EUBOIANS IN MACEDONIA? A CLOSER LOOK

Summary. A number of recent studies, both archaeological and philological, have revived old arguments, in addition to presenting new evidence, for Euboian colonisation and pre-colonisation in Macedonia, particularly the Chalkidike. As a result, a virtual consensus has arisen in current scholarship which views Euboia as an active early agent in the north Aegean Early Iron Age. A closer look at the evidence at hand, however, undermines rather than supports the arguments for Euboian pre-eminence in the region and highlights the false and often hasty basis on which many arguments are founded. In addition to the archaeological, the philological evidence is reviewed and it is suggested that Chalkidike derives its name not from Euboian Chalkis but directly from chalkos and alludes to the rich metal deposits of the region.     

The Third Man; Or, Agency in History; Or, Rationality in Revolution

Theories of revolution invoke human agency to commit the violence that revolution entails, yet theorists of revolution often denounce the general theory of human agency called rational choice because (they say) it does not explain macrosocial facts like revolution and also leaves out culture. Actually, however, rational choice is the major premise of any cogent explanation of revolution, and it includes culture as a factual premise. Rational-choice theory applied to explaining revolution dates back to Thucydides, whose method of explanation is sound and whose theory of revolution is true. Thucydides explains the macrosocial fact of revolution by way of models whose elements are people doing what they hope will succeed, that is, acting on opinion alias culture. Theorists of revolution who make sense of it all rehearse Thucydides: they analyze the narrative history into strategic actions and reactions, explain these actions and reactions by rational choice, and document the explanation with direct and circumstantial evidence for hope of success, though they seldom own up on theory and method or preach what they practice.     

3. SIMA QIAN AND HIS WESTERN COLLEAGUES: ON POSSIBLE CATEGORIES OF DESCRIPTION

This article comments on some of Professor Huang's theses by looking at ancient historiography. It deals with the significance of history in its respective cultural contexts; the kind of orientation that historical thinking and historiography provide; and the relationship between concrete examples and abstract rules in historical argumentation. Distinguishing between ancient Greece and Rome, it shows that Huang's explicit and implicit East‐West oppositions are more valid with respect to ancient Greece than to ancient Rome. on important points, the situation of Rome is surprisingly close to that of china. thus not only in China but also in Rome, tradition and history are highly important as a life‐orienting force (as opposed to the importance of speculative thought in Greece); and not only in China but also in Rome the orientation that historical thinking and historiography provide is to a great extent moral (as opposed to orientation through intellectual insight that, for a historian such as Thucydides, is placed in the foreground). As to the relationship between concrete examples and abstract rules in historical argumentation, the paper takes up Professor Rüsen's category of “exemplary meaning‐generation,” but suggests a distinction between example in the sense of “case/instance” and example in the sense of “model/paragon.” Though the two corresponding modes of exemplary meaning‐generation are mostly entwined, it appears that in Chinese and Roman historical works (in accordance with their stress on moral effect) there is a tendency toward meaning‐generation by example in the sense of “model/paragon,” whereas in Greek historiography (in accordance with its stress on intellectual insight) the tendency is toward meaning‐generation by example in the sense of “case/instance.”     

《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》是如何写出来的？--“修昔底德问题”研究的回顾与思考

修昔底德创作《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》花费了毕生精力,全书各个部分的写作次序和时间如何迄今悬而未决。从1846年这个问题提出到20世纪80年代初,大体有两派观点:"分离论"和"一体论"。前者认为,修昔底德的著作是分阶段写成的,这不仅表现在时间上,还表现在作者的思想上;后者则认为,尽管这部书是未完之作,且有一些不完善地方,但全书一以贯之,因此主要在一个时间段写成。两派各执一词,探讨逐步深入。1984年美国学者康纳提出修昔底德文本的同质性问题,即作者有意带领读者一起面对事件,其思想认识和叙事形式都发生了变化,故其文本不是同质的。这对"分离论"起到了纠偏的作用,也超越了"一体论"。在康纳观点指引下,英国学者鲁德和美国学者德沃尔德研究了修昔底德的叙事方式。鲁德认为"修昔底德问题"是一个"无法回答的问题";德沃尔德则证明其叙事的组织形式发生了变化。"修昔底德问题"将激发学者们的研究热情,砥砺他们的才智,推动着学术界不断深化对于史学的认识。     

Notes to the Brutus of Cicero

Scholars have taken for granted that Pausanias is indebted to Thucydides both in style and as a source for his historical excurses. This paper argues that this view lacks foundation. The importance of the lost literature that we know Pausanias used makes it impossible to define the influences that formed his style, and in subject matter his divergences from Thucydides rather point to non‐Thucydidean sources.     

