"Wir aber sind damals und jetzt immer die gleichen"

An examination of the apparent contradiction in the way Greeks treated the idea of their past in classical times: while they often referred to their own history to make arguments about foreign policy, this strategy was seldom reflected in their actual decisions. Using an approach based in communications history, Maria Osmers examines the ways in which the Greeks referred to the past in matters of foreign policy, and what meaning they ascribed to those references.