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The History of the Peloponnesian War is an account of the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War which lasted from 431-404BC was an Ancient Greece military conflict, fought by Athens and its Athenian empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta....
 in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
, fought between the Peloponnesian League
Peloponnesian League

The Peloponnesian League was an alliance of states in the Peloponnese in the 6th century BC and 5th century BC.By the end of the 6th century, Sparta had become the most powerful state in the Peloponnese, and was the political and military hegemon over Argos, the next most powerful state....
 (led by Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
) and the Delian League
Delian League

The Delian League was an association of approximately 150 5th-century BC Ancient Greece city-states under the leadership of Classical Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Greco?Persian Wars....
 (led by Athens). It was written by Thucydides
Thucydides

Thucydides was a Greeks history and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 B.C....
, an Athenian general who served in the war. It is widely considered a classic and regarded as one of the earliest scholarly works of history
HIStory

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth. The first disc, named "HIStory Begins" consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named "HIStory Continues" features new songs, with the...
. The History was divided into eight books by editors of later antiquity
Library of Alexandria

The Royal Library of Alexandria or Ancient Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was once the largest Great libraries of the ancient world....
.

Analyses of the History generally fall into one of two camps.






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The History of the Peloponnesian War is an account of the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War which lasted from 431-404BC was an Ancient Greece military conflict, fought by Athens and its Athenian empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta....
 in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
, fought between the Peloponnesian League
Peloponnesian League

The Peloponnesian League was an alliance of states in the Peloponnese in the 6th century BC and 5th century BC.By the end of the 6th century, Sparta had become the most powerful state in the Peloponnese, and was the political and military hegemon over Argos, the next most powerful state....
 (led by Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
) and the Delian League
Delian League

The Delian League was an association of approximately 150 5th-century BC Ancient Greece city-states under the leadership of Classical Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Greco?Persian Wars....
 (led by Athens). It was written by Thucydides
Thucydides

Thucydides was a Greeks history and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 B.C....
, an Athenian general who served in the war. It is widely considered a classic and regarded as one of the earliest scholarly works of history
HIStory

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth. The first disc, named "HIStory Begins" consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named "HIStory Continues" features new songs, with the...
. The History was divided into eight books by editors of later antiquity
Library of Alexandria

The Royal Library of Alexandria or Ancient Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was once the largest Great libraries of the ancient world....
.

Analyses of the History generally fall into one of two camps. On the one hand are those who view the work as an objective and scientific piece of history. The judgement of J. B. Bury
J. B. Bury

John Bagnell Bury , known as J.B. Bury, was an eminent Ireland historian, classics, :Category:Byzantinists and philologist....
 reflects this traditional interpretation of the work: "[The History is] severe in its detachment, written from a purely intellectual point of view, unencumbered with platitudes and moral judgements, cold and critical." A more recent interpretation, associated with reader-response criticism
Reader-response criticism

Reader-response criticism is a school of literary theory that focuses on Reading and his or her experience of a literary work, in contrast to other schools and theories that focus attention primarily on the author or the content and form of the work....
, argues that the History is better understood as a piece of literature than an objective record of the past. This view is embodied in the words of W. R. Connor, who describes Thucydides as "an artist who responds to, selects and skillfully arranges his material, and develops its symbolic and emotional potential." The former outlook views Thucydides as pathbreaking, modern, and philosophical, ahead of his time; the latter views the historian as closely connected with his historical and cultural context. Both interpretations are accepted by scholars, sometimes by the same scholar, and seem to capture the contradictory impulses and tensions within the History.

Historical method

Thucydides' History made a number of contributions to early historiography
Historiography

Historiography is the aspect of semiotics that is the study of how knowledge of the past, recent or distant, is obtained and transmitted. Broadly speaking, historiography examines the writing of history and the use of historical methods, drawing upon such elements such as authorship, sourcing, interpretation, style, bias, and audience....
. Many of his principles have become standard methods of history writing today, though others have not.

Chronology

One of Thucydides' major innovations was to employ a strict standard of chronology, recording events by year, each year consisting of the summer campaigning season and a less active winter season. As a result, events that span several years are divided up and described in parts of the book that are sometimes quite distant from one another, causing the impression that he is oscillating between the various theatres of conflict. This method contrasts sharply with Herodotus
Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
' earlier work The Histories, which jumps around chronologically and makes frequent and roundabout excursuses into seemingly unrelated areas and time periods.

Speeches

Another distinctive feature of the work is Thucydides' inclusion of dozens of speeches assigned to the principal figures engaged in the war. These include addresses given to troops by their generals before battles and numerous political speeches, both by Athenian and Spartan leaders, as well as debates between various parties. Of the speeches, the most famous is the funeral oration of Pericles
Pericles' Funeral Oration

Pericles' Funeral Oration is a famous speech from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. The speech was delivered by Pericles, an eminent Athenian politician, at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War as a part of the annual public funeral for the war dead....
, which is found in Book Two. Thucydides undoubtedly heard some of these speeches himself while for others he relied on eyewitness accounts. Some of the speeches are probably fabricated according to his expectations of, as he puts it, "what was called for in each situation" (1.22.2).

