Thucydides

The History of the Peloponnesian War: Revised Edition (Penguin Classics)

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Translations of Thucydides
A Masterpiece
Great Book
Good version of Thucydides
Some strategy and a lot of history

The History of the Peloponnesian War: Revised Edition (Penguin Classics)
Thucydides
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140440399

Book Description

Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the struggle between Athens and Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling the author's ambitious claim that the work "was done to last forever." The conflicts between the two empires over shipping, trade, and colonial expansion came to a head in 431 b.c. in Northern Greece, and the entire Greek world was plunged into 27 years of war. Thucydides applied a passion for accuracy and a contempt for myth and romance in compiling this exhaustively factual record of the disastrous conflict that eventually ended the Athenian empire.

Customer Reviews:

Translations of Thucydides.......2007-05-20

There are three main translations of Thucydides available for the English reader:

Thomas Hobbes' 1628 version. Although made over 300 years ago this translation is still considered a classic by many in the English-speaking world. His vigorous and lively Jacobean English prose will enchant those more literary minded souls, but Hobbes version has been noted for some inaccuracies due to the lack of proper understanding of the original Greek language text.

William Smith's 1754 translation. Most know of Crawley and Hobbes works but Smith's excellent 18th century version has been almost forgotten. Smith's prose is as majestic and virile as Hobbes while avoiding the sometimes vapid modernity of Crawley and Warner. While a bit hard to read for most modern readers Smith's prose is worth the effort if you stick with him. Some things were not meant to be "dumbed down".

Rex Warner's Penguin edition. This is the version offered here. Warner is excellent for those who want to avoid the archaic and more challenging prose of Hobbes, Smith, or Crawley. He is very clear and lucid in his rendition of the text. For those of you who are first embarking on your exploration of Thucydides I would recommend this edition.

A Masterpiece.......2007-05-08

A true masterpiece of historical literature. As modern today as it was when written. Any understanding of human and national behavior is incomplete without a thorough understanding of Thucydides' magnificient work. One of those works you could read every year of your life and never quite come to terms with the totality of the lessons it contains.

Great Book.......2007-03-20

I am a total history buff and this book has really expanded my knowledge. Great to use in class to gain that upper hand in the philosophical arguments. I highly suggest you pick it up.

Good version of Thucydides.......2007-03-05

This is one of the early classic "histories" written. Of course, Herodotus had written his "History" before. But his acceptance of the role of gods in history renders Thucydides' hard-headed accounts of the Greek internecine warfare a further advance in historiography. Thus, we begin to experience something like a real history in this volume (and that does not denigrate the real contributions of Herodotus).

This is a nice volume. The Introduction by M. I. Finley sets the stage; the translation by Rex Warner is (as far as I can tell) serviceable. The work of Thucydides comes through in this collaboration.

Thucydides' focus is on the origins of this bloody inter-Greek war. The forces of Athens (and her allies) against Sparta (and her allies) is the center of this work. He notes the cause (page 49): "What made war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta." This is, as noted earlier, a fairly hard-headed view of history. To use contemporary terms, the author was something like a "realist."

Some major parts of the work. . . . One of these is the funeral oration by Pericles, the Athenian leader. He spoke of what made Athens special. His death, according to Thucydides, was harmful to the Athenian cause. He says (page 163): "For Pericles had said that Athens would be victorious if she bided her time and took care of the navy, if she avoided trying to add to the empire during the course of the war, and if she did nothing to risk the safety of the city itself. But his successors did the exact opposite. . . ."

This work has much of interest in it. Just one example. The Melian dialogue featured a debate between the Melians and Athenians. The Melians argued that morality was on their side. The Athenians acknowledged the argument, but also noted that they had the numbers and the weapons. This is an early debate between two schools of thought in international relations--idealists versus realists. The hard-nosed attitude of the Athenians won out in this case. . . .

In some ways, Thucydides is best understood by reading Herodotus and then comparing the two, so that one can get a sense of one of the first historians and then someone who adopts a different posture as historian. This is a very good version of Thucydides (from someone who cannot read Greek, by the way). Well worth looking at if a person is interested in the devastating Peloponnesian War.

