Teaching Leaders and Leadership Through Classics A Virtual - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Teaching Leaders and Leadership Through Classics A Virtual Conference

May 8-22, 2017

Melina Tamiolaki

University of Crete (tamiolaki@uoc.gr) Ancient Lessons for Running a (Modern) Empire: An Analysis of Barack Obama’s Chicago Farewell Speech in the Light of Pericles’ Speeches in Thucydides

Synoikisis Project

Sophocles, An7gone

Sophocles, Oedipus Rex

PosiTve Models of Leadership (Modern and Ancient)

Modern America and Ancient Athens

Thucydides on Speeches

With regards to the speeches in this history, some were delivered before the war began, others while it was sTll proceeding; some I heard myself, others I got from various people; it was in all cases difficult to carry them word for word in one's memory, so my habit has been to make the speakers say what was in my opinion demanded of them by the various occasions, of course sTcking as closely as possible to the general sense

• f what they really said (Thuc. 1.22.1-2)

“I” and “you”, “we” and “all”

• B. Obama

I first came to Chicago…I began working…my conversa7ons with you, the American people…it’s the bea7ng heart of our American idea-our bold experiment in self-government…it’s the insistence that these rights, while self-evident, have never been self-execu7ng; that We, the People, through the instrument of our democracy, can form a more perfect union. All of us, regardless of our party affilia7on or par7cular interest, help restore the sense of common purpose that we so badly need right now. …the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one… all of us have more work to do.

Pericles

But what was the road by which we reached

• ur posiTon, what the form of government

under which our greatness grew, what the naTonal habits out of which it sprang; these are quesTons which I may try to solve before I proceed to my panegyric upon these men (Thuc. 2.36.3) I will now reveal an advantage arising from the greatness of your dominion, which I think has never yet suggested itself to you, which I never menToned in my previous speeches (Thuc. 2.62.1)

Valorizing Lower Classes

• B. Obama

I witnessed…the quiet dignity of working people in the face of struggle and loss… to give workers the power to unionize for beOer wages… “our founding creed to embrace all not just one” Pericles

nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by his lower status (Thuc. 2.37.2) And place the real disgrace of poverty not in

• wning to the fact but in declining the

struggle against it (Thuc. 2.40.1-2) “all of you enjoy the benefits from our empire” (ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρχειν, ᾧπερ ἅπαντες ἀγάλλεσθε, Thuc. 2.63.1).

Equality Before the Law, Freedom and Happiness

• B. Obama

It’s the convic7on that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…the rule of law, human rights, freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and an independent press.

Pericles

If we look to the laws, they afford equal jusTce to all in their private differences (μέτεστι δὲ κατὰ μὲν τοὺς νόμους πρὸς τὰ ἴδια διάφορα πᾶσι τὸ ἴσον)….But all this ease in our private relaTons does not make us lawless as ciTzens. Against this fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws (Thuc. 2.37,1,3) Αnd considering happiness to be equivalent with freedom and freedom with courage (καὶ τὸ εὔδαιμον τὸ ἐλεύθερον, τὸ δ' ἐλεύθερον τὸ εὔψυχον κρίναντες (Thuc. 2.43.5).

Pride in Democracy

• B. Obama

For 240 years, our na7on’s call to ci7zenship has given work and purpose to each new genera7on. It’s what led patriots to choose republic over tyranny… Our Cons7tu7on is a remarkable, beau7ful giU. Pericles Our consTtuTon does not copy the laws

• f neighboring states; we are rather a

model for others than imitators

• urselves (Χρώμεθα γὰρ πολιτείᾳ οὐ

ζηλούσῃ τοὺς τῶν πέλας νόμους, παράδειγμα δὲ μᾶλλον αὐτοὶ ὄντες τισὶν ἢ μ ι μ ο ύ μ ε ν ο ι ἑ τ έ ρ ο υ ς ) . I t s administraTon favors the many instead

• f the few; this is why it is called a

democracy (Thuc. 2.37.1)

