Download The timeliness and actuality of Thucydides.

The timeliness and actuality of
Thucydides.
Some thoughts and an educational scenario regarding
recent events in Ukraine
Pashalis Theotokidis
Head Master of 4th Lyceum of Veria
Dimitris Tahmatzidis
Teacher of Classics – 4th Lyceum of Veria
Conception - Inception
• February 2014
• «History teaches us that we are being taught by
history nothing at all!»
• Paradox!
• National Curriculum: Thucydides text, Book 3,
Chapters 70 to 83
• Recent events in Ukraine
• Oleksandr Turchynov’s statements as Chairman
of the Ukrainian Parliament and acting President
of Ukraine, regarding “neutrality”.
Teaching method & time planning
• blended learning: face2face teaching, e-mails we send to students regarding
media (news reports from Associated Press – mainly from You Tube) &
book – historical research regarding Thucydides and civil war and Corcyra
and discussion using Susan Lyle’s Community of Inquiry (C.O.I.)
• Thucydides 3rd Book of History, Chapters 70 – 73 & 80 – 83
• Target group: 25 boys and girls (14-15 yrs)
• 4 hours (45 minutes each)
• 1st hour – f2f: introductions to historical time frame and background (events
that took place in summer of 427 B. C.)
• e-mail to students (asynchronous learning: students had one week to watch
media and reflect upon them)
• 2nd hour: Commentary chapters 70 – 73 (note: students studied the ancient
Greek text but were given an translation in modern Greek as well, even
though some translation skills were required)
• 3rd hour: main student activity in classroom (students had 45 minutes to
answer 2 question regarding civil war in Corcyra and the imminent civil war
in Ukraine)
• 4th hour: watching videos, talking about Lysias text (C.O.I.)
1st hour
• “Killing stereotypes”.
• Even before the Peloponnesian War (431 – 404 B.C.) the two great
rivals, city – states, were Athens and Corinth. Corinth and Athens
were in fierce competition.
• One city is trying to beat the other, displacing one another from their
strategic positions.
• Corinth was in control of the whole of western Greece, southern Italy
and Sicily. Moreover, had the advantage of controlling the Isthmus, a
strategic pass to trade routes from East to West Mediterranean Sea.
• Athens was a naval superpower and had one and only strategic goal:
to obtain somehow access to the west, mainly Sicily, in order to
control the trade even if she had to conquer all the major Western
markets.
• The competition between the two cities involved many areas of
everyday life, regarding even cultural aspects, such as, for example,
pottery techniques and manufacturing (Table 1)
1st hour
1st hour
• Corfu: Field of conflicting interests
• Corfu: strategic objective of the Athenians (must
have)
• Corfu: Corinthian colony
• Regimes: constitutions covering opposing interests
• Corinth: oligarchy regime
• Athens: democratic regime
• Behind constitutions are different (conflict) interests
E-mails at students
• Videos
1. Neutrality is impossible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYh60cwVDNQ&list
=UU5e4WUeQOqI9joi2kq36Mlw
2. Violence at the streets of Kiev:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jTR_uySXX8&list=
UU5e4WUeQOqI9joi2kq36Mlw
3. Ukrainian people suffering:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_9CEMHrORQ&list
=UU5e4WUeQOqI9joi2kq36Mlw
4. Direction e-mailed to students: «We will discuss the
relation between civil war in Corfu and the imminent
crisis in Ukraine. Please take time to simply watch the
attached you tube videos regarding our topic and note
down questions or remarks you may have. Thank you!»
2nd hour
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Ancient Greek text (with translation in modern Greek)
Pithias: an Athenian agent (etheloproxenos), leader of the democrat party.
Objective : to organize a democratic party and get the island on behalf of the Athenians .
1st STAGE – LEGAL PROSECUTIONS
1st action: the oligarchic Corcyraeans sue Pithias that he wants to bring their city into the
servitude of the Athenians (the exact ancient Greek word is “καταδουλοῦν” which means “to
enslave the island to the Athenians” - political accusation)
2nd action : Pithias is acquitted and now he takes his turn in suing 5 richest Corcyraeans on
religious issues (religious accusation)
2nd STAGE - VIOLENCE
1st action: The oligarchic Corcyraeans kill Pithias and 60 other democrats.
