Thucydides and Epigraphy

Bibliographic Data

ID20076576
AuthorsBernhard Smarczyk (corresponding author)
Year2006
Pages493-522
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueBrill's Companion to Thucydides (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/9789047404842_020
OpenAlexW836318880
ISBN9789047404842
LanguageEN
Citations received5

The topic and Epigraphy has several facets: one is the historian's use of inscriptions in his History of the Peloponnesian War and their place in his historiographical working process; another is the relation between Thucydides' narration, reconstruction, and interpretation of history, and the epigraphical sources for the events of fifth-century and earlier Greek history that Thucydides describes. Both these issues are related to the problem of the reliability of the author and the criteria for checking this. This chapter focuses on a few central points. Thucydides' reliability as a historian can be examined at another level. In particular, primary sources, unbiased by his point of view, enable us to check his accuracy and credibility. Here the following question arises: what is the relation between the surviving inscriptions of historical significance concerning the Pentekontaetia and Peloponnesian War and Thucydides' own account, reconstruction, and evaluation of the events?. Keywords: epigraphy; Greek; imperial inscriptions; Peloponnesian War; Thucydides; Thucydides' narration

Archaeology · Art · Credibility · Epigraphy · Epistemology · Historiography · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Computer Science · History · Organic Chemistry Synthesis Methods · Philosophy

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