While the inclusion of long first-person speeches is somewhat alien to modern historical method, in the context of ancient Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 oral culture
Oral tradition

Oral tradition, oral culture and oral lore are messages or testimony transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants....
 speeches are expected. A brief glance at Homer
Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
's poems, the works of the tragedians, and Herodotus
Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
's Histories show that all of the most influential literary forms in Thucydides' time included substantial first-person speeches. Oratory also played a large part in the political life of the democracy
Athenian democracy

Athenian democracy developed in the Ancient Greece city-state of Classical Athens, comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 500 BC....
 in Thucydides' home city, Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
.

Neutral point of view

Despite being an Athenian and a participant in the conflict, Thucydides is often regarded as having written a generally unbiased
Bias

Bias is a term used to describe a tendency or preference towards a particular perspective , ideology or result, especially when the tendency interferes with the ability to be impartial, unprejudiced, or Objectivity ....
 account of the conflict and all the sides involved in it. In the introduction to the piece he states, "My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last for ever" (1.22.4). However, this has been challenged; Ernst Badian
Ernst Badian

Ernst Badian is an Austrian-born classical scholar who served as a professor at Harvard University from 1971 to 1998.He attended Canterbury University College, New Zealand, receiving a B.A....
 is one scholar who has argued that Thucydides has a strong pro-Athenian bias. Others claim he had an ulterior motive, specifically to create an epic comparable to those of the past, and that this led him to create a nonobjective dualism favoring the Athenians..

Role of religion

The gods
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 play no active role in Thucydides' work. This is very different from Herodotus, who frequently mentions the role of the gods, as well as a nearly ubiquitous divine presence in the centuries-earlier poems of Homer
Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
. Instead, Thucydides regards history as being caused by the choices and actions of human beings
Free will

The question of free will is whether, and in what sense, rational agents exercise control over their actions and decisions. Addressing this question requires understanding the relationship between freedom and Causality, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic....
.

Subject matter of the History

The first book of the History, after a brief review of early Greek history and some programmatic historiographical commentary, seeks to explain why the Peloponnesian War broke out when it did and what its causes were. Except for a few short excursuses (notably 6.54-58 on the Tyrant Slayers
Harmodius and Aristogeiton

Harmodius and Aristogeiton , both d. 514 BC, were a Pederasty in ancient Greece couple known also as the Tyrannicides . As a result of their attack against the Peisistratid tyrant, they became the iconic personages of the Athenian democracy....
), the remainder of the History (books 2 through 8) rigidly maintains its focus on the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War which lasted from 431-404BC was an Ancient Greece military conflict, fought by Athens and its Athenian empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta....
 to the exclusion of other topics.

While the History concentrates on the military
Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
 aspects of the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War which lasted from 431-404BC was an Ancient Greece military conflict, fought by Athens and its Athenian empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta....
, it uses these events as a medium to suggest several other themes closely related to the war. It specifically discusses in several passages the socially and culturally degenerative effects of war on humanity itself. The History is especially concerned with the lawlessness and atrocities committed by Greek citizens to each other in the name of one side or another in the war. Some events depicted in the History, such as the Melian dialogue
Melian dialogue

The Melian dialogue is a passage found in Book V of the History of the Peloponnesian War by the ancient Greece historian Thucydides. It is a classic example of the clash of Liberal international relations theory and Realism ideas about international relations, and is often paraphrased in discussions of realist thought....
, describe early instances of realpolitik
Realpolitik

Realpolitik refers to politics or diplomacy based primarily on practical considerations, rather than ideological notions. The term realpolitik is often used pejoratively to imply politics that are coercive, amoral, or Machiavellian....
 or power politics
Power politics

Power politics, or Machtpolitik , is a state of international relations in which sovereigntys protect their own interests by threatening one another with military, economic, or political aggression....
. The History is preoccupied with the interplay of justice
Justice

Justice is the concept of morality rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, fairness and equity."...
 and power in political and military decision-making. Thucydides' presentation is decidedly ambivalent on this theme. While the History seems to suggest that considerations of justice are artificial and necessarily capitulate to power, it sometimes also shows a significant degree of empathy with those who suffer from the exigencies of the war.

For the most part, the History does not discuss topics such as the art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
 and architecture
Architecture of Ancient Greece

Architecture was extinct in Greece from the end of the Helladic period period to the 7th century BC, when plebian life and prosperity recovered to a point where public building could be undertaken....
 of Greece.

Military Technology

Trireme
The History emphasizes the development of military technologies. In several passages (1.14.3, 2.75-76, 7.36.2-3), Thucydides describes in detail various innovations in the conduct of siegeworks or naval warfare. The History places great importance upon naval supremacy, arguing that a modern empire is impossible without a strong navy. Important in this regard was the development, at the beginning of the classical period (ca. 500 B.C.), of the trireme
Trireme

File:Romtrireme.jpgThe trireme is a class of warships used by the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greece and ancient Rome....
, the supreme naval ship for the next several hundred years. In his emphasis on sea power, Thucydides resembles the modern naval theorist Alfred Thayer Mahan
Alfred Thayer Mahan

Alfred Thayer Mahan was a United States Navy flag officer, Geostrategy, and educator. His ideas on the importance of sea power influenced navies around the world, and helped prompt naval buildups before World War I....
, whose influential work The Influence of Sea Power upon History
The Influence of Sea Power upon History

The Influence of Sea Power Upon History is an influential treatise on naval warfare written in 1890 by Alfred Thayer Mahan. It details the role of sea power throughout history and discusses the various factors needed to support a strong navy....
 helped set in motion the naval arms race prior to World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
.

