The Blinded Eye: Thucydides and the New Written Word

Product Description Thucydides, the patron saint of Realpolitik, continues to be read in many fields outside of classics. Why did his History succeed in setting the pattern for future scholars where Hereodotus's earlier Histories failed? In this fascinating study of the construction of intellectual authority, Gregory Crane argues that Thucydides was successful for two reasons. First, he refined the language of administration: Who was in charge? How much money was spent? How many people were killed? Second, he drew upon the abstract philosophical rhetoric developing in the fifth century, one in which the state and the public, rather than the family and the individual, stand at the center of the world. Ironically, it was through deeply personal alliances that aristocratic Greeks had defined themselves and exerted power. Thucydides's discursive practice was therefore fundamentally incompatible with his ideological goals. Review Crane provides an illuminating analysis of the difference between Herodotean atrekeia and Thucydidean akribeia. . . . The Blinded Eye, like the history that inspired it, is a book to be read, scrutinized and challenged, and therefore a valuable contribution to Thucydidean studies. ― New England Classical JournalTakes up a wide range of issues, from the question of Thucydides' claim of accuracy to the historian's narrative technique and selection of material. . . .this provocative study advances our understanding. -- Mark Edward Clark, University of Southern Mississippi ― Religious Studies Review, Vol. 24, No.3, July 1998This is an excellent book―original, enjoyable, and sophisticated. It is several studies at once . . . ― Classical Review About the Author Gregory Crane is assistant professor of classics at Tufts University.