TUCÍDIDES 1.22: ΚΤHΜΑ A SER OUVIDO

Abstract

This paper argues that reading aloud was the method of reception for Thucydides’text in early fourth century and that the historian was fully aware that his addressees were alistening audience. Whereas it is usually agreed that Thucydides’ reader is expected to behighly critical of the events the prose writer narrates, such a level of criticism might notnecessarily exclude the reception of his text by means of reading aloud, discussion andmemorization. By examining Thucydides’ text, the paper explores the metaphor in ktema es aei… akouein ksynkeitai (1.22) as a subtle reference to the monumental imagery related toinscriptions on stone and to the way these inscriptions were read.