Τὸ κενὸν τοῦ πολέμου (Th. 3.30.4) and Its Uses in Greek and Latin Texts

What is it about?

This article is about the meaning of a Greek proverb which is also used by Latin authors. The puzzling phrase kenon tou polemou first appears in Thucydides and the complete proverb (polla ta kena tou polemou) is found in Aristotle, Polybius, Diodorus, Plutarch and two paroemiographers’ collections. The ‘void of war’ has been hitherto interpreted as a mental phenomenon (e.g. illusion, lack of exact information etc.). We argue in this paper that the most plausible meaning is to understand it as a particular situation that can emerge in warfare. The ‘void of war’ means that one side is in a way neutralized. One of the two opponents is either unable or unwilling to fight, or is clearly inferior, to the degree that it withdraws or surrenders without a battle. Accordingly, the metaphor of ‘voidness’ forgrounds the ‘absence’ or ‘eclipse’ of one opponent. The investigation of the proverb’s semantics also leads to a better understanding of the Thucydidean use and improves the understanding of the passage under discussion.

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