Some strategy and a lot of history.......2007-01-03

First of all, I find it close to impossible to rate such a book as this, as it is truly great as an insight into events that happened thousands of years ago, while the writing and accessibility of the work clearly could have been better. Nevertheless, in my opinion this is a 5-star book, as the detail and insight into a war that took place ~400bc is such a great read.
Thucydides shows a himself as a great analyst of the conficts he relates, and instead of just relating the facts, he guides us through the actors motivations and the reasons for what takes place. THAT is the value of this book as far as I'm concerned, the strategic approach to conflict, and the massive amount of strategy in regards to alliances and battles that we get to share through this book.
Being a student of political philosophy I read this book because of my fascination with Thomas Hobbes (Allthough not the Hobbes-translation). It will be hard for anyone to understand Hobbes through this though, and I must question the usefulness for most of such a linkage on the whole. There is also a lot of history in this book that will interest a lot of you (Those that are like me), rather little, but one gets through it, and when one is done with the book I truly feel I have gotten a great lecture in strategy and conflict!

Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War Book II (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics)

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Greatest Of All Greek Historians
Enjoyable foray into Thucydides
Nice way to learn difficult Greek

Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War Book II (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics)
Thucydides
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521339294

Book Description

The second book of Thucydides is of particular interest because it contains important sections on the funeral oration, the account of the plague at Athens and the obituary of Pericles. His exceptionally complex structure and techniques make Thucydides one of the most difficult as well as one of the most profound of ancient historians. Professor Rusten aims to assist students at all levels in learning to read Thucydides. The text, in Greek, is supported by a valuable introduction and commentary in English. In his commentary, Rusten scrutinizes the historical, literary, and philosophical aspects. The introduction surveys biographical interpretations of the text, suggests a new approach to fictive elements in the speeches, and sketches the main features of Thucydidean style.

Customer Reviews:

Greatest Of All Greek Historians.......2005-08-10

The greatest of all Greek historians was the Athenian general Thucydides (455-400 B.C.E.). Thucydides' classic work, "History Of The Peloponnesian War", provides us with the historical framework for 5th century Greece, a golden age of intellectual achievement and creativity rarely equaled in human history. This history is by far the best account of the bitter war between Athens and Sparta as well as the only surviving contemporary record of the rise of the Athenian empire. Thucydides as a master story teller doesn't just cover the battle scenes, he records the great political speeches of Pericles, leader of Athens, and Lysander leader of Sparta with great acumen. He is recognized as the first historian to actually go and get eyewitness accounts, visit battlefieilds and research documents and records. This work took him over 20 years and it shows!

The lessons he teaches about imperial over reaching and unreasonable peace settlements are prescient today as they were during his times. President Woodrow Wilson, read this book on his voyage across the Atlantic to the Versailles Peace Conference and vociferously fought the other Allies in making unreasonable demands of the Germans. Wilson learned the dangers that the world would be placed in by backing the Germans into a corner politically and economically from Thucydides book.

I recommend this timeless classic to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history. I also recommend you read it with David Cartwright's "A Historical Commentary On Thucydides.

Enjoyable foray into Thucydides.......2004-12-06

For an author with as small a core vocabulary as Thucydides, this Greek can get pretty tough. Sentences go on and on, individual words are heavily loaded, and he can be awfully terse in stringing together several individual and important ideas. Thankfully, Rusten has done a very good job with the notes. At points I was hoping for more insight and there are numerous references to Gomme's much fuller commentary where Rusten did not deem it worthwhile to spend anymore time on the issue. But his treatment of the funeral oration was superb and even if one were to discount everything else in the book it would be valuable to have it for this alone.

Nice way to learn difficult Greek.......2003-02-03

Thuc is generally acknowledged as being a difficult writer to read, especially for students only a few years into their studies, but this edition eases the reader into his style. Copious notes aid the reader with the more trying sentences and helpful "summaries" give an overview of important sections. I think I've read someone describing the treatment here of Perikles' Funeral Oration as a "tour de force" - and, considering Perikles' (or Thuc's?) at times bafflingly scattered sentence structure, it is certainly helpful to have someone such as this author to guide you along. I did come out of this experience with a bittersweet affection for Thuc, and it was partly due to this edition of the Greek text. J F Rusten knows his stuff and it's wonderful he's chosen to share that knowledge.

