History of the Peloponnesian War, written by Thucydides, is a work that concerns many aspects of this long combat.

History of the Peloponnesian War, written by Thucydides, is a work that concerns many aspects of this long combat. One of its sections includes the speech made by Pericles in honor of the soldiers fallen in the battlefield. Greeks took the process of the burial very seriously - there were rigid rules as to how to conduct a proper funeral. The eulogy given by a figure of some prominence and authority was an essential part of it. In History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides decides to include the description of the plague, which struck Greeks during the second year of the war, immediately after the eulogy delivered by Pericles. This is due partially because of the author's desire to preserve the chronological order of the events that took place - the plague struck first during the summer that followed the first year of the war, and the Funeral Oration was delivered by Pericles during the winter which concluded that year.

View of Athens

Pericles' Funeral Oration

Pericles' Funeral Oration to Athens

However, there also is another reason as to why Thucydides chose this order for his description of the plague in the Pericles' Funeral Oration - in order to emphasize the effect that the plague had on the Greek people in terms of their "honor" and their moral code.

In his Funeral Oration, Pericles talks about the glory and integrity of the warriors that gave up their lives in order to protect their home city of Athens. He almost elevates them to a level of heroes, and encourages citizens to use their unselfish behavior as a model that they are ought to follow themselves. He consistently promotes patriotism and glorifies Athens, which he takes to be the "school of Greece", (p.30, paragraph 41). He emphasizes the fact that the fallen soldiers deserve nothing but respect and admiration, because they fought for...