Empire

The History explains that the primary cause of the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War which lasted from 431-404BC was an Ancient Greece military conflict, fought by Athens and its Athenian empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta....
 was the "growth in power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta" (1.23.6). Thucydides traces the development of Athenian power through the growth of the Athenian empire in the years 479 BC to 432 BC in book one of the History (1.89-118). The legitimacy of the empire is explored in several passages, notably in the speech at 1.73-78, where an anonymous Athenian legation defends the empire on the grounds that it was freely given to the Athenians and not taken by force. The subsequent expansion of the empire is defended by these Athenians, "...the nature of the case first compelled us to advance our empire to its present height; fear being our principal motive, though honor and interest came afterward." (1.75.3) The Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
ns represent a more traditional, circumspect, and less expansive power. Indeed, the Athenians are nearly destroyed by their greatest act of imperial overreach, the Sicilian expedition, described in books six and seven of the History.

Some difficulties of interpretation

Thucydides' History is extraordinarily dense and complex. This has resulted in much scholarly disagreement on a cluster of issues of interpretation.

Strata of composition

It is commonly thought that Thucydides died while still working on the History, since it ends in mid-sentence and only goes up to 410 BC, leaving six years of war uncovered. Furthermore, there is greater deal of uncertainty whether he intended to revise the sections he had already written. Since there appear to be some contradictions between certain passages in the History, it has been proposed that the conflicting passages were written at different times and that Thucydides' opinion on the conflicting matter had changed. Those who argue that the History can be divided into various levels of composition are usually called "analysts" and those who argue that the passages must be made to reconcile with one another are called "unitarians". This conflict is called the "strata of composition" debate.

Sources

The History is notoriously reticent about its sources. Thucydides almost never names his informants and alludes to competing versions of events only a handful of times. This is in marked contrast to Herodotus
Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
, who frequently mentions multiple versions of his stories and allows the reader to decide which is true. Instead, Thucydides strives to create the impression of a seamless and irrefutable narrative. Nevertheless, scholars have sought to detect the sources behind the various sections of the History. For example, the narrative after Thucydides' exile (4.108ff.) seems to focus on Peloponnesian events more than the first four books, leading to the conclusion that he had greater access to Peloponnesian sources at that time.

Frequently, Thucydides appears to assert knowledge of the thoughts of individuals at key moments in the narrative. Scholars have asserted that these moments are evidence that he interviewed these individuals after the fact. However, the evidence of the Sicilian Expedition
Sicilian Expedition

The Sicilian Expedition was an Athens expedition to Sicily from 415 BC to 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. The expedition was hampered from the outset by uncertainty in its purpose and command structure?political maneuvering in Athens swelled a lightweight force of twenty ships into a massive armada, and the expedition's primary propone...
 argues against this, since Thucydides
Thucydides

Thucydides was a Greeks history and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 B.C....
 discusses the thoughts of the generals who died there and whom he would have had no chance to interview. Instead it seems likely that, as with the speeches, Thucydides is looser than previously thought in inferring the thoughts, feelings, and motives of principal characters in his History from their actions, as well as his own sense of what would be appropriate or likely in such a situation.

Influence

Thucydides' History has been enormously influential in both ancient and modern historiography
Historiography

Historiography is the aspect of semiotics that is the study of how knowledge of the past, recent or distant, is obtained and transmitted. Broadly speaking, historiography examines the writing of history and the use of historical methods, drawing upon such elements such as authorship, sourcing, interpretation, style, bias, and audience....
. It was embraced by the author's contemporaries and immediate successors with enthusiasm; indeed, many authors sought to complete the unfinished history. For example, Xenophon
Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates....
 wrote his Hellenica
Hellenica (Xenophon)

Hellenica is an important work of the Ancient Greece writer Xenophon and one of the principal sources for the final seven years of the Peloponnesian War not covered by Thucydides, and the war's aftermath....
 as a continuation of Thucydides' work, beginning at the exact moment that Thucydides' History leaves off. His work, however, is generally considered far inferior in style and accuracy compared with Thucydides'. In later antiquity, Thucydides' reputation suffered somewhat, with critics such as Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus....
 rejecting the History as turgid and excessively austere. Lucian
Lucian

Lucian of Samosata was an Assyrian people rhetorician, and satire who wrote in the Greek language. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature....
 also parodies it (among others) in his satire The True Histories. Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. A devout Presbyterianism and leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913....
 read History on his voyage across the Atlantic to the Versailles Peace Conference.

Miscellaneous

Thucydides correlates, in his description of the 426 BC Maliakos Gulf tsunami
426 BC Maliakos Gulf tsunami

The 426 BC Maliakos Gulf tsunami was a tsunami devastating the coasts of the Maliakos and Gulf of Euboea, Greece, in the summer of 426 BC. The event led the Ancient Greece historian Thucydides to inquire into the origin of the natural phenomena, coming to the conclusion that the tsunami must have been caused by an earthquake....
, for the first time in the history of natural science
Natural science

In science, the term natural science refers to a methodological naturalism approach to the study of the universe, which is understood as obeying rules or law of nature origin....
, quakes and waves in terms of cause and effect.

