Study Questions for
Assignment 21 -- Thucydides The Peloponnesian War, Books 3 and 4
Book 3
- 3.36 What changed the Athenians' minds in the affair of Mytilene? How does Thucydides describe Cleon?
- 3.37.2, 3.40.3 and 4 What basic argument does Cleon use to advocate ruthless force?
- 3.44 What position does Diodotus take to argue against such ruthlessness?
- 3.49 What saved the Mytilenians from destruction?
- 3.68.1 What caused the Spartans to side with the Thebans and destroy the Plataeans, when the Thebans and Plataeans argued over Plataea's fate?
- 3.82-3.84 In his discussion of the Corcyrean revolution, what basic characteristics of man does Thucydides say causes such evil? In revolutionary times, what kind of men are the most successful? 3.82.2 Why does war bring out the worst in man?
Book 4
- 4.5 How quickly did the soldiers fortify Pylos?
- 4.21 Why did the Athenians rejec the treaty offer by the Spartans?
- 4.28 What more do we learn about Cleon's character here?
- 4.40 What did the Spartan prisoner mean about the "clever arrows"?
- 4.41 What do we learn about the character of the Athenians here? (compare with question 8 above, regarding 4.21)
- 4.79 Who invited the Spartans to march north into Thrace?
- 4.81 What kind of reputation did the Spartan general Brasidas have?
- 4.100 How did the Boeotians make their flame-thrower?
- 4.104-107 What role did Thucydides himself play in the war in Thrace?
- 4.108 After the fall of Amphipolis, for what reasons did other Thracians cities now go over to the Spartan side?
Greek Fire
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