History of the Peloponnesian War : History of the Peloponnesian War

History of the Peloponnesian War : History of the Peloponnesian War
ISBN: 9780140440393
Publication Date: 31 December 1963

'My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last forever.' Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Athens and Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its author's ambitious claim. Thucydides himself (c.460-400 BC) was an Athenian and achieved the rank of general in the earlier stages of the war. He applied thereafter a passion for accuracy and a contempt for myth and romance in compiling this factual record of a disastrous conflict.

About the Author

THUCYDIDES was born probably about 460BC. He took a small part in the Peloponnesian War when it broke out in 431BC. 'The Peoloponnesian War' is the only surviving source for much of the period that he describes. Some of the chronological inconsistencies have been the cause of controversy among scholars for centuries.