Method of citation

Most critics writing about the History, including this article, use a standard format to direct readers to passages in the text: book.chapter.section. For example, the notation that Pericles' last speech runs from 2.60.1 to 2.64.6, this means that it can be found in the second book, from the sixtieth chapter through the sixty-fourth. Most modern editions and translations of the History include the chapter numbers in the margins (a notable exception being Rex Warner's
Rex Warner

Rex Warner was an England classics, writer and translation. He is now probably best remembered for The Aerodrome , an allegory novel whose young hero is faced with the disintegration of his certainties about his loved ones and with a choice between the earthy, animalistic life of his home village and the pure, efficient, emotionally det...
 translation published by Penguin Classics
Penguin Books

Penguin Books is a United Kingdom publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. Lane's idea was to provide quality writing cheaply, for the same price as a pack of cigarettes....
).

Outline of the work


  • Book 1
    • The state of Greece
      Greece

      Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
       from the earliest times to the commencement of the Peloponnesian War
      Peloponnesian War

      The Peloponnesian War which lasted from 431-404BC was an Ancient Greece military conflict, fought by Athens and its Athenian empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta....
      , also known as the Archaeology. 1.1-1.19.
    • Methodological excursus. 1.20-1.23.
    • Causes of the war (433-432 BC) 1.24-1.66.
      • The Affair of Epidamnus. 1.24-1.55.
      • The Affair of Potidaea
        Battle of Potidaea

        The Battle of Potidaea was, with the Battle of Sybota, one of the catalysts for the Peloponnesian War. It was fought near Potidaea in 432 BC between Athens and a combined army from Corinth, Greece and Potidaea, along with their various allies....
        . 1.56-1.66.
    • Congress of the Peloponnesian League
      Peloponnesian League

      The Peloponnesian League was an alliance of states in the Peloponnese in the 6th century BC and 5th century BC.By the end of the 6th century, Sparta had become the most powerful state in the Peloponnese, and was the political and military hegemon over Argos, the next most powerful state....
       at Lacedaemon. 1.67-1.88
      • The Speech of the Corinthians. 1.68-1.71.
      • The Speech of the Athenian envoys. 1.73-1.78.
      • The Speech of Archidamus. 1.80-1.85.
      • The Speech of Sthenelaidas. 1.86.
    • From the end of the Persian War
      Greco-Persian Wars

      For other Persian wars, see Roman-Persian Wars, Islamic conquest of Persia, Iraq war , and Military history of Iran.The Greco-Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between several ancient Greece city-states and the Achaemenid Empire that started in 499 BC and lasted until 448 BC....
       to the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, also known as the Pentacontaetia. 1.89-1.117.
      • The progress from supremacy to empire.
    • Second congress at Lacedaemon and the Corinthian Speech. 1.119-1.125.
    • Diplomatic maneuvering. 1.126-1.139.
      • Excursus on Cylon. 1.126-1.127.
      • Excursus on Pausanias
        Pausanias (general)

        Pausanias was a Spartan general of the 5th century BC. He was the son of Cleombrotus and nephew of Leonidas I, serving as regent after the latter's death, since Leonidas' son Pleistarchus was still under-age....
         and Themistocles
        Themistocles

        Themistocles was an Ancient Athens soldier and statesman. As archon in 493 BC, he convinced the Athenians that a powerful fleet was needed to protect them against the Persians....
        . 1.128-1.138
    • Pericles
      Pericles

      Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of History of Athens during the city's Age of Pericles?specifically, the time between the Greco-Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War wars....
      ' first speech. 1.140-1.145.


  • Book 2 (431-428 BC)
    • War begins with Thebes
      Thebes, Greece

      Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, Greece, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain....
      ' attempt to subvert Plataea
      Plataea

      Plataea or Plataeae was an ancient city, located in Greece in southeastern Boeotia, south of Thebes . It was the location of the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, in which an alliance of Greek city-states defeated the Persian Empire and ended the Persian Wars....
      . 2.1-2.6.
    • Account of the mobilization of and list of the allies of the two combatants. 2.7-2.9.
    • First invasion of Attica
      Attica

      Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
      . 2.10-2.23.
      • Archidamus
        Archidamus

        Archidamus may refer to:*one of several kings of Sparta:**Archidamus I **Archidamus II **Archidamus III **Archidamus IV **Archidamus V *Archidamus , a speech of Isocrates written in the voice of Archidamus III...
         leads the Peloponnesian army into Attica
        Attica

        Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
        . 2.10-2.12.
      • Athenian preparations and abandonment of the countryside. 2.13-2.14.
      • Excursus on Athenian synoikism. 2.15-2.16.
      • Difficult conditions in Athens
        Athens

        Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
         for refugees from countryside. 2.17.
      • Archidamus
        Archidamus

        Archidamus may refer to:*one of several kings of Sparta:**Archidamus I **Archidamus II **Archidamus III **Archidamus IV **Archidamus V *Archidamus , a speech of Isocrates written in the voice of Archidamus III...
         ravages Oenoe
        Oenoe

        Oenoe , also written Oinoi or Oene, referred to several cities in ancient Greece:*Oenoe,a town in Kastoria prefecture,modern oinoi...
         and Acharnai. 2.18-2.20.
      • Athenian fury and anger at Pericles
        Pericles

        Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of History of Athens during the city's Age of Pericles?specifically, the time between the Greco-Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War wars....
        . 2.21-2.22.
    • Athenian naval counter-attacks along coast of Peloponese and islands. 2.23-2.32.
    • Pericles' Funeral Oration
      Pericles' Funeral Oration