HISTORIA MAGISTRA VITAE,INTERRUPTING: THUCYDIDES AND THE AGONISTIC TEMPORALITY OF ANTIQUITY AND MODERNITY

In this essay I discuss Koselleck's thesis on the dissolution of historia magistra vitae in modernity with a view to exploring how the modern historiographical engagement with Thucydides entails qualifications of this argument. Focusing on Barthold Georg Niebuhr's contextualization of Thucydides in a new temporality of “ancient and modern history,” I examine how modernity is caught between conflicting notions of its own prehistory, and that this conflict suggests that the forward‐leaping qualities of Neuzeit were co‐articulated with other temporal notions, and particularly an idea of historical exemplarity associated with historia magistra vitae. This plurality of times highlights an agonistic temporality linking antiquity and modernity: a model of conflicting times inscribed in a dialogue through which modern historiography interrupted the “useful” history of antiquity, while simultaneously being itself interrupted by it. By following this dialogue, I seek to test two interrelated hypotheses: a) that modernity produced a multitemporal scheme in which the ideas of differential time and the future were intertwined with a notion of historia magistra vitae as meaningful and sense‐bearing time; and b) that contradictions in this scheme arising from the modern confrontation with Thucydides's poetics challenges the opposition between historia magistra vitae and modern historical sense and configures a temporality that is self‐agonistic in the sense that it confronts historical actors before and beyond the terms through which they may be able to give it meaning. Formulated as a poetics of the possible, this notion is approached as a corrective alternative to the modern consideration of the future as distanced from the space of experience, but nonetheless as grounded in actuality and therefore largely mastered by human knowledge and action.     

The Cyclical Views of Human History in Thucydides’ Archaeology and Sima Qian’s Historical Records

Many previous thinkers have imagined that there was a glorious or harmonious period in the past better than the world of their own time, but Thucydides and Sima Qian do not describe the early stages of human society as a Golden Age. I suggest that Sima Qian marks a separation between the mythical stories and the historical spirit in China, just as Thucydides did in Greece. Further, they both presented a modified cyclical view of human history. For a better understanding of the basic characteristics of Greek and Chinese historiographies, this paper discusses the cyclical views of human history underlying ancient Greek and early Chinese historiographies through a comparative study of Thucydides’ and Sima Qian’s texts. I analyze some similarities and differences between the two great historians’ conceptions of historical process, and I conclude that Thucydides believes human intelligence develops through a historical spiral, while Sima Qian focuses on dynastic cycles with a strong moral concern.     

The Early Iron Age at Troy Reconsidered

Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) of Protogeometric ceramics at Troy supports a revision of our understanding of the site in the Protogeometric period. Previous interpretations of this period at Troy emphasized the importance of either Greek migration or Greek trade networks. A category of amphoras previously thought to be imports appears to have been made locally. NAA also indicates local production of a new class of handmade cooking pots, as well as more traditional Gray ware vessels. Analysis reveals a high degree of cultural continuity at Iron Age Troy, with inhabitants adopting and adapting a wider vocabulary of Protogeometric vessel types in the Aegean while integrating them with established local pottery traditions and resource use. The combinations of local and non‐local components seen at Troy are more consistent with long‐term dynamic Aegean interaction spheres than with more tenuous models of Aeolian migration or Euboian expansion.     

