Thucydides, Apollo, the Plague, and the War

This article examines Thucydides’ treatment of the cause of the plague, its connection with the Spartans, and Apollo. Thucydides situates references to the plague in various contexts in the narrative, beginning with his account of the suprahuman catastrophes that occurred during the war (1.23) that are woven through the narrative in a seriatim argument that serves methodologically to demonstrate the possibility that Apollo brought the plague to Athens. His method clarifies the positioning of divine assistance in relation to human causation, but it also leaves open the possibility of divine intervention in human history.