Thucydides

Author of The History of the Peloponnesian War

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About the Author

Born into a family of Athens's old nobility claiming descent from the Homeric hero Ajax of Salamis, Thucydides pursued a political career under Pericles and served as a general in the Great Peloponnesian War of 431--404 b.c. His subsequent exile for failure to prevent a Spartan takeover of an show more Athenian colony in Thrace enabled him to observe the war from both sides. In his history of the war, he examines the policies and motives of the people involved with a calculated rationality that nevertheless conveys great passion. Although his narrative style is lucid and astringent, the language of the speeches that he gives his protagonists is some of the most difficult, yet rhetorically powerful, Greek from any period of antiquity. The work is deeply serious in tone. As Thucydides tells his readers at the beginning of the work, it contains nothing of entertainment value. He meant it, as he says, to be not simply a set-piece written for the delectation of an audience, but a "possession for ever." As Herodotus was the inventor of universal history, Thucydides was the inventor of the analytical historical monograph. He wrote in conscious contrast to Herodotus, whose work is full of entertaining fable and romance. While Herodotus wrote about the past by using all manner of traditions gleaned in his travels, Thucydides considered only contemporary history to be reliable and writes as an interrogator and witness of contemporary men and events. The gods, too, are absent from Thucydides's work, which scrutinizes human motivations as the exclusive business of history. The most powerful intellectual influences visible are the fully rational method of description and prognosis developed by the Hippocratic physicians and the tools of logical analysis and verbal argument then being forged by the Sophists. Behind these, however, lay a sense of tragedy. The history of Thucydides possesses the rhythm of a Sophoclean drama of reversal of fortune in which Athens falls from the pinnacle of imperial success and brilliance into political corruption, ruthless and amoral imperial aggression, and finally utter defeat and disaster. Athens's imperial hubris leads to its nemesis at the hands of Sparta, a conservative and landlocked state that had been powerless at the beginning of the war to inflict significant harm on the Athenians. Thucydides's work is unfinished. It ends abruptly in midsentence during a discussion of the events of the year 411 b.c. It was continued to the end of the war by Xenophon. Although very much the intellectual inferior of Thucydides, Xenophon managed by imitation to infuse this part of his Hellenica (his continuation to 362 b.c. of the history of Thucydides) with an elevation absent in the rest of his work. Until relatively recently, scholars took Thucydides at his word as an objective writer. More recently it has been recognized that his work skillfully promotes a patriotic and political argument, written in the climate of postwar recriminations. He presents Athens's empire as a natural consequence of the position of that city-state in the Greek world and the Athenian leader Pericles as Athens's greatest statesman, a leader who had governed Athens and preserved the empire with a firm and intelligent hand. Thucydides wanted to persuade his readers that Pericles was not the villain who destroyed Athens, that the blame fell to the politicians who came after him and pandered to the most extreme ambitious of the common citizens, the politicians who were the ultimate arbiters of policy in Athens's democracy. Some modern historians remain persuaded by Thucydides's portrait of Pericles and the Athenian democracy, but others argue from Thucydides's own testimony that Pericles led Athens into an unnecessary war in the belief that the opportunity had arrived to advance Athenian domination over the whole of the Greek world. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Tucidide, Thucydide, Tukidīds, Tucidides, Tucídides, Thukydides, Thoukudidēs, Фукидид, Thucydides Edied, Tuc©Ưdides,, Tucídides,, トゥキュディデス, Θουκυδίδης ο Αθηναίος, Θουκυδίδης ο Αθηναίος, thoukydidis o athinaios / θουκυδίδης ο αθηναίος

Image credit: Bust of Thucydides, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Series

Rivingtons Middle Form Classics

Loeb Classical Texts: History of the Peloponnesian War

A Greek prose reading course for post-beginners

Works by Thucydides

Popular Recent

The History of the Peloponnesian War (0400) 7,928 copies

The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (0411) 2,383 copies

On Justice, Power and Human Nature: Selections from The History of the Peloponnesian War: Essence of Thucydides'… (1993) 400 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 1-4 (1942) 267 copies

History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 1-2 (Loeb Classical Library) (1919) 138 copies

