Pericles, Funeral Oration

In the Hellenes’ view, everyone was ruled by destiny, which could involve either good or bad fortune. Tyche, the goddess of chance or fortune, was specifically honored as the divine representative of a city’s destiny or fortune. The Greeks presented public offerings to their gods in an effort to entice fortune to treat them well, but the gods were viewed as fickle, and one’s destiny remained unpredictable. Pericles presents soldiers’ valiant deaths as a means of escaping the whims of fortune.

These terms derive from Greek nomenclature for themselves and their homeland. Hellas was the term the ancient Greeks used to refer to their geographic territory, while they referred to themselves as Hellenes. These terms are still used today in Greece. Hellenic or Hellene are also terms that are used to differentiate ancient Greeks from those of other eras, such as the Mycenaean (1600-1100 BCE) or Hellenistic ages (323-332 BCE). This guide uses Hellenic/Hellenes and Greeks interchangeably.

This is the name traditionally given to the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. These epic poems were presented as oral histories recited for special occasions and entertainment. They were viewed as historical representations by the Hellenes. However, this type of work was also believed to have been inspired by the Muses. Thucydides, who recorded the “Funeral Oration,” and his contemporaries distanced themselves from this form of writing in favor of a more documentary approach to history. Thucydides led the intellectual exercise of using analysis to weave facts together into a coherent narrative.

This term refers to the Spartans. They ruled over the parts of the Peloponnesian peninsula known as Messenia and Taygete, which together were referred to as Lacedaemon. Today, this region is known as Laconia. Paralleling the use of the term Hellenes to refer to the Athenians, this term was typically used to refer to the ancient Spartans. Pericles uses this term in his oration. In this guide, however, the terms Sparta and Spartans are used.

This is a term for a speech or other text in praise of something or someone. Terms such as eulogy or tribute are commonly used as modern synonyms for this term, although the panegyric is not necessarily limited to praise of the dead. Pericles’s “Funeral Oration” is one of the best-known examples of a panegyric; it embodies the form’s exalted language and use of poetic devices in its commemoration of fallen soldiers of Athens.