Appeal to the Ancestors

• B. Obama

This is the great giU our Founders gave us…our founders quarreled and compromised, and expected us to do the same…the equal treatment our F o u n d e r s p r o m i s e d … t h e essen7al spirit of innova7on and prac7cal problem-solving that guided our Founders. Pericles

I shall begin with our ancestors ( Ἄρξομαι δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν προγόνων

πρῶτον): it is both just and proper that they should have the honor

• f the first menTon on an occasion like the present. They dwelt in the

country without break in the succession from generaTon to generaTon, and handed it down free to the present Tme by their

• valor. And if our more remote ancestors deserve praise, much more

do our own fathers (καὶ ἐκεῖνοί τε ἄξιοι ἐπαίνου καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν) who added to their inheritance the empire which we now possess, and spared no pains to be able to leave their acquisiTons to us of the present generaTon (Thuc. 2.36.2-3) Your fathers receiving these possessions not from others, but from themselves, did not let slip what their labor had acquired, but delivered them safe to you; and in this respect at least you must prove yourselves their equals (τῶν τε πατέρων μὴ χείρους κατ' ἀμφότερα φανῆναι) remembering that to lose what one has got is more disgraceful than to be baulked in ge¤ng, and you must confront your enemies not merely with spirit but with disdain (Thuc. 2.62.3)

ExcepTonal Character

• B. Obama

So that’s what we mean when we say that America is excep7onal… America is a beOer, stronger place than it was when we started…we remain the healthiest, most powerful, and most respected na7on on Earth…Rivals like Russia

• r China cannot match our influence

around the world. Pericles

We prepared our city to be the most sufficient in war and peace (καὶ τὴν πόλιν τοῖς πᾶσι παρεσκευάσαμεν καὶ ἐς πόλεμον καὶ ἐς εἰρήνην αὐταρκεστάτην, Thuc.2.36.4) While the magnitude of our city draws the produce of the world (ἐπεσέρχεται δὲ διὰ μέγεθος τῆς πόλεως ἐκ πάσης γῆς τὰ πάντα, Thuc. 2.38.1) In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas; …For Athens alone of her contemporaries is found when tested to be greater than her reputaTon, and alone gives no occasion to her assailants to blush at the antagonist by whom they have been worsted, or to her subjects to quesTon her Ttle by merit to rule… (Thuc. 2.41). Remember, too, that if your country has the greatest name in all the world … that we held rule over more Hellenes than any other Hellenic state, that we sustained the greatest wars against their united or separate powers, and inhabited a city unrivalled by any other in resources or magnitude (Thuc. 2.64.3)

Toil

• B. Obama

The freedom to chase our individual dreams through our sweat, toil, and imagina7on. Pericles Our fathers added to their inheritance the empire which we now possess, and spared no pains (οὐκ ἀπόνως) to be able to leave their acquisiTons to us of the present generaTon (Thuc. 2.36.2)

Love for the NaTon

• B. Obama

So regardless of the sta7on we occupy, we have to try harder; to start with the premise that each of our fellow ci7zens loves this country just as much as we do. Pericles You must yourselves realize the power

• f Athens, and feed your eyes upon her

from day to day, Tll love of her fills your hearts (ἐραστὰς γιγνομένους αὐτῆς) (Thuc. 2.43.1)

Faith in Reason

• B. Obama

we become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only informa7on, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing

• ur opinions on the evidence that’s out
• there. Poli7cs is a baOle of ideas…but

without a willingness to admit new informa7on, and concede that your

• pponent is making a fair point, and that

science and reason maOer, we’ll keep talking past each other, making common ground and compromise impossible.

Pericles …we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of acTon, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise acTon at all (Thuc. 2.40.3)

STgmaTzing Intolerance

• B. Obama

For the fight against extremism and intolerance…are of a piece w i t h t h e fi g h t a g a i n s t authoritarianism and na7onalist aggression.

