The Use and Meaning of Eros in Thucydides

• In Event: Plato, Thucydides, and the Uses of Political Discourse

Abstract

Thucydides or his characters refer to “eros” and its derivatives at five crucial points in his narrative, preponderantly (though not exclusively) with reference to devotion to the city of Athens and its enterprises. This paper examines these five uses of eros, and attempts to explain what is intended in each case and what the five uses, taken together, tell us about Thucydides’ understanding of eros and its political manifestations more generally.

Author

• Timothy W. Burns, Baylor University