GREEK HISTORY LECTURE

Press, Volume C, Issue 29472, 25 March 1961, Page 16

GREEK HISTORY LECTURE

Sir Frank Adcock In City Greek history had a peculiarly dramatic quality, because of the unusually strong influence of personalities and contingencies on the course of events. Sir Frank Adcock, former Professor of Ancient History at the University of Cambridge, said in a public lecture at the University of Canterbury. Sir Frank Adcock, who is at present sent a visiting lecturer at the University of Otago, was speaking at the invitation of the Christchurch Classical Society. Greek history was “an exciting drama, with the actors gifted people,” Sir Frank Adcoek said. Personalities were more important in the most eminent city-state, Athens, than in many other historical settings because the constitution of Athens and the temperament of its people made them so. The same was true of many of the lesser states. The ruler of Athens had great freedom to carry out what policies he wished; but he was accountable to the Athenian electors at frequent intervals, and although the Athenians had many admirable qualities, devotion to a leader was not one of them. In these circumstances, the ruler had to act quickly if he wanted to achieve the aims of his policy, because every precedent indicated that if he did not carry out the policy, nobody else was likely to. Athenian policy therefore tended to proceed in a series of zigs and zags, according to the will of whoever happened to be in power. Contingency chance was also of greater importance in ancient Greece than in most other times and places, because the small size of the city-states put them at the mercy of accidents and coincidences to a much greater degree than was true of larger and more populous units. A state which possessed only one army and one navy could be ruined by a single lost battle. Accidents to great people, too, were likely to be more important in these circumstances than in bigger countries.