Great Questions on the Funeral Oration of Pericles
1. Pericles says that Athenians regard those who take no part in his democratic duties not as un-ambitious but as useless. In this country, it would be almost political suicide to say such a thing. What, exactly, changed between then and now? (Casey Griffin)

2. How are the things Pericles boasts about—games, generosity of spirit, bravery—related to democracy? (Esther Schoenfeld)

3. Does Pericles’s request for more sacrifice at the end of the speech, rather than sympathy for the family of the dead, make him unsympathetic to the individual? (Julia Kaplan)

4. What are the benefits and drawbacks of having “ordinary citizens” be “fair judges of public matters “? (Jane Zelenko)

5. Pericles suggests that begetting children is the meaning of life. Is this true from a personal standpoint? From the state’s view? (Matthew Solomon)

6. “Fortunate indeed are they who draw for their lot a death so glorious as that which has caused your mourning.” Do you agree with Pericles’s assertion that the best kind of death is a death in battle? Later, he claims that such a death might cancel out any failures in life. Do you think that this is true? (Sarah Kaplan)

7. Do you agree with Pericles that caution and deliberation are qualities to be valued in government? Is heavy discussion a hindrance or a help in times of crisis? (Sarah Kaplan)

8. What is it about huge countries experimenting with democracy that causes them to be such foreign policy bullies? (Marley Lindsey)

9. Pericles spends a good portion of the speech commending the Athenian constitution and the fact that the laws “afford equal justice to all in their private differences.” How does he reconcile that with the fact that only a small percentage of the population of Athens had the rights he speaks of? (Anna Gordan)

10. Does Pericles’s statement that the “administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy” hold true? Is that the proper definition of a democracy? And if it is, then why are the criteria of an Athenian citizen so restricted? (Daniel Frankel)

11. In our modern democracy, how would this speech have been received? How could Pericles tell the mourning families to cast aside their personal grief and sacrifice even more? (Daniel Frankel)


Great Questions on the Melian Dialogue
1. How does the Athenian statement that “right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak do what they must,” fit with Athens’s democratic values? How can this apparent contradiction be resolved? (Claire Littlefield)

2. How do the Athenians arguments for honor in Melos’s surrender contrast with the values of their own society expressed by Pericles (Claire Littlefield)

3. When a democracy is dealing with a non-democratic state, does priority lie with the people or with their unelected government? (Evan Smith)

4. Do democracies have an obligation to conduct affairs of foreign policy differently than any other type of government? If they do, how do they avoid compromising their obligation to provide for their people’s security in the process? (Evan Smith)

5. “And it is certain that those who do not yield to their equals, who keep terms with their superiors, and are moderate towards their inferiors, on the whole succeed best.” Do you agree with this assertion? (Avril Coley)

6. In war, are there really such things as neutral rights be used as protection? Can violating neutral countries be justified? (Julie Kim)

7. The idea of hope is so integral to our current understanding of democracy. Why, then, do the Athenians say “Hope... may be indulged in by those who have abundant resources… those who go as far as to put all upon the venture see its true colors only seen when they are ruined.” What has changed since then? (Michelle Huang)

8. What exactly is the purpose of this discussion? As the Athenians point out, the Melians do not have much besides hope in which to trust. The Athenians, on the other hand, are determined to expand their empire. What did either side hope to accomplish? (Esther Schoenfeld)

9. The Athenians say that the military acts the way it desires to appease the people. Do you think this reasoning has any legitimacy or is it merely an excuse? (Taha Ahsin)

10. The Athenians, throughout the dialogue, criticize the Melians for being too idealistic, thinking too far into the future and for dwelling so much on their hopes rather than taking advantage of what they already have before them. Why is this so? Is practicality superior to idealism? (Omika Jikaria)

11. Had this discussion been open to the public, rather than “the magistrates and the few,” would the resolution have been different? (Daniel Frankel)

12. If the Greeks judged a person’s life based on his death, then would the Melians’ death be considered dignified? Did they really die as free men? (Daniel Frankel)

13. Is Athens less of a democracy because of their open hostility to the Melians? Technically, Athens is doing what its people want, which is gaining more land. Should a democratic government sacrifice its popularity to be ethical, or is the people’s will more important than anything else? (Matthew Solomon)

14. Is mutually assured destruction the only assurance of peace? (Cassie Moy)

15. Why are the Athenians so contemptuous of the Melians and their desire to retain their liberty when Pericles himself said that there was no greater glory than to die for one’s country? (Tousif Ahsan)

16. Was the Athenians’ reasoning authentic—or were they just using false logic in their pre-war attempts at Melian surrender? (Carl Guthwin)