On Justice, Power, and Human Nature: The Essence of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War

Average customer rating:

Greatest of All Greek Historians
Philosophy; Tragic History; and Greek Geopolitics
A Great Distillation of Thucydides' Genius

On Justice, Power, and Human Nature: The Essence of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides
Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

Greatest of All Greek Historians.......2007-06-26

The greatest of all Greek historians was the Athenian general Thucydides (455-400 B.C.E.). Thucydides' classic work, "History Of The Peloponnesian War", provides us with the historical framework for 5th century Greece, a golden age of intellectual achievement and creativity rarely equaled in human history. This history is by far the best account of the bitter war between Athens and Sparta as well as the only surviving contemporary record of the rise of the Athenian empire. Thucydides as a master storyteller does not just cover the battle scenes; he records the great political speeches of Pericles, leader of Athens, and Lysander leader of Sparta with great acumen. He is recognized as the first historian to actually go and get eyewitness accounts, visit battlefieilds and research documents and records. This work took him over 20 years and it shows!

The lessons he teaches about imperial over reaching and unreasonable peace settlements are prescient today as they were during his times. President Woodrow Wilson, read this book on his voyage across the Atlantic to the Versailles Peace Conference and vociferously fought the other Allies in making unreasonable demands of the Germans. Wilson learned the dangers that the world would be placed in by backing the Germans into a corner politically and economically from Thucydides book.

I never before recommended reading an abridged work of history; however, Paul Woodruff does the best job of abridging Thucydides that I have ever come across in historical texts. He gives you the basic narrative and makes sure to include all of the important orations and debates from the original work.

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I heartily recommend this timeless classic to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history. I also recommend you read it with David Cartwright's "A Historical Commentary On Thucydides."

Philosophy; Tragic History; and Greek Geopolitics.......2004-06-26

I agree with the first reviewer: this book is a great condensation of Thucydides' work. The book is editted to retain all of Thucydides' great insights into human nature, power, and politics, but summarized in a way where all of the essential details of the story are left in place.

With its sweeping description of events in various areas of the Greece, and its dramatic portrayal of historic figures: the book works as a great description of the nature of politics, democracy and war, and at the same time an engaging study of leadership, and the men who were perported to be great during these times.

Daniel Clausen
danielclausen.com

A Great Distillation of Thucydides' Genius.......2003-10-05

I can't think of another abridgment of a classic more after my own heart. I am a passionate believer in reading all of Thucydides, but this book is still the ideal way to get to know what is great about the historian. (And, as our democracy is at war & struggles with imperial entanglements, Thuc. is more relevant than ever.)

Basically, Woodruff has an unerring instinct for where Thucydides (not a mere fact-compiler, but one of antiquity's great thinkers) is at his sizzling & profound best. The introduction is a marvelous piece of criticism and analysis: in merely 24 pp. it acquaints the reader with Thucydides' important ideas. The idea of this book is to give you 185 pp. to read cover-to-cover (if not in a single sitting!--what are you waiting for?--do it, and blow your mind). Woodruff's connecting summaries & brief introductory comments to each excerpt make sure that readers will experience the whole coherently.

My one quibble is that I'd like to have the defeat of the Sicilian Expedition & its aftermath in all its gruesome detail, but this would have almost doubled the size of the book and defeated the purposes I've praised above. For a complete translation, try Lattimore (also pub. by Hackett)--or, if 17th c. English doesn't bother you, Hobbes' translation is a real treat to savor.

The Peloponnesian War
Average customer rating:

Good source for history class

Lessons for Modern Times

Get the Real Story

Need to Love History to get through this.