修昔底德选用史料方法刍议

修昔底德的史著以叙述伯罗奔尼撒战争为主要内容,涉及希腊世界主要城邦的政治、军事、经济、外交以及海陆交通等方面丰富多样的史料。修昔底德按照自己处理史料的原则,对于战前史和战争史本身的史料分别采取了不同的处理方法。对于战前史料的选择和考信方法主要采用比较考异法和反溯法;对于当代史料的选用及考信方法主要采取实录法、辨异法、推测法、纠错法、隐微法等五种。修昔底德貌似如实直书的表象背后,隐含着名副其实的“修昔底德陷阱”。     

The General as Statesman: The Virtues of Measuredness and Daring in Thucydides’ Account of Brasidas

Abstract

This article explores the virtues of daring and measuredness in the character of Brasidas in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. These two virtues prove to be necessary for Brasidas to fulfill his role as a general. However, they are incomplete for a statesman concerned with the domestic affairs of a regime. In emphasizing these two virtues and displaying Brasidas only in his position as a general, Thucydides makes an important statement about the relationship between generalship and statesmanship, and to what degree the former is subordinated to the latter. Brasidas’ virtues become especially clear when contrasted with two other generals from the Peloponnesian War, Pausanias and Nicias.     

“赫尔墨斯神像案”与修昔底德的史学思想

修昔底德的《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》记载公元前五世纪下半叶雅典城邦发生的重大事件——赫尔墨斯神像案。在案件真相难以确定的情况下,修氏将案件和由此案牵扯出的亚西比德渎神案置于雅典政治斗争的大背景下作考察,表述了自己的认识。他的认识反映出从特殊(案件具体内容)到一般(案件性质的判断),又从一般到特殊的思维过程。修氏对此两案的记载,表明史料能成为史家的证据,史实能被认识最终取决于史家独立的历史思维。这种史学思想的自主性是修氏史学理论的最深刻之处。     

Radiocarbon dates for the late Middle Palaeolithic at Pech de l'Azé IV,France

This paper reports a series of radiocarbon dates on bone samples coming from the Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA) Layer 3 at the top of the Pech de l'Azé IV (Pech IV, France) Middle Palaeolithic sequence. All of these samples showed evidence of human impact, and they were prepared using current pre-treatment techniques to remove or identify contamination. The results indicate that the MTA at Pech IV started prior to the current limit of radiocarbon calibration (circa 50 ka BP) and ended by 45 ka cal. BP. These dates are supported by additional TL and ESR dates from the sequence, confirm previously suggested correlations between Pech I and IV, and generally fit within the known age range for the MTA. The oldest dates reported here may also lend support to still older TL dates for the MTA that taken together suggest that the MTA extended from late MIS 4 or early OIS 3 through to the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in southwest France.     

Imperialist democracy,ancient Athenians and the US presence in Iraq

This article speculates about possible parallels between the experience of the Athenian empire and the Americans’ rationale for their presence in Iraq. Leaders in both countries sought to make their worlds safe for democracy by military invasion. The Athenian experience is described, drawing on Thucydides and other primary and secondary sources. Then there is a sketch of the scholarly treatment accorded the Athenian empire by writers through to the present day. Finally, allusions to the classical experience by several contemporary writers are examined. These writers articulate a common pessimism about the future prospects for the American presence in Iraq.     

To Avenge the Burnt Statues and Temples of the Gods: The Religious Background of the Greek Wars with the “Barbarians”

Abstract

In The Clash of Civilizations (1996) Samuel Huntington placed the Persian Wars at the beginning of the long line of clashes between civilizations. To the modern reader the emphasis Huntington puts on the role played by religion in defining Athenian civilization and its conflict with the “barbarians” appears to be consistent with Herodotus’ position on these wars. However, this position overlooks the fact that the ancient polytheistic beliefs and cults implied a particular attitude to religion, unlike that of monotheistic religions. In the ancient Mediterranean world the temples and sacred places were to be universally respected and any violation of this rule was regarded as sacrilege that justified persecution of the wrongdoers, whose ethnicity was of no, or only of secondary, importance. The purpose of this article is to survey the main passages in Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon that treat the wars between the Greeks and Persians and between Greek city-states, and to demonstrate that the line dividing defenders (or avengers) of divine cults from offenders of the gods was not drawn between Greeks and barbarians, but between defenders and offenders.     

