A funeral speech attributed to ancient Greek statesman Pericles may have turned insults aimed at Athens into a defense of its people, according to a new study. Rather than deny accusations that Athenians were careless or poorly disciplined, the address may have used those charges to argue that they could match Sparta in courage without adopting its strict way of life.
Jakub Filonik, a researcher at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, presents the interpretation in a paper published in The Journal of Hellenic Studies. His analysis focuses on passages preserved by Thucydides, the ancient Greek historian who recorded the funeral address in his account of the Peloponnesian War.
The speech compares Sparta’s demanding military training with the less restricted lives of Athenians. Despite that difference, it insists Athens was no less prepared to face danger. Filonik suggests its unusual wording was a pointed response to critics, not simply praise for Athenian freedom.
How Pericles’ speech recasts Greek insults as Athenian strengths
One key Greek term, “aneimenōs,” is often rendered as a reference to a relaxed way of life. But Filonik finds that elsewhere in ancient writing it frequently implies carelessness, weak discipline, or a lack of restraint. Similar language appears in criticism by Aristotle and other authors.
That negative meaning changes how the passage reads. Athens’ rivals viewed its less demanding upbringing as a liability. Yet the speech turns that apparent disadvantage into a claim of strength: Athenians could face serious military risks without the harsh training associated with Sparta.
Other expressions follow a similar pattern. Language suggesting idleness or plain living receives a more favorable meaning, while an accusation of softness is rejected outright. Filonik connects these contrasts to wider Greek arguments about education and character, including disputes within Athens over competing ways of raising citizens.
Why translators may have missed the insult
Many later translations soften the troubling language, presenting Athens as merely relaxed or free from restraint. In 1629, however, philosopher Thomas Hobbes preserved a harsher tone, writing, “and yet wee that live remissely, undertake as great dangers as they.” Filonik argues that this wording better captures the tension in the original.
The study does not establish whether Pericles used the expressions himself. The surviving speech is Thucydides’ literary reconstruction, and the historian may have chosen the words. Filonik also considers the possibility that the passage relies mainly on a dramatic contrast rather than borrowed insults.
Still, he argues that reading the speech as a response to hostile language offers a stronger explanation. What now sounds like an admission of weakness may once have been a pointed challenge to Athens’ detractors.
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