Greatest Of All Greek Historians

The Peloponnesian War
Thucydides
Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0872203948

Book Description

"Thomas Hobbes's translation of Thucydides brings together the magisterial prose of one of the greatest writers of the English language and the depth of mind and experience of one of the greatest writers of history in any language. . . . For every reason, the current availability of this great work is a boon."--Joseph Cropsey, University of Chicago

Customer Reviews:

Good source for history class.......2006-11-11

I used this book for an introductory History class. It is a great supplement to the study of the Greek periods. It has a nice glossory in the back for unusual terms, as well as helpful maps. Some of the text is a bit dry, but the reading is not very difficult.

Lessons for Modern Times.......2006-08-13

The history of the Peloponnesian is a brilliant account of a classic war that began as a preemptive attack on Athens by Sparta to prevent the domination of the Greeks by the Athenians. The war began in the year 427 BC and ended 27 years later with the defeat of Athens by Sparta. This history however is only up to the 21st year of the war. Although there are several translations of the work I selected the translation by Thomas Hobbes the 17th century philosopher. It is the first done in the English language. Thucydides was a soldier on the Athenian side which in a sense puts a lie to the common notion that it is the winners of war who write history. The war was finally won by Sparta, powerful on land, and an oligarchy with a communal outlook on life defeating Athens with the strongest navy in the world, and a democracy with an individualistic outlook on life. Ironically it is Sparta's eventual mastery of the sea that defeated the Athenians. Whether or not this bodes ill for America remains to be seen. History is not over.

Thucydides relates not only the battles of the war in some detail describing tactics and the individuals involved, but also the strategy and the politics. There is intrigue, treason, broken alliances, and hubris. The winners of a battle rarely show mercy and treason is dealt with harshly with often entire towns put to the sword or enslaved. Among the combatants there is respect for the strong and contempt for the weak. Truces are often held to bury the dead because the dead are respected by all.

Unlike Homer's Illiad written about one thousand years earlier Thucydides does not mention the gods as having a say in the outcome of the war. While religion is a factor it is not a determining factor in the conduct and outcome of the war. One could argue that Thucydides is a secular account of history whereas Homer is a more religious account.

Thucydides should be mandatory reading and study for all white males between the ages of 16 and 18 of above average IQ. The History will prepares them for war and instill in them the desire and willingness to defeat the enemy. It teaches contempt for the enemy which is a valuable attitude in war. Pericles funeral oration to the Athenians is the most inspiring and most moving speech ever given. The resemblance of this speech to the Gettysburg address is obvious and leads one to conclude that if Pericles could inspire Abraham Lincoln in his thinking then Thucydides' History did so likewise and influenced the strategy and the eventual outcome of the Civil War including the period of reconstruction. The contrast between the Spartan outlook on life and that of the Athenians to the adversaries in all subsequent wars up to the present war on terror is striking indeed. There are lessons still to be learned from the Peloponnesian War and woe to those that fail to learn these lessons.

Get the Real Story.......2006-03-26

No book has kept me up at night or occupied my thoughts in the past decade more than Thucydides. The story told here is stunningly and disturbingly relevant for any American. Sparta vs Athens seems an allegory for the conflict between traditional America, of our first hundred years or so, and modern, progressive America from about 1900 onward. Its no allegory of course, and the realization that history repeats itself gives the work an importance that no book can match.

I recall in college taking one of those Intellectual History survey courses required of incoming freshman. We were all assigned to read Perikles funeral oration as an example of how like our society Athens was and of course, how noble that likeness made the two societies. We weren't, of course, assigned the entire book, just the oration out of context. When I finally got around to reading Thucydides years later, I thought back to that course and wanted my tuition money back!

Read the original text. Political writers and propagandists of all stripes make reference to Thucydides to give weight to their views. Don't trust their interpretations. Read for yourself and decide. Skip the commentaries and translations and go right to page one of the text.

Need to Love History to get through this........2006-01-17

A classic that directly connects today's people with the those thousands of years ago. A true time machine that lends incite into human nature and conflict that exist even today. I found this book to be a great mirror that we can see ourselves in if one cares to change names and places to find similarities.

Although very long and documentary in style, it is a Maciavellian account of the human societal animal. When one puts history like this into perspective with the growth of city states into nation states, one can see that although we may advance technologically - people haven't really changed all that much.

