Pericles' Funeral Oration
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Pericles' Funeral Oration is a famous speech from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War[1], one of the few complete sources available on the subject of the power struggle between Athens and Sparta during the late 5th century BC.
It was established Athenian practice by the late fifth century to hold a public funeral in honour of all those who had died in war to benefit Athens. The main part of the ceremony was a speech delivered by a prominent Athenian citizen. The Funeral Oration was reputedly delivered by Pericles, an eminent Athenian politician of the 400s BC and the guiding force in Athens during the early Peloponnesian War. However, it is not certain how much of the speech is actually taken from the word of Pericles rather than Thucydides' own interpretation. Thucydides notes in his history that the speeches presented are not verbatim but intended to represent the main ideas of what was said.[2]
Historically, it is significant because the speech goes well beyond the typical formula of praising the glorious dead. David Cartwright describes it as "a eulogy of Athens itself..."[3]. The speech is a glorification of Athens' achievements, designed to stir the spirits of a state still at war.
American Civil War scholar Garry Wills addresses the parallels to Pericles' funeral oration to Abraham Lincoln's famous speech the Gettysburg Address.[4] Pericles' speech, like Lincoln's, begins with an acknowledgment of revered predecessors: "I shall begin with our ancestors: it is both just and proper that they should have the honour of the first mention on an occasion like the present"; then praises the uniqueness of the State's commitment to democracy: "If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences"; honors the sacrifice of the slain, "Thus choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonour, but met danger face to face"; and exhorts the living to continue the struggle: "You, their survivors, must determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray that it may have a happier issue."[5][6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, II, 34
- ^ ibid, I, 22
- ^ Cartwright, David (1997). A Historical Commentary On Thucydides. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08419-4.
- ^ McPherson, James (July 16, 1992). "The Art of Abraham Lincoln". The New York Review of Books 39 (13).
- ^ Pericles' Funeral Oration from Thucydides: Peloponnesian War. Retrieved on December 18, 2005.
- ^ The New York Review of Books: The Art of Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved on December 18, 2005.
