Brasidas and Thucydides: hero and his historian

Ian Plant

doi:10.3917/dha.492.0011

Brasidas and Thucydides: hero and his historian

Ian Plant

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

152 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Brasidas features prominently in Thucydides’ history. Thucydides refers to him by name 94 times (cf. Pericles 24 times) over four books, and represents him enjoying military success as a commander and combatant. This paper reviews the image of Brasidas that Thucydides creates for the reader and attempts to understand it in its historical and literary context. It concludes that the recognition of Brasidas as a hero at Amphipolis and Delphi after his death is reflected in the heroic portrait of him painted by Thucydides. In addition, the historian, exiled after being defeated by Brasidas, addressed in part his own reputation by developing the aristeia of this hero.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	11-36
Number of pages	26
Journal	Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne
Volume	49
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3917/dha.492.0011
Publication status	Published - 2023

Bibliographical note

Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

Thucydides
Brasidas
Hero
Delphi
Aristophanes

Access to Document

10.3917/dha.492.0011

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 350 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{a5aa2bb582d94fbcb4a8acdff12d69d6,

title = "Brasidas and Thucydides: hero and his historian",

abstract = "Brasidas features prominently in Thucydides{\textquoteright} history. Thucydides refers to him by name 94 times (cf. Pericles 24 times) over four books, and represents him enjoying military success as a commander and combatant. This paper reviews the image of Brasidas that Thucydides creates for the reader and attempts to understand it in its historical and literary context. It concludes that the recognition of Brasidas as a hero at Amphipolis and Delphi after his death is reflected in the heroic portrait of him painted by Thucydides. In addition, the historian, exiled after being defeated by Brasidas, addressed in part his own reputation by developing the aristeia of this hero.",

keywords = "Thucydides, Brasidas, Hero, Delphi, Aristophanes",

author = "Ian Plant",

note = "Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.3917/dha.492.0011",

language = "English",

volume = "49",

pages = "11--36",

journal = "Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne",

issn = "0755-7256",

publisher = "Universite de Franche-Comte, U F R des Sciences du Langage, de l'Homme et de la Societe",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Brasidas and Thucydides

T2 - hero and his historian

AU - Plant, Ian

N1 - Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Brasidas features prominently in Thucydides’ history. Thucydides refers to him by name 94 times (cf. Pericles 24 times) over four books, and represents him enjoying military success as a commander and combatant. This paper reviews the image of Brasidas that Thucydides creates for the reader and attempts to understand it in its historical and literary context. It concludes that the recognition of Brasidas as a hero at Amphipolis and Delphi after his death is reflected in the heroic portrait of him painted by Thucydides. In addition, the historian, exiled after being defeated by Brasidas, addressed in part his own reputation by developing the aristeia of this hero.

AB - Brasidas features prominently in Thucydides’ history. Thucydides refers to him by name 94 times (cf. Pericles 24 times) over four books, and represents him enjoying military success as a commander and combatant. This paper reviews the image of Brasidas that Thucydides creates for the reader and attempts to understand it in its historical and literary context. It concludes that the recognition of Brasidas as a hero at Amphipolis and Delphi after his death is reflected in the heroic portrait of him painted by Thucydides. In addition, the historian, exiled after being defeated by Brasidas, addressed in part his own reputation by developing the aristeia of this hero.

KW - Thucydides

KW - Brasidas

KW - Hero

KW - Delphi

KW - Aristophanes

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85181010099

U2 - 10.3917/dha.492.0011

DO - 10.3917/dha.492.0011

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85181010099

SN - 0755-7256

VL - 49

SP - 11

EP - 36

JO - Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne

JF - Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne

IS - 2

ER -

Brasidas and Thucydides: hero and his historian

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this