The Two Great Speeches

Throughout history many speeches have astonished humanity, two specifically, are very much alike and served the same purpose yet they occurred at different times in history. Pericles’ Funeral Oration, which happened between 431-404 BC, and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which took place on November 19 1863, share several common aspects. Both speeches pertained to honor the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War and the United States Civil War. Due to the fact that both Pericles and Lincoln were politicians we can infer that they were experts in getting their point across to the masses. Pericles’ Funeral Oration happened thousands of years before Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, however the fact that both of them were meant to redefine war and its purpose made them very comparable. There is a reason these two speeches can be compared; by looking at the bigger picture, analyzing the similarities, and meaning of the dialogue it can be said the speeches were intended to portray both wars as a necessary method to reestablish the pillars for which each nation and/or city was founded upon.

Both of these speeches are without a doubt, an important piece of history, as they tell the story of the aftermath of the battles that had taken place and the ones that were yet to come. The Funeral Oration by Pericles displays the difference those who had died in the battles made and how much Athenians valued them, enough to publicly honor them. According to Thucydides Pericles stated, “Such is the Athens for which these men, in the assertion of their resolve not to lose her, nobly fought and died; and well may every one of their survivors be ready to suffer in her cause.” With this passage we can infer that Athenians were very loyal to their region and Pericles knowing that used their loyalty to persuade them to support him in defending Athens.