Warning: Be prepared to be dragged through account after account of historical events and long speeches. Nevertheless, a classic one will be happy to read.

Greatest Of All Greek Historians.......2005-08-10

The Peloponnesian War: A New Translation, Backgrounds, Interpretations (Norton Critical Editions)

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The Peloponnesian War
Greatest Of All Greek Historians
Herodotus, I think not!

The Peloponnesian War: A New Translation, Backgrounds, Interpretations (Norton Critical Editions)
Thucydides , Walter Blanco , and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

About the Series: Each Norton Critical Edition includes an authoritative text, contextual and source materials, and a wide range of interpretations-from contemporary perspectives to the most current critical theory-as well as a bibliography and, in most cases, a chronology of the author's life and work.

Customer Reviews:

The Peloponnesian War.......2005-10-10

The Peloponnesian War is the account of the war between Athens and Sparta, 432-402 B.C. It was a war that Sparta eventually won, although it was a short-lived victory as Spartan hegemony gave way to Theban dominance and ultimately to that of the Macedonians Phillip and Alexander.

Military historians will find much to enjoy here. The account involves traditional battles with massed hoplites, amphibious landings, night battles, peltasts and light-armed troops, special forces ops, siege warfare, diplomacy, etc. The descriptions of the battles of Delium (Bk. 4) and Maninteas (Bk. 5) are particularly good on this score

What caused the war? Thucydides points to the growing power of the Athenian Empire. Athens had emerged stronger after the Persian war. But it led to a policy of imperialism directed at other Greek states, which in turn caused geopolitical instability. In light of the growth of the Athenian empire, one could argue, war was practically inevitable. Imperial hubris was Athens's downfall, a danger to which not even modern superpowers are immune.

A case in point. The disastrous Sicilian expedition undertaken by Athens was a direct factor in its downfall, and is disturbingly reminiscent of the overseas military ops of modern empires, especially the current crisis in Iraq. Incidentally, in Bk 4.58-65, the decision of the Sicilians to put aside their squabbles and unite against the invader, Athens, will be familiar to students of insurgency warfare.

It is also curious to note the role that ethnicity played in the war, i.e. Ionian vs. Dorian, Greek vs. Barbarian, particularly since historians tell us that race & ethnicity were unimportant to the ancient Greeks.

Should we be surprised that the events described by Thucydides seem to familiar to us? Not at all. History is the study of mankind. As Thucydides knew, human nature is a constant. As the Syracusan Hermocrates says to his fellow Sicilians prior to the Athenian invasion: "...although it is human nature everywhere to dominate those who gave way, it is also in our nature to defend ourselves against attack" (Bk 4.61). War is a part of human nature, and no amount of idealistic peace-keeping missions can change that. To help us understand why, there is no better historian than Thucydides.

Greatest Of All Greek Historians.......2005-08-10

Herodotus, I think not!.......2004-06-02

This translations is one of the best I have read. It has a very modern feel to it which makes it easy to read. Thucydides discusses his epochal conflict of the Peloponnesian War in great detail.
He approached history very differently from Herodotus. Thucydides did not include any gods in this story, which would add excitement to the book. Yet, I believe it paints a more accurate depiction of the Greeks. Thucydides even makes reference to how much better at history he is than Homer (and Herodotus)! Great read, but take your time to look over the speeches they are very important.

Average customer rating:

Greatest of All Greek Historians

The History of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides
Manufacturer: BiblioBazaar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

Translated by Richard Crawley

Customer Reviews:

Greatest of All Greek Historians.......2007-06-26

The greatest of all Greek historians was the Athenian general Thucydides (455-400 B.C.E.). Thucydides' classic work, "History Of The Peloponnesian War", provides us with the historical framework for 5th century Greece, a golden age of intellectual achievement and creativity rarely equaled in human history. This history is by far the best account of the bitter war between Athens and Sparta as well as the only surviving contemporary record of the rise of the Athenian empire. Thucydides as a master storyteller does not just cover the battle scenes; he records the great political speeches of Pericles, leader of Athens, and Lysander leader of Sparta with great acumen. He is recognized as the first historian to actually go and get eyewitness accounts, visit battlefieilds and research documents and records. This work took him over 20 years and it shows!

