhetoric 1408a. 28-34). the Persian stories are... largely if not wholly inventions (Flory 1987: 25). Herodotus likes to tell wonderful stories, sometimes apparently for their own sake (Fornara 1990: 26).

Departure: Homer: Sing to me, oh Muse, the wrath of Achilles Hesiod: Muses, come tell of Zeus and sing his praises Herodotus: these are the stories told by the Persians and the Phoenicians. I won t judge if either are true

Method: It will be my rule in all of these stories that I will write each down as I heard it told (Hdt. 2.123). I am bound to tell what I have been told, but I am not at all bound to be persuaded by it, and as far as I am concerned that statement holds true for the whole book (Htd. 7.152).

Translation from muthos to logos Herodotus Book I. 1 5 Io, Europa, Medea and Helen Each myth is related in the form of logos but without changing the essential elements. The Gyges myth What seems more likely, a magic ring or a dark corner?

Cultural Relativism? nomos is king of all (Hdt. iii.38) Human law is relative if each nation were to choose the best laws they would each choose their own laws (Hdt. 3.38) But is divine law absolute? Is there an arche that explains diverse human conditions?

Messages: The Tragic Trilogy Hubris: Overconfidence, pride, ego A sense of entitlement Hybris Ate Nemesis Ate: Recklessness, foolishness, lack of forethought Nemesis Divine retribution

Thucydides Athenian aristocrat Born ca. 460 Strategos in 424 Failed at Amphipolis Exiled Died ca. 400 (?).

History of the Peloponnesian War Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the war between the Athenians and Peloponnesians The war, or this war. Incomplete Text breaks off in mid 411. Did he die before he finished? Or did he just not like the ending?

Method Distant past cannot be known with certainty. Disassociation with traditions of Epic poetry We will need no Homer to sing our praises No chance informant Verification through critical comparison But: I have put into the mouth of each speaker the sentiments proper to the occasion (1.22).

Publication and Audience Published posthumously. Written in high academic Attic style Thucydides style is generally tortuous, involved, difficult to unravel... and is similar to the style used by Gorgias of Leontini, Polus and Lycymnius, et al. (Dion. Hal. Thuc. 24) Never presented orally

Arguments Self interest Power Ethical relativism: No absolute truth = no absolute right. Right is defined by power. Might is right. The powerful take what they can the weak give what they must (Thuc. 5.89)

Message Inevitable Outcome Sequencing Fear: Primary human motivation The truest explanation for the of war is Athenian power and Spartan fear of that power (Thuc. 1. 23) Fear of outcome A, hope for outcome B Action taken to promote outcome B causes outcome A.

Reception... the number of men who can understand the whole of Thucydides can easily be counted, and even these cannot understand certain passages without a linguistic commentary (Dion. Hal. Thuc. 51). those famous speeches contain so many dark and obscure sentences as to be scarcely intelligible, which is a prime fault in public oration. (Cic. Orator 9.30)

Just the facts ma am πραγματικῆς ἱστορίας pragmatic history Polybius i.2.8; xii.25e1. wie es eigentlich gewesen von Ranke, Leopold. 1824. Geschichten de Romanischen un Germanischen Völker von 1494 bis 1514. Preface.