History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 3-4 (Loeb Classical Library (1920) 126 copies

History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 5-6 (Loeb Classical Library) (1921) 119 copies

History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 7-8 (Loeb Classical Library) (1923) 118 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 5-8 [Greek] (1902) 115 copies

The Peloponnesian War (Norton Critical Editions) (1998) 87 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 1-2 (1919) 80 copies

Thucydides, Book 7 (1886) 78 copies

Thucydides, Book 2 (1989) 76 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 5-8 (1986) 66 copies

How to Think about War: An Ancient Guide to Foreign Policy (2019) 56 copies

Thucydides: The War of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) (2013) 56 copies

Thucydides, Book 6 (1971) 53 copies

Pericles's Funeral Oration (0404) 43 copies

Thucydides, Book 1 (1905) 39 copies

Hérodote - Thucydide : Oeuvres (1964) 33 copies

The Complete Works of Thucydides (2013) 26 copies

Thucydides: Book I (Bristol Greek Texts Series) (1927) 24 copies

Pericles Orations (1979) 24 copies

Thucydides Reader (2005) 21 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 1 20 copies

Thucydides, Book 3 (1909) 19 copies

A Greek Prose Reading Course for Post-beginners 4: Historiography: Thucydides: Events at Pylos and Sphacteria (1998) 17 copies

Thucydides: Book 6 (Bryn Mawr commentaries) (1989) 17 copies

Thucydides, Book 4 (1982) 16 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 7-8 (1967) 16 copies

Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War. Translated by Benjamin Jowett / Revised and Abridged with an Introduction by P. A.… (1963) 15 copies

The Peloponnesian War [selections] (Great Books Foundation) 14 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 6-7 (1996) 14 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 1-3 (1966) 14 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War [selections; German/Greek] (1977) 12 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 3-4 (1965) 11 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 6-8 (1955) 10 copies

Athenian Disaster in Sicily 9 copies

The Complete Writing of Thucydides (1951) 9 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 5-6 (2007) 8 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 5 7 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 7 (1953) 7 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 3-5 (1985) 7 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 8 (1953) 6 copies

HISTÒRIA DE LA GUERRA DEL PELOPONÉS - LLIBRE II 6 copies

Pericles's Funeral Oration [Greek] 6 copies

The Essential Thucydides: On Justice, Power, and Human Nature: Selections from The History of the Peloponnesian War (2021) 6 copies

Thukydides (1977) 5 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 4-6 (1966) 5 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 8 [ancient Greek] 5 copies

Thucydides' Theory of International Relations: A Lasting Possession (Political Traditions in Foreign Policy) (2000) 5 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 4-8 (1881) 5 copies

Thucydides, Book 5 5 copies

Dialogue of the Melians and the Athenians (1999) 4 copies

The Capture of Sphacteria (2010) 4 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 4 4 copies

The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury 3 copies

The fall of Plataea and the plague at Athens from Thucydides II and III 3 copies

Stories from Thucydides (2021) 3 copies

Thucydides. Book VII. Edited by E. C. Marchant (1961) 3 copies

Ιστορίαι: Πελοποννησιακός πόλεμος 3 copies

Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War Books VI and VII: A Companion to the Penguin Translation (Classical… (1998) 3 copies

Thucydides. Book II. Edited by E. C. Marchant (Classical Series) (1891) 2 copies

Thoukudidou Xungraphes 4 = The fourth book of Thucydides 2 copies

Thucydides : Book II (1985) 2 copies

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 6 2 copies

Thucydides II (LCL 109) 2 copies

Thucydides, Book 7. Edited by E.C. Marchant (2016) 2 copies

Thucydides, book 3 2 copies

La grande dune 2 copies

Thucydides - Vol. I 2 copies

The war of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians (2013) 2 copies

History: Book I, chapt. 1,2,3,5; book II, chapt. 6,7; book V, chapt. 17; book VI, chapt. 18; book VII, chapt. 23 (1947) 2 copies

Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War, Selections / Plato: Symposium (1955) 2 copies

