Stasis in Corcyra: who was fighting there?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/CC.23.2020.23.03

Keywords:

stasis, civil war, Corcyra, Thucydides, democrats, oligarchs, neutrality

Abstract

In this paper, I am attempting to present a different perspective on a famous passage from Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War (Thuc. 3.69–3.85), on the so called stasis in Corcyra island. Many scholars have scrutinized that passage in order to define what the stasis was or to fit it into the historian’s work. My aim is to elucidate the concrete case in Corcyra, not the model of the stasis in general. In this article, I analyse the source to find the answers to the main question, that is, who really was fighting in Corcyra (looking beyond simple dichotomy, which is stressed by Thucydides). I elaborate on the origins of the conflict, the role of individuals, the chief and background groups engaged in the strife and the process of gradation of the stasis, where the neutral status is practically impossible. I am trying to interpret this case of stasis not only as a struggle between democrats with oligarchs, but (what is equally important) as a commixture of different people or bodies of people, who often, in fact, were merely random dwellers (not only citizens) of the island.

PlumX Metrics of this article

References

Thucydides, 1920, History of the Peloponnesian War, Volume II: Books 3–4, with an English trans. C.F. Smith, London–Cambridge, Mass.

Thucydidis Historiae, 1948, vol. I: Books I–IV, ed. by H. S. Jones., with apparatus criticus revised by J. E. Powell.

Anastasiadis V. I., 1999, ‘Political “Parties” in Athenian Democracy: A Modernising Topos,’ Arethusa 32/3, pp. 313–335, https://doi.org/10.1353/are.1999.0012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/are.1999.0012

Bauslaugh R. A., 1991, The Concept of Neutrality in Classical Greece, Berkeley. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520909335

Bravo B., 2000, ‘Pseudo-Herodotus and Pseudo-Thucydides on Scythia, Thrace and the Regions “Beyond,”’ Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia IV, 5/1, pp. 21–112.

Bers V., 1975, ‘Solon’s Law Forbidding Neutrality and Lysias 31,’ Historia. Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 24/3, pp. 493–498.

Brock R., 2009, ’Did the Athenian Empire Promote Democracy?,’ [in:] Interpreting the Athenian Empire, J. Ma, N. Papazarkadas, R. Parker (eds.), London, pp. 149–166.

Bruce I. A. F., 1971, ‘The Corcyraean Civil War of 427 B. C.,’ Phoenix 25/2, pp. 108–117, https://doi.org/10.2307/1087521. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1087521

Clark M. T., 1993, ‘Realism Ancient and Modern: Thucydides and International Relations,’ Political Science and Politics 26/3, pp. 491–494, https://doi.org/10.2307/419989. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/419989

Connor W. R., 1971, The New Politicians of Fifth-Century Athens, Princeton–New Jersey.

Crane G., 1992, ‘Power, Prestige, and the Corcyrean Affair in Thucydides 1,’ Classical Antiquity 11/1, pp. 1–27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/25010960

Crane G., 1998, Thucydides and the Ancient Simplicity: The Limits of Political Realism, Berkeley. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520918740

Croix, G. E. M. de Ste., 1954, ‘The Character of the Athenian Empire,’ Historia. Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 3/1, pp. 1–41.

Croix, G. E. M. de Ste., 1981, The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World: From the Archaic Age to the Arab Conquests, Ithaca–New York.

Duplouy A., 2006, Le prestige des élites. Recherches sur les modes de reconnaissance sociale en Grèce entre les Xe et V e siècles avant J.-C, Paris.

Fuks A., 1971, ‘Thucydides and the Stasis in Corcyra: Thuc., III, 82-3 versus [Thuc.], III, 84,’ The American Journal of Philology 92/1, pp. 48–55, https://doi.org/10.2307/293277. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/293277

Gehrke H.-J., 1985, Stasis. Untersuchungen zu den inneren Kriegen in den griechischen Staaten des 5. und 4. Jahrhunderts v.Chr., München.

Gomme A. W., 1956, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides, Volume II: The Ten Years War (Books II–III), Oxford.

Goldstein J. A., 1972, ’Solon’s Law for an Activist Citizentry,’ Historia. Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 21/4, pp. 538–545.

Hornblower S., 1991, A commnentary on Thucydides, Volume I: Books I-III, Oxford.

Immerwahr H. R., 1973, ‘Pathology of Power and the Speeches in Thucydides,’ [in:] The Speeches in Thucydides, P.A. Stadter (ed.), Chapel Hill, pp. 16–31.

Kimel P., 2009, Historycy-politycy jako źródło realizmu politycznego: Tukidydes – Polibiusz – Machiavelli, Kraków.

Logan R. P., 1967, ‘Phliasian Politics and Policy in the Early Fourth Century B.C.,’ Historia. Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte 16/3, pp. 324–337.

Mack W., 2015, Proxeny and Polis: Institutional Networks in the Ancient Greek World, Oxford, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198713869.001.0001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198713869.001.0001

Macleod C. W., 1977, ‘Thucydides’ Plataean Debate,” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 18, pp. 227–246.

Meiggs R., 1972, The Athenian Empire, Princeton-Oxford.

Ostwald M., 2000, Oligarchia: The Development of a Constitutional Form in Ancient Greece, Stuttgart.

Palmer M., 2017, ’Stasis in the War Narrative,’ [in:] Oxford Handbook of Thucydides, R. K. Balot, S. Forsdyke, E. Foster (eds.), Oxford, pp. 409–425, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199340385.013.35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199340385.013.35

Parke W., 1967, The Oracles of Zeus, Oxford, https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674183599. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674183599

Pouncey P. R., 1980, The Necessities of War: A Study of Thucydides’ Pessimism, New York, https://doi.org/10.7312/poun92106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7312/poun92106

Price J. J., 2004, Thucydides and Internal War, Cambridge, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511483066. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511483066

Rhodes P. J., 1985, A Commentary on Aristotelian ‘Athenaion Politeia,’ Oxford, https://doi.org/10.2307/630561. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/630561

Robinson E. W., 2011, Democracy Beyond Athens: Popular Government in the Greek Classical Age, Cambridge, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511977527. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511977527

Romilly J. de, 1947, Thucydide et l’impérialisme athénien, la pensée de l’historien et la genèse de l’oeuvre, Paris (thèse de doctorat).

Roy J., 2017, ‘Mercenaries in Aineias Tacticus,’ [in:] Brill’s Companion to Aineias Tacticus, M. Pretzler, N. Barley (eds.), Leiden–Boston, pp. 206–213, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004352858_012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004352858_012

Ruschenbusch E., 1978, Untersuchungen zu Staat und Politik in Griechenland vom 7.-4. Jh. v. Chr., Bamberg.

Simonton M., 2017, Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History, Princeton–Oxford, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1vwmh2v. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691174976.001.0001

Węcowski M., 2009, ‘Demokracja ateńska w epoce klasycznej,’ [in:] Historia starożytnych Greków. Tom 2. Okres klasyczny, B. Bravo et al. (red.), Warszawa, pp. 345–530.

Williams M. F., 1985, ‘Two Traditional Elements in Thucydides Corcyrean Excursus,’ The Classical World 79/1, pp. 1–3, https://doi.org/10.2307/4349797. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/4349797

Downloads

Published

2020-08-06

How to Cite

Miśkiewicz, R. “Stasis in Corcyra: Who Was Fighting There?”. Classica Cracoviensia, vol. 23, Aug. 2020, pp. 55–75, doi:10.12797/CC.23.2020.23.03.

Issue

Section

Classica Litteraria