Thucydides: Oligarchy And Democracy

Question Two “From the very first day members of an oligarchy have no truck with mere equality, and they all think they deserve unquestioned first place: whereas in a democracy the result of an election is easier to bear when the loser can console himself with the thought that he was not competing with his equals.1” The political views of Thucydides are not blatantly expressed to the reader, and are quite difficult to fully understand what his views are. But as explained by his quote, the differences of the oligarchy and the democracy are evident, and democracy is explained with more of a light on it, explaining it as the better option. Thucydides does an excellent job in explaining what is going on at the time, but his own opinions of political
Thucydides admired Pericles’ leadership ability and his ideas and concepts. One concept already explained is his idea of ‘protoandrarchy.’ Thucydides strongly supported the idea at the beginning. Along with his ideas, Thucydides also supported all the decisions Pericles had made, even if it wasn’t the best idea. For example, “as long as [Pericles] was at the head of the city in time of peace, he governed it with moderation and guarded it securely; and it was greatest under him. 3” That is how Thucydides felt, yet the Athenians were upset with Pericles because he was the main reason why Athens was at war rather than at peace. In Thucydides’ eyes, he shadows Pericles and strives to follow his path. Pericles is also a leader and an innovator for Thucydides and in his eyes, is the perfect leader. Thucydides continues to describe Pericles as the perfect human by stating, “the reason for Pericles' success was this: he was powerful because of his prestige and his intelligence, and also because he was known to be highly incorruptible. 4” Thucydides illustrates Pericles as a God, someone who is indestructible. He idolizes Pericles’ and supports his decisions. Thucydides truly admires Pericles and strives to be the shadow of