Introducing the T3 Project, a spin-off from the Bristol research project on the reception of Thucydides.
The ancient Greek historian Thucydides famously claimed that his work would be ‘a possession for all time’: not just the history of a single war between the Athenians and the Spartans, but a guide to the way that the world works, and especially to politics and war. He was right. Over the last two hundred years, Thucydides has been one of the most frequently quoted ancient writers. His ideas have influenced historians, politicians, international relations experts and soldiers; all agree that his work is useful and important.
Thucydides does not offer simple lessons, but a training course in analysis and deliberation. He demands that his readers follow his narrative of events and think about how things could have turned out differently; he asks them to listen to opposing arguments and to weigh up the issues – and then to think about how those arguments relate what actually happened. He shows how the world is complicated – and how we can make sense of that complexity. In brief, he aims to help his readers to develop the skills that every citizen of a democracy needs.
The lessons that Thucydides offers are needed today more than ever. The problem is that his work is complex and difficult, even in the original Greek – and of course most readers have to rely on translations, often of dubious quality. The aim of the T3 project (Thinking Through Thucydides, or Thinking, Through Thucydides) is to make key passages from Thucydides’ work accessible to as many people as possible, setting his words in context and explaining significant points. These passages can then serve as a resource for thinking about the world and our place in it, a starting-point for debate about some of the most vital issues that face us today.
The project is at a very early stage of development; on the project webpage you will find one sample passage of Thucydides (II.43, from the Funeral Oration) along with contextual material and key questions to discuss, to show you what we have in mind – and apologies in advance for the clunkiness of the navigation structure, which is proving incredibly restrictive. We plan to develop this resource in partnership with schools, so that it can serve as a resource for the study of both Classical Civilisation and Citizenship, but we hope that this will be of interest to everyone. In due course we will be introducing a blog where you can post your comments and suggestions, and get involved in debates about the significance of passages; in the meantime, if you have any comments, or if you would like to be involved in developing this project, please contact Neville Morley (n.d.g.morley(at)bris.ac.uk).
Sphinx 
Since the Bristol website doesn’t support any sort of comments, it makes sense to use this blog for discussion – I wish I’d thought of this before so that I could add a link to the main webpage, as of course the damned system won’t allow me to edit it from home…
Very good point raised by John Winterton about the choice of translation, given its variable quality and old-fashioned language, which merits a response. No, Jowett isn’t remotely ideal, but lack of time meant that I couldn’t do my own translation or start approaching publishers for permission to use a more modern one (not to mention the possibility that they’d want money for this, which I don’t currently have…). In the circs, Jowett seemed the least worst option of those translations in the public domain (in fact I think Hobbes’ is a better translation, but the language is even more opaque if you’re not used to it). In due course I’d certainly like to change the translation, either doing my own or using a good modern one (I like the idea of Jeremy Mynott’s forthcoming translation for CUP – see my post on Thucydides our Contemporary Part 2). In the meantime, this is just to give a taste of what a much better finished version could be…
If anyone else has suggestions or comments, do please post them here.