Last discussion, we focused on Thucydides’ motives and methods for his historical record of the Peloponnesian war.
First, we established that Thucydides’ stated purpose was to create a lasting account of the war between Sparta and Athens and to inform future generations of the lessons in history. Thucydides, unlike his contemporary Herodotus, was alive for all of the events he described. As a result, much of his evidence his is based on speeches, which he and his informants were unable to perfectly record. In place of the exact words, Thucydides takes the general sense of the speeches and applies what in his opinion “was called for by each situation” (1.22) This methodology ties directly into Thucydides’ notion that human nature remains constant.