      Pericles' Funeral Oration is a famous speech from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. The speech was delivered by Pericles, an eminent Athenian politician, at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War as a part of the annual public funeral for the war dead....
      . 2.34-2.46.
    • The plague of Athens
      Plague of Athens

      The Plague of Athens was a devastating epidemic which hit the city-state of History of Athens in ancient Greece during the second year of the Peloponnesian War , when an Athenian victory still seemed within reach....
      . 2.47-2.54.
    • Second invasion of Attica
      Attica

      Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
       and Athenian naval counter-attacks. 2.55-2.58.
    • Pericles
      Pericles

      Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of History of Athens during the city's Age of Pericles?specifically, the time between the Greco-Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War wars....
      ' third speech, defending his position and policy. 2.59-2.64.
    • Thucydides
      Thucydides

      Thucydides was a Greeks history and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 B.C....
      ' estimate of Pericles
      Pericles

      Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of History of Athens during the city's Age of Pericles?specifically, the time between the Greco-Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War wars....
      ' qualities and the causes for Athens
      Athens

      Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
      ' eventual defeat. 2.65.
    • Diplomacy and skirmishes in Thrace
      Thrace

      Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
      , the islands, and the Northeast. 2.66-2.69.
    • Fall of Potidaea
      Battle of Potidaea

      The Battle of Potidaea was, with the Battle of Sybota, one of the catalysts for the Peloponnesian War. It was fought near Potidaea in 432 BC between Athens and a combined army from Corinth, Greece and Potidaea, along with their various allies....
      . 2.70.
    • Investment of Plataea
      Plataea

      Plataea or Plataeae was an ancient city, located in Greece in southeastern Boeotia, south of Thebes . It was the location of the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, in which an alliance of Greek city-states defeated the Persian Empire and ended the Persian Wars....
      . 2.71-2.78.
    • Naval victories of Phormio
      Phormio

      Phormio , the son of Asopius, was an Athens general and admiral before and during the Peloponnesian War. A talented naval commander, Phormio commanded at several famous Athenian victories in 428 BC, and was honored after his death with a statue on the acropolis and a state funeral....
       in the Northeast. 2.80-2.92.
    • Threat of raid on the Piraeus
      Piraeus

      Piraeus is a city in the periphery of Attica, Greece, and a municipality within Athens urban area, located 10 km southwest of its center....
      . 2.93-2.94.
    • Thracian
      Thrace

      Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
       campaign in Macedon
      Macedon

      Macedon or Macedonia was the name of a monarchy centred in the northernmost part of ancient Greece. The homeland of the ancient Macedonians, it was bordered by the kingdom of Epirus to the west and the region of Thrace to the east....
      ia under Sitalces. 2.95-2.101.


  • Book 3 (428-425 BC)
    • Annual invasion of Attica
      Attica

      Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
      . 3.1.
    • Revolt of Mytilene
      Mytilene

      Mytilene is the Capital city of Lesbos Island, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, and capital of Lesbos Prefecture and the Northern Aegean region....
      . 3.2-3.50.
      • Speech of Mytilenian envoys to Sparta
        Sparta

        Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
         at Olympia
        Olympia, Greece

        Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi....
        , asking for help. 3.9-3.14.
      • Sparta accepts Lesbos as an ally and prepares to counter the Athenians. 3.15.
      • Mytilene
        Mytilene

        Mytilene is the Capital city of Lesbos Island, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, and capital of Lesbos Prefecture and the Northern Aegean region....
         surrenders to Athens despite Spartan support. 3.28.
      • Mytilenian Debate
        Mytilenian Debate

        The Mytilenian Debate, according to Thucydides, occurred in Athens during the time of The Peloponnesian War. When a group of prisoners was brought to the city, the Athenians immediately decided to put them to death and enslave their native population in Mytilene....
        . 3.37-3.50.
    • Fall of Plataea
      Plataea

      Plataea or Plataeae was an ancient city, located in Greece in southeastern Boeotia, south of Thebes . It was the location of the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, in which an alliance of Greek city-states defeated the Persian Empire and ended the Persian Wars....
      . 3.20-3.24, 3.52-68.
      • Some Plataeans escape. 3.20-3.24.
      • Plataea
        Plataea

        Plataea or Plataeae was an ancient city, located in Greece in southeastern Boeotia, south of Thebes . It was the location of the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, in which an alliance of Greek city-states defeated the Persian Empire and ended the Persian Wars....
         surrenders. 3.52.
      • Trial and execution of the Plataeans. 3.53-3.68.
        • Speech of Plataeans, 3.53-3.59.
        • Speech of the Thebans. 3.61-3.67.
    • Revolution at Corcyra
      Corfu

      Corfu is a Greece list of islands of Greece in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and lies off the coast of Sarand?, Albania, from which it is separated by straits varying in breadth from 3 to 23 km , including one near ancient Butrint and a longer one west of Thesprotia....
      . 3.70-3.85.
      • Thucydides
        Thucydides

        Thucydides was a Greeks history and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 B.C....
        ' account of the evils of civil strife. 3.82-3.84.
    • Athenian campaigns in Sicily
      Sicily

      Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
      . 3.86, 3.90, 3.99, 3.103, 3.115-3.116.
    • Tsunami and inquiry into its causes
      426 BC Maliakos Gulf tsunami

      The 426 BC Maliakos Gulf tsunami was a tsunami devastating the coasts of the Maliakos and Gulf of Euboea, Greece, in the summer of 426 BC. The event led the Ancient Greece historian Thucydides to inquire into the origin of the natural phenomena, coming to the conclusion that the tsunami must have been caused by an earthquake....
       3.89.2-5
    • Campaigns of Demosthenes
      Demosthenes (general)

      Demosthenes , son of Alcisthenes, was an Athens general during the Peloponnesian War.He first appears in history in 426 BC in an invasion of Aetolia....
       in western Greece. 3.94-3.98, 3.100-3.102, 3.105-3.114.
    • Spartans establish Heracleia in Trachis. 3.92-3.93.
    • Athenians purify Delos
      Delos

      The island of Delos , isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece....
      . 3.104.