THUCYDIDES. (1881) 2 copies

Modern School Classics : Thucydides : Brasidas in Thrace (1964) 2 copies

La guerra del Pelopponeso (vol. I) 2 copies

Thucydidis Historiae Vol I-II (1934) 2 copies

Le storie. Volume primo 2 copies

Thucydides III @Book III 2 copies

Thucydides, book I, ch.1-55 (1978) 2 copies

The Siege of Plataea, from Thucydides Books ii. and iii. (Rivingtons Middle Form Classics) 2 copies

La Peste ad Atene (2020) 1 copy

I discorsi della democrazia. Testo greco a fronte (2015) 1 copy

Le storie. Testo greco a fronte. Volume 1 1 copy

La guerra del Peloponneso vol I 1 copy

Història de la Guerra del Peloponés Volum III 1 copy

Le storie. vol. 2 1 copy

The Funeral Oration of Pericles 1 copy

Die Heerfahrt der Athener nach Sizilien 1 copy

Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian war 1 copy

HISTORIA DE LA GUERRA DEL PELOPONESO - VOLUMS 1-2-3 1 copy

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LA GUERRA DE PELOPONESO I- TUCIDIDES - BIBLIOTECA GREDOS - CLASICOS ESENCIALES DE GRECIA Y ROMA TOMO 9 1 copy

The Complete Writings of Thucydides: the Peloponnesian War. [431BC-404BC]. 1 copy

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Thucydides, Volume I: History of the Peloponnesian War, Books I and II: English Text 1 copy

Thucydides, Volume I: History of the Peloponnesian War, Books I and II: Greek Text 1 copy

Thucydides, Volume II: History of the Peloponnesian War, Books III and IV: English Text 1 copy

Thucydides, Volume II: History of the Peloponnesian War, Books III and IV: Greek Text 1 copy

Historia de la guerra del Peloponeso. Libros III-IV (Nueva Biblioteca Clásica Gredos nº 23) (Spanish… 1 copy

Historia de la guerra del Peloponeso. Libros V-VI (Nueva Biblioteca Clásica Gredos nº 30) (Spanish Edition) 1 copy

Thucydides, Volume III: History of the Peloponnesian War, Books V and VI: English Text 1 copy

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 4-5 1 copy

Sull'arte equestre 1 copy

Historiadores griegos : Herodoto, Tucides, Jenofonte 1 copy

Tucídides Historia de la guerra del Peloponeso (libros III - VI) 1 copy

The Complete Works of Thucydides and Xenophon with Biographical Notes 1 copy

Guerre du Péloponèse suivi de Retraite des Dix Mille, La Cyropédie, Du commandement de la cavalerie, Traité… 1 copy

Thucydides, Volume IV: History of the Peloponnesian War, Books VII and VIII: English Text 1 copy

Thukydides II. kötet (negyedik és ötödik könyv) - görögül és magyarul 1 copy

Thoukidhidhou istoria tou peloponnisiakou polemou (1999) 1 copy

Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Krieges : Ausw. aus d. Gesamtwerk / Thukydides. Hrsg. von Albert Klinz 1 copy

Natura e limiti della democrazia (2008) 1 copy

Morire per la libertà. Gli epitaffi ateniesi tra V e IV sec. a.C. (1996) 1 copy

La guerra del Peloponneso tomi 1,2,3,4 libri 1-2 4-5 6-8 1 copy

Le storie. Testo greco a fronte. Con e-book (2014) 1 copy

Thukydides in Auswahl (1950) 1 copy

Politische Reden 1 copy

Anabasi (libri quarto e settimo) 1 copy

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 1-7 1 copy

La guerra del Peloponeso II 1 copy

Història de la guerra del Peloponès, vol. 5 1 copy

Història de la guerra del Peloponès, vol. 4 1 copy

Història de la guerra del Peloponès, vol. 3 1 copy

Història de la guerra del Peloponès, vol. 2 1 copy

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Thucydidis Historiae 1 copy

Història de la guerra del Peloponès, V 1 copy

Història de la guerra del peloponès, III 1 copy

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 2 1 copy

Economico 1 copy

La Guerre du Péloponnèse (French Edition) 1 copy

Thucydides, Volume III: History of the Peloponnesian War, Books V and VI: Greek Text 1 copy

