Thucydides in the ‘Age of Extremes’ and Beyond. Academia and Politics

Edited by Luca Iori and Ivan Matijašić

Abstract

The essays collected in this volume explore over a century of readings of Thucydides, from the years immediately preceding the First World War up to the present day. Our purpose is to reflect on some underexplored areas of Thucydidean reception within different academic traditions and political contexts, as well as reconsidering the more recent and controversial developments in the Fortleben of the Athenian historian in the fields of Strategic Studies and International Relations. The interaction between politics and academic practice is the thread that connects our collective efforts. We seek to adopt an approach that is less confined to the reuse of an ancient text in a merely political vein, but opens up to investigate wider issues concerning the history of classical scholarship and the process of consolidation of the social sciences in the academic systems.

Luca Iori & Ivan Matijašić
Ch. 1: Looking for New Paths in Modern and Contemporary Receptions of Thucydides

Tim Rood
Ch. 2: A.E. Zimmern, Thucydides, and the Emergence of Modern Disciplines

Benjamin Earley
Ch. 3: Thucydides, Science, and Christianity in the Thought of Charles Cochrane

Ivan Matijašić
Ch. 4: John Enoch Powell, Thucydides, and Historical Analogy

Dino Piovan
Ch. 5: Reading Thucydides in Early Twentieth Century Italy

Luca Iori
Ch. 6: Classics against the Regime. Thucydides, Piero Gobetti, and Fascist Italy

Hans Kopp
Ch. 7: Ein antiker Marxist und Geopolitiker? Hartvig Frischs Auseinandersetzung mit Thukydides vor dem Hintergrund des sowjetisch-finnischen Winterkrieges 1939/40

Carlo Marcaccini
Ch. 8: G.E.M. de Ste. Croix, Tucidide e la ricerca della verità                                  

Francis Larran
Ch. 9: Le plus grand désastre militaire de l’histoire occidentale? La réception de l’Expédition de Sicile au XXe siècle

Virgilio Ilari
Ch. 10: Thucydides’ Traps. The Peloponnesian War in American Political Rhetoric and in Senior Military Education

Peter J. Rhodes†
Ch. 11: Conclusions