  • Book 4 (425-423 BC)
    • Annual invasion of Attica
      Attica

      Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
      . 4.2.
    • Athenians en route to Sicily
      Sicily

      Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
       occupy Pylos
      Battle of Pylos

      The naval Battle of Pylos took place in 425 BC during the Peloponnesian War at the peninsula of Pylos, on the Bay of Navarino in Messenia, and was an Athens victory over Sparta....
       in the Peloponnese
      Peloponnese

      The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus is a large peninsula and Regions of Greece in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth....
      . 4.2-4.6.
      • King Agis
        Agis

        Agis may refer to:* Agis I, a Spartan king* Agis II, a Spartan king* Agis III, a Spartan king* Agis IV, a Spartan king; Plutarch included a chapter on him in his Parallel Lives...
         of Sparta
        Sparta

        Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
         cuts short the invasion of Attica
        Attica

        Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
         to return to the Peloponnese
        Peloponnese

        The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus is a large peninsula and Regions of Greece in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth....
        . 4.6.
    • Concerted Spartan attack on the Athenian fort at Pylos
      Battle of Pylos

      The naval Battle of Pylos took place in 425 BC during the Peloponnesian War at the peninsula of Pylos, on the Bay of Navarino in Messenia, and was an Athens victory over Sparta....
      . 4.8-4.15.
      • The Athenian general Demosthenes
        Demosthenes (general)

        Demosthenes , son of Alcisthenes, was an Athens general during the Peloponnesian War.He first appears in history in 426 BC in an invasion of Aetolia....
         coordinates the defense of Pylos
        Pylos

        This article is about the Greek geographical feature and town. For the mythological figure see Pylus . For board game see Pylos .Pylos, or P?los , is a large bay and a town on the west coast of the Peloponnese, in the district of Messenia in southern Greece....
         and rouses the troops with a speech. 4.9-4.10.
      • The Spartan commander Brasidas
        Brasidas

        Brasidas was a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War.He was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athens ....
         distinguishes himself for bravery. 4.11-4.12.
    • The Athenians defeat the Spartan assault on Pylos
      Battle of Pylos

      The naval Battle of Pylos took place in 425 BC during the Peloponnesian War at the peninsula of Pylos, on the Bay of Navarino in Messenia, and was an Athens victory over Sparta....
       and cut off a garrison of Spartiates on the adjacent island of Sphacteria
      Sphacteria

      File:Sfakteria.jpgSphacteria is a small island at the entrance to the bay of Pylos in the Peloponnese, Greece. Its modern name is Sphagia.In ancient times it was the site of the Battle of Sphacteria in the Peloponnesian war....
      . 4.13-4.14.
    • The Spartans, concerned for the men on the island, conclude an immediate armistice and send an embassy to Athens
      Athens

      Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
       to negotiate peace. 4.13-4.22.
      • The speech of the Spartan ambassadors offers to peace and alliance to Athens
        Athens

        Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
         in exchange for the return of the men on Sphacteria
        Sphacteria

        File:Sfakteria.jpgSphacteria is a small island at the entrance to the bay of Pylos in the Peloponnese, Greece. Its modern name is Sphagia.In ancient times it was the site of the Battle of Sphacteria in the Peloponnesian war....
        . 4.17-4.20.
      • The Athenian Cleon
        Cleon

        Cleon was an Athens statesman and a Strategos during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself....
        , speaking in the Assembly, encourages the Athenians to demand the return of the territories surrendered by Athens
        Athens

        Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
         at the conclusion of the First Peloponnesian War
        First Peloponnesian War

        The First Peloponnesian War was fought between Sparta as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, Greece, and the Delian League led by Athens with support from Argos....
        . 4.21-4.22.
    • Events in Sicily. 4.24-4.25.
    • Siege of the Spartiates on Sphacteria
      Battle of Sphacteria

      The Battle of Sphacteria was a land battle of the Peloponnesian War, fought in 425 BC between Athens and Sparta. It resulted from the failure of peace negotiations after the earlier Battle of Pylos....
       continues without result. 4.26-4.27.
    • Cleon
      Cleon

      Cleon was an Athens statesman and a Strategos during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself....
       takes command at Pylos. 4.27-4.29.
      • With the siege of Sphacteria
        Sphacteria

        File:Sfakteria.jpgSphacteria is a small island at the entrance to the bay of Pylos in the Peloponnese, Greece. Its modern name is Sphagia.In ancient times it was the site of the Battle of Sphacteria in the Peloponnesian war....
         yielding no results, the Athenians grow angry at Cleon
        Cleon