Thucydides book 7 1 copy

Thucydides, Volume IV: History of the Peloponnesian War, Books VII and VIII: Greek Text 1 copy

Thucydides ; the complete Hobbes translation, with notes and a new introduction by David Grene. 1 copy

Thucydides. Book I. Edited on the basis of Classen's edition, by Charles D. Morris 1 copy

Thucydides, book III. Ed. by E.C. Marchant . 1 copy

Thucydides, book VII. Ed. by E.C. Marchant . 1 copy

Thoukydidou Xyngrapsēs ē. The eighth book of Thucydides' History 1 copy

Thucydides, Book VII. With an introd. and commentary by K.J. Dover. 1 copy

Thucydides, Book VI. Edited by K.J. Dover. 1 copy

Thoukydidou Xyngraphes D. The fourth book of Thucydides. Edited with notes by C.E. Graves 1 copy

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 2-3 1 copy

Thucydides Bk II 1 copy

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Thukydidu syngraphē Mit erklärenden Anmerkungen 1 copy

Thucydides, book I-VII 1 copy

Thucydidis Historiae. 2, Libri 5 - 8 1 copy

Thoukydidou peri tou peloponnÂesiakou polemou biblia okto [Greek transliterated] = Thucydidis De bello peloponnesiaco… 1 copy

Thucydides : Book lV, chapters I-XLI (Pylus and Sphacteria) 1 copy

Thukydides erklärt von J. Classen, J. Steup 1 copy

Thucydides. Book VI. Edited by E. C. Marchant. Gr 1 copy

Thucydides: The Complete Writings of 1 copy

Thucydides I & VII (2 vois.) 1 copy

Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War; Analytic Notes and Review 1 copy

Thucydides, books II and III 1 copy

Thukydides V 1 copy

Ho tu Thukydidu polemos peloponnēsiakos. Thucydidis bellum Peloponnesiacum ex edit. Wassii et Dukeri 7 [...] 1 copy

Thukydides IV 1 copy

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Speeches from Thucydides 1 copy

Thucydides Historiae, Volume 2 (Greek Edition) (2010) 1 copy

Thoukydidēs 1 copy

Thucydides, Book 6. Edited by E.C. Marchant (Greek Edition) (2009) 1 copy

La guerra del Peloponneso volume secondo 1 copy

Peloponneserkrigen B. 2 1 copy

Thucydides, Vol II. 1 copy

Thoukudidou Peri tou Peloponnēsiakou polemou biblia oktō = Thucydidis De bello Peloponnesiaco libri octo 1 copy

Thucydides-History of the Peloponnesian War, Interlinear English Translation (2013) 1 copy

Thucydides. Histories, book II 1 copy

Thucydides : with an English translation 1 copy

Thucydides II @Book II 1 copy

Thucydidis De Bello Peloponnesiaco Libri Octo : Cum Indice Rerum Tomus I. [...] 1 copy

Thucydides: histories, book iv, ed. by T.R. Mills. With a general intr. by H.S. Jones 1 copy

Thucydides in Four Volumes 1 copy

Thucydides, With an English Translation, Vol. 1 of 4: History of the Peloponnesian War, Books I and II (Classic… 1 copy

THUCYDIDES. 1 copy

Easy Selections From Thucydides (1885) (2009) 1 copy

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Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War, Volume IV (Loeb Classical Library No. 169) 1 copy

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Books 7-8 1 copy

History of the Peloponnesian War (Volume 1) (2010) 1 copy

L'illusione della democrazia (2018) 1 copy

The History of the Peloppenesian War, Hobbes translation, Vol. I 1 copy

Historiarum capita selecta 1 copy

The History of the Peloppenesian War, Hobbes translation, Vol. II 1 copy

Thucydides, translated into English, to which is prefixed an essay on inscriptions and a note on the geography of… 1 copy

Xyngraphē mit erklärenden Anmerkungen I/II : Zwei Bände in einem Band (1972) 1 copy

