The Autocratic Interpretation of Athens: Rethinking Regime Theory in Thucydides’ ‘Archaeology’

Abstract This article suggests a new framework for interpreting Thucydides’ ‘Archaeology’. It argues that Thucydides’ analysis of sea power does not create an ironic expectation of Athenian victory, as is often assumed, but operates in tandem with contrasts between Athenian and Spartan social practices to align each city with the traditional polarity between monarchic and isonomic political orders. In this account, Thucydides portrays Athens as the heir to a long tradition of Greek autocracy by reimagining the conventional interpretation of the imperial democracy as a figurative monarch. Sparta, by contrast, is cast as an isonomic outlier, committed to an egalitarian political culture that derives its military strength from immaterial sources. This article concludes by examining how Thucydides’ reconfiguration of the monarchy-isonomy polarity in the ‘Archaeology’ is reflected elsewhere in the text, particularly through his use of the terminology of dunasteia .