The Thucydides trap – how the Greek historian’s words were lost in translation | Letter

In explaining Xi Jinping’s allusion to the Thucydides trap, Kate Lamb refers to Thucydides’ statement that “it was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable” (What is the Thucydides Trap and why did Xi Jinping mention it in his meeting with Donald Trump?, 15 May). That is the translation used by the Harvard political scientist Graham Allison, who popularised the phrase “Thucydides trap”, and who attributes the translation to Richard Crawley’s 1874 edition.

It is often said that Thucydides’ Greek is better translated as “the Athenians growing great and creating fear in the Spartans compelled them towards making war”. That is, Thucydides was speaking of a subjective impression of necessity on the Spartans’ part rather than claiming absolute necessity.

Less well-known is the fact that the translation Allison uses was introduced into Crawley’s edition in a revision by his nephew Richard Feetham in 1903, at the very time that the danger of “inevitable war” between Britain and Germany began to be seen as a threat. Thucydides’ history brings out how perceptions of necessity can be self-fulfilling.

It is to be hoped that Allison’s misleading reading of Thucydides can at least help modern politicians avoid his misnamed, but still all too real, trap better than their early 20th-century predecessors.
Tim Rood
St Hugh’s College, Oxford University

It was cruel of Xi Jinping to bring up the Thucydides trap in his opening remarks when meeting Donald Trump. Not because of any historical parallels with present-day events, but because it is almost impossible that Trump will be able to respond due to his wayward tongue being unable to render Thucydides or even Peloponnese. Look forward to a new conflict being added to the classical canon: the polo ponies war.
Phil Coughlin
Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear