Thucydides – Unchanging human nature?

I recently went back to Greece. My Greek host invited me to visit the small local historical museum. In the entrance area we stopped in front of an antique bust: high forehead, curly beard, glassy eyes. Full of respect, my companion mentioned the name of the person portrayed: Thucydides!

Thuky-Who? My expressionless face must have been revealing. “Don’t you know him?” my friend asked worriedly. “Our most important historian!” “Ours,” he emphasized proudly. He gave it to me 400 years before Christ. And as a keyword: Peloponnesian War, twenty years of murder and manslaughter.

When I arrive at my hostel, I plunge into the depths of the Internet. I don’t even have to scroll deeply, headlines, articles and quotes galore. “Father of historiography,” I read, “important source for the history of ancient Greece,” I learn, and “pioneer of political science.” Can there be more?! Thucydides is described as a representative of political “realism”; he explained “with all due sobriety” that “relations between states are characterized by power, not by law and justice.” His eight-volume work on the Peloponnesian War is considered “one of the best historical works of all time,” it is said. To this day, his thoughts, considerations and strategies influence political and military strategic debates. “It was often quoted, especially in the USA during the first Gulf War and after September 11th,” emphasizes the entry from a British university. “In view of the recent tensions in the Middle East, (he) has come to the fore again.” But Yanis Varoufakis, the short-term left-wing Greek finance minister, also referred to him – at the time of the international financial crisis, which hit Greece particularly hard, to understand the overwhelmingly powerful Germans and to possibly hold their own against them.

And then I discover a lot of wise sayings from Thucydides, suitable for our war-hardened present. “Also consider how unpredictable the course of a war is before you get involved in it,” he told humanity as they continued on their path. Or: “You can get further ahead of your enemies with sensible considerations than with irrational acts of violence.” And: “You can blame evil not only on those who do it, but also on those who do not prevent it, even though they are in a position to do so would be.”

Finally I arrive at Thucydides’ view of humanity. He lamented an “unchangeable human nature”: ambition, selfishness, greed, greed. And he seems to be right. His home, the once tranquil Cyclades island, has been in a gold rush for ten years. The landscape is being devastated for the sake of mass tourism. Misguided speculators and investors rush around to make more purchases during sales. The last tuff caves, natural wonders, are being drained in order to rent them out – as “very special and traditional” – to tourists during the holiday season.

This Thucydides has been dead for more than two millennia – and man seems to have hardly changed and behaves as unreasonable as ever.

Neville Morley, who is considered one of the most important international experts on Thucydides, published an essay a few years ago in which he asked about the reasons for the “popularity” of the ancient historian. The British professor was reluctant to commit, but he concluded that, according to Thucydides’ findings, “there is little reason for hope about the state of the world.” This would not only affect wars everywhere, but also the increased dangers for democracy and the disintegration of societies into opposing, fighting interest groups.

“Evil should not only be blamed on those who do it, but also on those who do not prevent it.”

Thukydides

“So if Thucydides has something to say to us today,” writes Morley, “it is probably because the world seems unpredictable and fragile to us. And that we are looking for an authority who has understood the laws behind the events and can show us a way out of the danger.” Thucydides warned that “whoever shows weakness succumbs to the stronger” and “whoever sees the opportunity to rule, and does not shy away from any crime. In his eight-volume work on the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides speaks “of human nature.” The logic of war is expressed in a language that spreads like a disease. Power and powerlessness seize man, leaving him helpless to his nature. Reason, virtue and freedom, on the other hand, have no chance. So is there actually only fatalism?

Some people today say that Thucydides was a “war supporter and power ideologist,” writes the British expert, “others consider him an idealist and pacifist who, traumatized by his own war experiences, did everything in his power to prevent future wars.” We cannot answer that conclusively. But it still makes you think today.