Pericles

We throw open our city to the world (τήν τε γὰρ πόλιν κοινὴν παρέχομεν), and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any

• pportunity of learning or
• bserving (Thuc. 2.39.1)

Praising Boldness and Spirit of InnovaTon

• B. Obama

Our youth and drive, our diversity and

• penness, our boundless capacity for risk

and reinven7on mean that the future should be ours. Pericles Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberaTon, each carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons (διαφερόντως γὰρ δὴ καὶ τόδε ἔχομεν ὥστε τολμᾶν τε οἱ αὐτοὶ μάλιστα κ α ὶ π ε ρ ὶ ὧ ν ἐ π ι χ ε ι ρ ή σ ο μ ε ν ἐκλογίζεσθαι) (Thuc. 2.40.3).

“Do not Take Your Achievements for Granted”

• B. Obama

Our democracy is threatened whenever we take it for granted…America is no fragile thing. But the gains of our long journey to freedom are not assured…it falls to each of us to be those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy Pericles

You should remember also that what you are fighTng against is not merely slavery as an exchange for independence, but also loss

• f empire and danger from the animosiTes

incurred in its exercise. Besides, to recede is no longer possible, if indeed any of you in the alarm of the moment has become enamored of the honesty of such an unambiTous part. For what you hold is, to speak somewhat plainly, a tyranny; to take it perhaps was wrong, but to let it go is unsafe (Thuc. 2.63.2-3).

Importance of Being a CiTzen

• B. Obama

And all of this depends on our par7cipa7on; on each of us accep7ng the responsibility of ci7zenship, regardless of which way the pendulum of power swings… for all our outward differences, we all share the same proud 7tle-Ci7zen. Pericles

We are the only naTon who considers the man who does not parTcipate in the poliTcal life not quiet, but useless (μόνοι γὰρ τόν τε μηδὲν τῶνδε μετέχοντα οὐκ ἀπράγμονα, ἀλλ' ἀχρεῖον νομίζομεν) (Thuc. 2.40.2) I am of opinion that naTonal greatness is more for the advantage of private ciTzens, than any individual well-being coupled with public humiliaTon. A man may be personally ever so well off, and yet if his country be ruined he must be ruined with it; whereas a flourishing commonwealth always affords chances of salvaTon to unfortunate individuals. Since then a state can support the misfortunes of private ciTzens, while they cannot support hers, it is surely the duty of everyone to be forward in her defense (Thuc. 2.60.3-4)

Facing CriTcism

• B. Obama

The work of democracy has always been hard, conten7ous and some7mes bloody. For every two steps forward, it oUen feels we take one step back. But for all the real progress we’ve made, we know it’s not enough… we’re not where we need to be. Pericles

But you must not be seduced by ciTzens like these nor be angry with me,—who, if I voted for war, only did as you did yourselves,—in spite of the enemy having invaded your country and done what you could be certain that he would do, if you refused to comply with his demands; and although besides what we counted for, the plague has come upon us—the only point indeed at which our calculaTon has been at fault. It is this, I know, that has had a large share in making me more unpopular than I should otherwise have been,—quite undeservedly, unless you are also prepared to give me the credit of any success with which chance may present you. Besides, the hand of Heaven must be borne with resignaTon, that of the enemy with forTtude (Thuc. 2.64.1-2)

Blaming Leaders

• B. Obama

We weaken those 7es (scil. the sacred 7es that unite all Americans) when we define some of us as more American than others; when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt, and blame the leaders we elect without examining our role in elec7ng them. Pericles I was not unprepared for the indignaTon of which I have been the

• bject, as I know its causes; and I have

called an assembly for the purpose of reminding you upon certain points, and

• f protesTng against your being

unreasonably irritated with me, or cowed by your sufferings (Thuc. 2.60.2)

Obama in Athens (November 2016)

“Our hearts have been moved by the tragedies of Aeschylus and Euripides. Our minds have been opened by the histories of Herodotus and

• Thucydides. Our understanding of

the world and our place in it has been expanded by Socrates and Aristotle”. “But Pericles explained, ‘our consTtuTon favors the many instead

• f the few…this is why it is called a

democracy’ ”.

Thank you for your aOen7on!

The recording of this talk took place at the Studio of Mathesis (Crete University Press/FORTH, Heraklion-Crete)