        Cleon was an Athens statesman and a Strategos during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself....
         for encouraging them to reject the Spartan offer of peace. 4.27.1-.4.27.3.
      • Cleon
        Cleon

        Cleon was an Athens statesman and a Strategos during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself....
         blames Nicias
        Nicias

        Nicias or Nikias was an Ancient Athens politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy because he had inherited a large fortune from his father, which was invested into the silver mines around Attica's Mt....
         and the generals for ineptitude. 4.27.5.
      • Nicias
        Nicias

        Nicias or Nikias was an Ancient Athens politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy because he had inherited a large fortune from his father, which was invested into the silver mines around Attica's Mt....
         yields command to Cleon
        Cleon

        Cleon was an Athens statesman and a Strategos during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself....
        . 4.28.
    • Battle of Sphacteria
      Battle of Sphacteria

      The Battle of Sphacteria was a land battle of the Peloponnesian War, fought in 425 BC between Athens and Sparta. It resulted from the failure of peace negotiations after the earlier Battle of Pylos....
       results in the capture of all the Spartiates trapped there. 4.29-4.41.
    • Nicias
      Nicias

      Nicias or Nikias was an Ancient Athens politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy because he had inherited a large fortune from his father, which was invested into the silver mines around Attica's Mt....
       leads an Athenian attack on Corinth
      Corinth

      Corinth, or Korinth Corinth is now the capital of the Prefectures of Greece of Corinthia. The city is surrounded by the coastal townlets of Lechaio, Isthmia, Kechries, and the inland townlets of Examilia and the archaeological site....
      . 4.42-4.45.
    • End of Corcyraean revolution. 4.46-4.48.
    • Athenians capture Cythera, an island off the Peloponnese
      Peloponnese

      The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus is a large peninsula and Regions of Greece in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth....
      , and Thyrea
      Thyrea

      Thyrea was an ancient Greece region, and city in the Peloponnese. It was in modern day Arcadia prefecture, North Kynouria municipality, northwest of Astros....
      , a town in the Peloponnese
      Peloponnese

      The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus is a large peninsula and Regions of Greece in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth....
      . Sparta
      Sparta

      Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
       is hemmed in on all sides and desperate. 4.53-4.57.
    • Sicilian
      Sicily

      Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
       cities make peace in conference at Gela
      Gela

      img_coa = Gela-Stemma.png | official_name = Comune di Gela| name=Gela| mapx=37.40|mapy=14.26| region = Sicily |...
      , frustrating Athenian designs on the island. 4.58-65.
      • Speech of Hermocrates at Gela
        Speech of Hermocrates at Gela

        The Speech of Hermocrates at Gela is a speech recorded by the historian Thucydides in book four of his History of the Peloponnesian War. The speeches in Thucydides' History are usually considered not to be verbatim accounts of historical speeches, but rather records of the general sense of a given speech....
        . 4.59-4.64.
    • Athenian attack on Megara
      Megara

      Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens....
      . 4.66-4.74.
      • Capture of Nisaea. 4.69.
      • Inconclusive engagements at Megara
        Megara

        Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens....
        . 4.73.
      • Megara
        Megara

        Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens....
         eludes Athenian capture. 4.74.
    • Invasion of Boeotia
      Boeotia

      Boeotia, Beotia, or B?otia , formerly Cadmeis, was a region of ancient Greece, north of the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth. It was bounded on the south by Megaris and the Kithairon mountain range that forms a natural barrier with Attica, on the north by Opuntian Locris and the Euripus Strait at the Gulf of Euboea, and on the...
      . 4.76, 4.89-4.101.2.
      • Athenians occupy temple at Delium
        Battle of Delium

        The Battle of Delium or of Delion took place in 424 BC between the Athens and the Boeotians, and ended with the siege of Delium in the following weeks....
        . 4.90.
      • Battle of Delium
        Battle of Delium

        The Battle of Delium or of Delion took place in 424 BC between the Athens and the Boeotians, and ended with the siege of Delium in the following weeks....
         results in Athenian retreat. 4.91-4.96.
      • Boeotians refuse to return Athenian dead until Athenians relinquish the shrine of Delium
        Battle of Delium

        The Battle of Delium or of Delion took place in 424 BC between the Athens and the Boeotians, and ended with the siege of Delium in the following weeks....
        . 4.97-4.99.
      • Boeotians assault the Athenian in the temple and burn it down. 4.100.
    • Brasidas
      Brasidas

      Brasidas was a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War.He was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athens ....
       marches through Thessaly
      Thessaly

      Thessaly is one of the 13 Peripheries of Greece of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 Prefectures of Greece. The capital of the periphery and traditional Regions of Greece is Larissa....
       to Thrace
      Thrace

      Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
       and begins to cause Athenian subject cities to revolt. 4.78-4.88.
      • Speech of Brasidas to the Acanthians. 4.85-4.87.
    • Fall of Amphipolis
      Battle of Amphipolis

      The Battle of Amphipolis was fought in 422 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. It was the culmination of events that began in 424 BC with the capture of Amphipolis by the Spartans....
       to Brasidas
      Brasidas

      Brasidas was a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War.He was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athens ....
      . 4.102-4.108.
    • Continued successes of Brasidas
      Brasidas

      Brasidas was a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War.He was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athens ....
       in Thrace
      Thrace

      Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
      . 4.111-4.135.
      • Brasidas
        Brasidas

        Brasidas was a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War.He was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athens ....
         secures the revolt of the garrison of Torone. 4.110-4.116.
      • One-year armistice between Athenians and Spartans. 4.117-4.118.
      • Scione revolts from Athens
        Athens

        Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
         to Brasidas
        Brasidas

        Brasidas was a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War.He was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athens ....
        . 4.120-4.123.
      • Truce breaks down. 4.122-4.123.
      • Athenians retake Mende
        Mende

        Mende may refer to:* Mende people* Mende language* a commune of France, Mende, Loz?re in the Loz?re d?partement in France.* a village in Pest county Hungary: Mende, Hungary...
         and besiege Scione. 4.129-4.131.