The lessons he teaches about imperial over reaching and unreasonable peace settlements are prescient today as they were during his times. President Woodrow Wilson, read this book on his voyage across the Atlantic to the Versailles Peace Conference and vociferously fought the other Allies in making unreasonable demands of the Germans. Wilson learned the dangers that the world would be placed in by backing the Germans into a corner politically and economically from Thucydides book.

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I heartily recommend this timeless classic to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history. I also recommend you read it with David Cartwright's "A Historical Commentary On Thucydides."

Average customer rating:

Greatest of All Greek Historians

The History of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides
Manufacturer: Echo Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The classic ancient Greek history

Customer Reviews:

Greatest of All Greek Historians.......2007-06-26

The greatest of all Greek historians was the Athenian general Thucydides (455-400 B.C.E.). Thucydides' classic work, "History Of The Peloponnesian War", provides us with the historical framework for 5th century Greece, a golden age of intellectual achievement and creativity rarely equaled in human history. This history is by far the best account of the bitter war between Athens and Sparta as well as the only surviving contemporary record of the rise of the Athenian empire. Thucydides as a master storyteller does not just cover the battle scenes; he records the great political speeches of Pericles, leader of Athens, and Lysander leader of Sparta with great acumen. He is recognized as the first historian to actually go and get eyewitness accounts, visit battlefieilds and research documents and records. This work took him over 20 years and it shows!

The lessons he teaches about imperial over reaching and unreasonable peace settlements are prescient today as they were during his times. President Woodrow Wilson, read this book on his voyage across the Atlantic to the Versailles Peace Conference and vociferously fought the other Allies in making unreasonable demands of the Germans. Wilson learned the dangers that the world would be placed in by backing the Germans into a corner politically and economically from Thucydides book.

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I heartily recommend this timeless classic to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history. I also recommend you read it with David Cartwright's "A Historical Commentary On Thucydides."

History of the Peleponnesian War, III, Books 5-6 (Loeb Classical Library)

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History of the Peleponnesian War, III, Books 5-6 (Loeb Classical Library)
Thucydides
Manufacturer: Loeb Classical Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674991222

Book Description

Thucydides of Athens, one of the greatest of historians, was born about 471 BC. He saw the rise of Athens to greatness under the inspired leadership of Pericles. In 430, the second year of the Peloponnesian War, he caught and survived the horrible plague which he described so graphically. Later, as general in 423 he failed to save Amphipolis from the enemy and was disgraced. He tells about this, not in volumes of self-justification, but in one sentence of his history of the war—that it befell him to be an exile for twenty years. He then lived probably on his property in Thrace, but was able to observe both sides in certain campaigns of the war, and returned to Athens after her defeat in 404. He had been composing his famous history, with its hopes and horrors, triumphs and disasters, in full detail from first-hand knowledge of his own and others.

The war was really three conflicts with one uncertain peace after the first; and Thucydides had not unified them into one account when death came sometime before 396. His history of the first conflict, 431-421, was nearly complete; Thucydides was still at work on this when the war spread to Sicily and into a conflict (415-413) likewise complete in his awful and brilliant record, though not fitted into the whole. His story of the final conflict of 413-404 breaks off (in the middle of a sentence) when dealing with the year 411. So his work was left unfinished and as a whole unrevised. Yet in brilliance of description and depth of insight this history has no superior.

Book Description

A monumental work unsurpassed for its brilliant description, accuracy, and penetrating insights, Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War is a spectacular eyewitness report of the war between Greece’s two most powerful city-states, Athens and Sparta, as it unfolded during the fifth century B.C.

The first recorded political and moral analysis of a nation’s war policies, the History is a tragic story of virtue, ambition, and failed deterrence. All aspects of the conflict—from the battlefield strategies and the political landscape to the peoples’ thoughts and feelings as the long war dragged on—are presented in startlingly vivid detail.