EXPERIENTIALITY AND “NARRATIVE REFERENCE,” WITH THANKS TO THUCYDIDES1

Lately, the concept of experience, which postmodernist theoreticians declared dead, has seen a renaissance. The immediacy of experience seems to offer the possibility of reaching beyond linguistic discourses. In their attempt to overcome the “linguistic turn,” scholars such as Ankersmit, Gumbrecht, and Runia pit experience against narrative. This paper takes up the recent interest in experience, but argues against the opposition to narrative into which experience tends to be cast. The relation between experience and narrative is more complex than is widely assumed. Besides representing and giving shape to experience, narratives are received in the form of a (reception) experience. Through their temporal structure, narratives are crucial to letting us re‐experience the past as well as to representing the experiences of historical agents. This potential of narrative is nicely illustrated by Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War in which “side‐shadowing” devices restore history's experientiality. Through “side‐shadowing,” narrative can challenge the tendency toward teleologies inherent in merely retrospective histories and can re‐create the openness intrinsic to the past when it still was a present. However, the “side‐shadowing” devices used by Thucydides are fictional. To conceptualize the price and gain of “side‐shadowing” in historiography, the paper advances the concept of a “narrative reference” (a concept analogous to Ricoeur's “metaphorical reference”). Introspection, speeches, and other “side‐shadowing” devices sacrifice truth in a positivist sense, but permit a second‐level reference, namely to history's experientiality. In a final step, the paper turns toward modern historians—most of whom are reluctant to use the means of fiction—to briefly survey their attempts at restoring the openness of the past.     

Student field experiences: designing for different instructors and variable weather

This study compares the field experience and development of sense of place (in this case, human attributed meanings and attachments to the field area) in geoscience students on three separate course sections of a six-day introductory geological mapping field trip. Students stayed in a small farm station within their 4 km² field area, worked in groups of three or four, and produced an individual final assessment. Findings from student interviews and pre-post surveys indicated that there were no significant differences in perceptions of the field trip purpose or sense of place between field trip sections, despite differences in instructor pedagogy and sense of place, as well as varied weather conditions. There were significant increases in student sense of place on all field trips, in contrast with previous work on a “roadside” (regional, multi-site) field trip where no significant change in sense of place occurred. In-field observations and instructor interviews identified key characteristics that supported similar sense of place and experiences on all trips: (1) consistent intended learning outcomes, (2) a carefully selected and immersive field area valued by instructors, and (3) an assessment connected to the landscape/field area with flexibility in its implementation, especially when faced with adverse weather conditions.     

Counting Carbon: Calculative Activism and Slippery Infrastructure

The environmental movement in the global North is in a state of impasse. It appears that despite the renewed international focus on climate change, and the actions of innumerable social movements, a “solution” to the problem appears as one, without a viable solution. It is the contention of this paper that climate change has no clearly viable solution as it is a seemingly impossible problem. This paper investigates how the problem of climate change is constructed as a global object of political action and how it functions to render politics into a matter of calculative action, one that seeks—but fails—to take hold of a slippery carbon infrastructure. It concludes by suggesting one possible solution to this dilemma is to turn away from the global scalar logic of climate change and towards a situated focus on questions of infrastructure, or what Dimitris Papadopoulos calls “thick justice”.     

Asymmetrical Historical Comparison: the Case of the German Sonderweg

Frequently, historical comparisons are asymmetrical in the sense that they investigate one case carefully while limiting themselves to a mere sketch of the other case(s) which serve(s) as comparative reference point(s). The debate on the German Sonderweg (special path) and the rich historical literature originating from this debate can serve as examples. This article reconstructs the pros and cons within this controversial debate, reports its results and puts it into a broader historical context. It analyzes the comparative logic implied by the Sonderweg thesis and argues that the interpretation of modern German history in the sense of a Sonderweg can only be maintained if related to the question why Germany turned fascist and totalitarian in the interwar period while other (comparable) societies did not, and if Western countries are selected as units of comparison. The choice of comparative reference points turns out to be decisive and partly dependent on normative priorities and conventions. The article points to dangers and opportunities inherent in asymmetrical comparison.     

修昔底德的“命运”说

"命运"说是修昔底德历史思想中的重要内容。在《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》中,"命运"一词主要指机遇、运气(包括好运和厄运)等人类无法预见、非人格化的力量,而与神意无涉。它通常表现为人力无法预计和支配的偶然现象和事件,与人的智慧、谋算、预见力相对立,并对人的心理和活动产生很大的影响。修氏承认"命运"对人事的影响,但更强调人的智慧、远见和理性的判断在人事成败中的作用。修氏的"命运"说,体现了古希腊思想的进步。