Essay | Thucydides' and Sophocles': Notion of Tragedy

Thucydides, a "historian," and Sophocles, a playwright, were two men that shared the Greek notion of tragedy in their works. Thucydides' idea of history can be compared to this notion epitomized in Sophocles' Oedipus plays. Included in their works are three of the most important elements of a Greek tragedy, which are foreshadows, cynical irony and an inevitable tragic downfall.

In both their works, Thucydides and Sophocles include foreshadowing to hint the inevitable downfall. In On Justice Power and Human Nature, Thucydides uses the debate to foreshadow the outcome of the war. Included in this debate at Sparta was the foreshadowing of the fortification of Decelea. The Corinthians argued that the Peloponnesians would have the advantage in war, and one of these reasons was that Attica was vulnerable to internal rebellions, and the establishment of a fort in Attica (Thucydides, ii.118-124). When Alcibiades fled...
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