From the treachery of Alcibiades and the disastrous invasion of Sicily to the plague that devastated Athens and Pericles’ famous funeral oration, Thucydides has written more than a mere account of war. His History is nothing less than a classic Greek drama about the rise and fall of Athens. More than two thousand years have passed since the History was written, but its impact on modern politics, military strategy, and foreign relations has been timeless.

Customer Reviews:

Greatest of All Greek Historians.......2007-06-26

The greatest of all Greek historians was the Athenian general Thucydides (455-400 B.C.E.). Thucydides' classic work, "History Of The Peloponnesian War", provides us with the historical framework for 5th century Greece, a golden age of intellectual achievement and creativity rarely equaled in human history. This history is by far the best account of the bitter war between Athens and Sparta as well as the only surviving contemporary record of the rise of the Athenian empire. Thucydides as a master storyteller does not just cover the battle scenes; he records the great political speeches of Pericles, leader of Athens, and Lysander leader of Sparta with great acumen. He is recognized as the first historian to actually go and get eyewitness accounts, visit battlefieilds and research documents and records. This work took him over 20 years and it shows!

The lessons he teaches about imperial over reaching and unreasonable peace settlements are prescient today as they were during his times. President Woodrow Wilson, read this book on his voyage across the Atlantic to the Versailles Peace Conference and vociferously fought the other Allies in making unreasonable demands of the Germans. Wilson learned the dangers that the world would be placed in by backing the Germans into a corner politically and economically from Thucydides book.

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I heartily recommend this timeless classic to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history. I also recommend you read it with David Cartwright's "A Historical Commentary On Thucydides."

Cannot recommend Thucydides too highly.......2007-02-05

Who should read Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War ?

* Anyone who wants to understand how free societies can descend into tyranny:

* Anyone who does not realise that merely holding free elections is not enough to preserve a society worth living in, especially if you don't combine democracy with the rule of law:

* Anyone who needs to understand how two or more nations can stumble into a war devastating to both:

* Anyone who imagines that genocide and ethnic cleansing were limited to our own era:

* Anyone interested in reading one of the first works of true history ever written.

In other words this history of a terrible war nearly two and half thousand years ago is as relevant in the first decade of the third millenium as it was when it was written, four centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ.

If I had to nominate one historical work for my son and daughter to read, I would think carefully between this volume, Suetonius's "The 12 Caesars", and Herodotus's "Histories", but Thucydides "History of the Poloponnesian war" would edge it.

You cannot take every word in this book for granted, but Herodotus and Thucydides came closer to an objective search for truth than any writer whose works survive and was writing before them or for centuries afterwards.

The story of the tragic wars, initially between Athens and Sparta, which decimated Greek civilisation between 431BC and 404 BC is absolutely gripping, and Thucydides brings the story to life for me.

The translation by Richard Crawley was written more than 130 years ago, and in some versions, slightly revised by R.C. Feetham in 1903. Despite being more than a century old, I found the translation to be accessible and easy to understand. I understand from those who know more about history than I do that Crawley's translation is now preferred by current experts to the rival Victorian translation by Benjamin Jowett which provides more of a general sense of Thucydides' writing but is less good at conveying the detail.

The most irritating thing about Thucydides book is that it stops suddently in the middle of a sentence in 411 BC, shortly after the overthrow of democracy in Athens and the Athenian naval victory at the Dardanelles. E.g. well before the actual resolution of the conflict between Athens and Sparta, let alone the subsequent struggle between both cities and Thebes.

If, like me, this leaves you wanting to learn more about what happened next, your best bet is to read Xenophon's "A history of my times" which was deliberately written to follow on from Thucydides, to such an extent that it actually starts with the words "And after this."

The reputation of Xenophon among historians as a reliable source has fallen dramatically over the past few decades, and he is undoubtedly not in the same class as Thucydides as a historian, but he certainly is in the same class as a storyteller and he does complete the story of the war.

The speeches of Pericles (Milestone of thought)

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The speeches of Pericles (Milestone of thought)
Thucydides
Manufacturer: F. Ungar Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Greece | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0804469083

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