2nd action: The oligarchic Corcyraeans after taking over every political power, they declare
neutrality for their island. Then they called the people of Corcyra to an assembly, and told
them that what they had done was for the best and that they should not be now in bondage to
the Athenians; and for the future they advised them to be in quiet and to receive neither party
with more than one galley at once and to take them for enemies if they were more. And when
they had spoken, forced them to decree it accordingly.
3rd STAGE – DEPLOMACY
The Corcyraeans sent ambassadors to Athens both to show that it was fit for them to do what
they had done and also to dissuade such Corcyraeans as were fled thither of the other faction
from doing anything to their prejudice for fear the matter should fall into a relapse.
nd
2
hour
• Locating the paradox and commenting it:
• It is impossible to kill the Athenian leader and declare
neutrality!
• It is impossible to declare neutrality when your country is a
field of conflict interests.
• It was ridiculous to kill the Athenian leader in Corcyra and
then send ambassadors to Athens to inform them about
neutrality, since their strategic aim was to enslave Corcyra.
• The only logical thing to do for the Corcyraeans was to
declare war to Athens.
• The Athenians imprisoned the Corcyraean ambassadors.
3rd hour – main student activity
3rd hour – main student activity
4th hour – C.O.I.
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Watch the videos in classrooms
Talk about them
Discuss students answers
The role of political parties in Ukrainian and
Corcyrean crisis
The conflict of interests in strategic areas
Is Democracy better than Oligarchy or any other
constitution?
Paul Davies, The cost of realism
Lysias text – oration - Defence against a Charge of
subverting the Democracy, section 7 - 9
•
http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0540.tlg025.perseus-eng1:7
• 7. I will now try to explain to you who of the citizens are inclined, in my
view, to court oligarchy, and who democracy. This will serve as a basis
both for your decision and for the defence that I shall offer for myself;
for I shall make it evident that neither under the democracy nor under
the oligarchy has my conduct suggested any inclination to be disloyal to
your people.
• [8] Now, first of all, you should reflect that no human being is
naturally either an oligarch or a democrat: whatever constitution a
man finds advantageous to himself, he is eager to see that one
established; so it largely depends on you whether the present system
finds an abundance of supporters. That this is the truth, you will have
no difficulty in deducing from the events of the past.
• [9] For consider, gentlemen of the jury, how many times the leaders of
both governments changed sides. Did not Phrynichus, Peisander and
their fellow demagogues, when they had committed many offences
against you, proceed, in fear of the requital that they deserved, to
establish the first oligarchy? And did not many of the Four Hundred,
again, join in the return of the Peiraeus party, while some, on the other
hand, who had helped in the expulsion of the Four Hundred, actually
appeared among the Thirty? Some, too, of those who had enlisted
for Eleusismarched out with you to besiege their own comrades!
Students answers
Results - Conclusions
• Historic laws are recurring (civil wars will happen again and again) because
humans are always acting upon sustaining or implementing their strategic
interests.
• Different – opposing interests will eventually lead to conflict.
• The crisis in Ukraine and Corcyra were historically inevitable.
• Civil wars, however, are a result of specific political selections and political
management, which means they can be avoided.
• Political parties will use constitutions or institutions (conservatives or
democracies) as rhetoric, in order to cover different or opposing interests
and that is why they will be used as an excuse or pretense to escalate a crisis.
• Political parties will not represent people or public interest, on the contrary,
they will divide people in order to impose their own interests, even if that
process will lead to civil war.
• Education and teaching (history) will help people:
• to understand the historic laws and their dynamics by seeing similar historic
events,
• to realize that the only interest is the public interest
• to see that political parties are mainly dividing instead of uniting people
• new constitutions, collectiveness and institutions should be made
• civil wars can be avoided through different political selections