Study questions for Thucydides Readings 8-10

[8] Debate on the Expedition to Sicily:

Identify the chief speakers and the main arguments on each side

When his first strategy fails, how does Nicias hope to dissuade the people?

With what result?

What strange event cast a shadow of doom over the whole expedition?

 

[9] Alcibiades at Sparta.

Alcibiades redefines what it is to be a 'lover of [one's] country]. What does he say to justify his betrayal of Athens?

What are his specific proposals for a Spartan victory over Athens?

 

10] Disaster in Sicily.

Summarize the disastrous retreat from Syracuse:

Where were they going?..... What hope did they have of escape?..... How were the Athenians treated after capture?

What were the roles of Nicias ....Demosthenes ....Hermocrates ....Gylippus?