Comparing Pericles Funeral Oration And The Peloponnesian War

Thucydides was a Greek historian who, throughout his life, documented the Peloponnesian war. Around 431 B.C. Thucydides documented a funeral oration delivered to the people of Athens by Pericles. In Pericles’ Funeral Oration, Pericles’ praises the dead, describes how great Athens is, explains why Athens must continue to support the war, and tells why Athens must live up to the fallen soldiers of the Peloponnesian war. Pericles’ Funeral Oration tells us multiple things, the Funeral Oration gives historians a glimpse into what Athenians might have been feeling at the time. In a time of war a country's moral, and spirits are down. In the text Pericles’ says “ What I want to do is, in the first place, to discuss the spirit in which we faced our trails and also our constitution and the way of life which has made us
Although Pericles does spend most of his time explaining why Athens is such a great state he does honour the fallen men of the Peloponnesian war. Towards the end of the oration he also mentions the women of Athens who have lost their husbands and sons to the war stating “Perhaps I should say a word or two on the duties of women to those among you who are now widowed”. He then goes into advice for women stating how their greatest glory is to not be noticed or talked about, this is how he eds the oration.
When historians read Pericles’ Funeral Oration they need to be aware of possible biases when reading this source. This source was meant to be for the people of Athens. It should not be looked at or studied by historians as a speech that has connections to today. To better understand this source historians might want to look for other recordings of this speech, or an additional source about what was happening in Athens during the Peloponnesian war. This type of source might be useful to better