The historians of Greece 1 copy

Thucydides Geschichte des Peloponnesischen Kriegs Zweite Abtheilung [...] 1 copy

Thucydides- Volume 1, books 1-3 1 copy

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Thucydidis Historiae; recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit Henricus Stuart Jones 1 copy

Hist of the Peloponesian Wars (Ch 1, 2, 8 1 copy

Pylos and Sphakteria, from Thucydides, Book iv., ed. by W. H. D. Rouse 1 copy

Thucydides Book 2 1 copy

Thucydides. With an English translation by Charles Forster Smith 1 copy

Codex Palatinus Heidelbergensis Graecus 252 1 copy

Historia de la guerra del Peloponeso. Libros VII-VIII (Biblioteca Clásica Gredos nº 173) (Spanish Edition) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Portable Greek Historians (1959) — Contributor — 555 copies

The Penguin Book of War (1999) — Contributor — 453 copies

Britannica Great Books: Herodotus and Thucydides (0430) — Contributor — 382 copies

The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature (1998) — Contributor — 160 copies

Greek Civilization and Character (1924) — Contributor — 150 copies

The Mammoth Book of True War Stories (1992) — Contributor — 87 copies

The Book of the Sea (1954) — Contributor — 36 copies

Modern School Classics : Four Greek authors (1968) — Contributor — 12 copies

The Athenian Half-Century 478-431 BC Thucydides I 89-118 (1971) — some editions — 10 copies

Selections from Greek Historians (1878) — Contributor — 10 copies

Griekse geschiedschrijvers (1951) — Contributor — 6 copies

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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Thucydides
Legal name: Θουκυδίδης Ολόρου Αθηναίος (Ancient Greek)
Birthdate: 0460 BCE (circa)
Date of death: 0395 BCE (circa)
Gender: male
Nationality: Athens
Country (for map): Greece
Birthplace: Athens, Greece
Place of death: Athens, Greece
Places of residence: Athens, Greece
Thrace
Occupations: general
historian

Members

Discussions

OT for GMacAree in Fine Press Forum (November 2023)

New LE: Thucydides The Peloponnesian War in Folio Society Devotees (July 2023)

Thucydides in Ancient History (December 2021)

Group read - Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War in The 11 in 11 Category Challenge (December 2010)

Translating Thucydides in Ancient History (November 2010)

Herodotus vs. Thucydides in Ancient History (March 2007)

Reviews

History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Reason Read: ancient history, nonfiction
This was not an easy read. A lot of towns, names and all in all it was often a blur. I did enjoy some points made in debates and the discussions on oligarchy, democracy, and constitution. I think this might be a reference book but not something I would want to read cover to cover again.

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Kristelh | 58 other reviews | Jan 31, 2024 |

History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

The version I read was an abridged edition - 96 pages - old Danish translation that were used for high school. Interesting to read about men doing sports naked, about very detailed description of some sort of plague or epidemic - really horrible - that they couldn't find a cure for. But mostly it was long speeches of peace-negotiations or war declarations with moral arguments on why a city should be spared or everyone killed in it.

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ctpress | 58 other reviews | Jan 27, 2024 |

The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to… by Thucydides

Bought this book in Newport at the end of our epic summer 2023 PCS. Started reading it to get ahead for the school year. Incredible historical research undertaking by Strassler to make it understandable and less dense to read. I read the entirety of the first four books, but due to time constraints only read key speeches and the paragraph summaries for books 5-8.

From the S&W Syllabus: Thucydides covers all nine Strategy and War course themes in his account of this war, compelling his readers to think through the interrelationship of policy, strategy, and operations and the integration and application of naval power.… (more)

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SDWets | 20 other reviews | Sep 1, 2023 |

History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

As this book has been review a zillion times I'm not going to repeat the effort (plus I'm super busy at the moment), but I'll explain why I gave it a three at least.

It's a classic of course, and the translation seems pretty good to my relatively untrained eyes/ears, but the narration was definitely sub-par. I've no idea if there are more recent audiobooks, but I'd definitely recommend looking for one before going for this one by Pat Bottino--or just read a non-audio version of course.

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qaphsiel | 58 other reviews | Feb 20, 2023 |

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