The Wise Adviser Trap: Catastrophic Decision-Making in Herodotus and Thucydides.

The article examines the decision-making failures depicted by Herodotus and Thucydides in two pivotal historical moments: Xerxes's invasion of Greece and the Athenian expedition to Sicily. Contrary to traditional interpretations that blame ambitious rulers ignoring wise counsel, both authors portray the ostensibly "wise advisers" (Artabanus and Nicias) as contributing to and exacerbating disastrous decisions through personal attacks, flawed rhetoric, and a misplaced reliance on empirical or logistical arguments. These advisers' acceptance of fatalistic inevitability and their failure to creatively interpret signs or offer substantive alternatives ultimately facilitate catastrophe. The authors argue that Herodotus and Thucydides critique not the concept of wise advice itself but the deficiencies of particular advisers, suggesting that better counsel might have averted disaster.