  • Book 5 (422-415 BC)
    • Death of Cleon
      Cleon

      Cleon was an Athens statesman and a Strategos during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself....
       and Brasidas
    • Peace of Nicias
      Peace of Nicias

      The Peace of Nicias was a peace treaty signed between the Ancient Greece city-states of Athens and Sparta in the March of 421 BC, ending the first half of the Peloponnesian War....
    • Feeling against Sparta in the Peloponnese
      Peloponnese

      The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus is a large peninsula and Regions of Greece in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth....
    • League of the Mantineans, Eleans, Argives, and Athenians
    • Battle of Mantinea
      Battle of Mantinea (418 BC)

      The Battle of Mantinea was a significant battle in the Peloponnesian War. The battle took place in 418 BC between Sparta and its allies on the one hand, and an army led by Argos and Athens on the other....
       and breaking up of the League
    • The Melian Dialogue
      Melian dialogue

      The Melian dialogue is a passage found in Book V of the History of the Peloponnesian War by the ancient Greece historian Thucydides. It is a classic example of the clash of Liberal international relations theory and Realism ideas about international relations, and is often paraphrased in discussions of realist thought....
    • Fate of Melos


  • Book 6 (415-414 BC)
    • The Sicilian Expedition
      Sicilian Expedition

      The Sicilian Expedition was an Athens expedition to Sicily from 415 BC to 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. The expedition was hampered from the outset by uncertainty in its purpose and command structure?political maneuvering in Athens swelled a lightweight force of twenty ships into a massive armada, and the expedition's primary propone...
    • Affair of the Hermae
    • Departure of the expedition to Sicily
      Sicily

      Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
    • Parties at Syracuse
      Syracuse, Italy

      Syracuse is a historic city in southern Italy, the Capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is noted for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture and association to Archimedes, playing an important role in ancient times as one of the top powers of the Mediterranean world; it is over 2,700 years old....
    • Story of Harmodius and Aristogiton
    • Disgrace of Alcibiades
      Alcibiades

      Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides , was a prominent History of Athens statesman, oratory, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War....
    • Inaction of the Athenian army
    • Alcibiades at Sparta
    • Investment of Syracuse


  • Book 7 (414-413 BC)
    • Arrival of Gylippus
      Gylippus

      Gylippus was a Spartan general of the 5th century BC; he was the son of Cleandridas, who was the adviser of King Pleistoanax and had been expelled from Sparta for accepting Athens bribes in 446 BC and fled to Thurii, a pan-Hellenic colony then being founded in the instep of Italy with Athenian help and participation....
       at Syracuse
    • Fortification of Decelea
      Decelea

      Decelea , modern Dekeleia or Dekelia, Deceleia or Decelia, previous name Tatoi, was an ancient village in northern Attica serving as a source of supplies and trade route connecting Euboea with Athens, Greece....
    • Successes of the Syracusans
    • Arrival of Demosthenes
      Demosthenes (general)

      Demosthenes , son of Alcisthenes, was an Athens general during the Peloponnesian War.He first appears in history in 426 BC in an invasion of Aetolia....
    • Defeat of the Athenians at Epipolae
    • Folly and obstinacy of Nicias
    • Battles in the Great Harbour
    • Retreat and annihilation of the Athenian army


  • Book 8 (413-411 BC)
    • Revolt of Ionia
      Ionia

      Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest Izmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Hellenes settlements....
    • Intervention of Persia
    • The war in Ionia
    • Intrigues of Alcibiades
    • Withdrawal of the Persian subsidies
    • Oligarchical Coup d'Etat
      Coup d'état

      A coup d??tat , often simply called a coup, is the sudden unconstitutional overthrow of a government by a part of the state establishment – usually the military – to replace the branch of the stricken government, either with another civil government or with a military government....
       at Athens
    • Patriotism of the Athenian army at Samos
      Samos Island

      Samos is a Greece island in the North Aegean sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the Ionian coast of Turkey....
    • Recall of Alcibiades to Samos
    • Revolt of Euboea
      Euboea

      For the Greek mythology figure, see Euboea Euboea is the second largest of the Greece Aegean Islands and the second largest List of islands of Greece overall in area and population, after Crete....
       and downfall of the Council of the Four Hundred
      Boule

      The term Boule may refer to:* Boule , plural boulai, assembly forming part of city governments in Ancient Greece* Boule , block of synthetically-produced crystal material...
    • Battle of Cynossema
      Battle of Cynossema

      The naval Battle of Cynossema took place in 411 BC during the Peloponnesian War. In the battle, an Athens fleet commanded by Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus, although initially thrown on the defensive by a numerically superior Spartan fleet, won a narrow victory....


Secondary sources

  • Connor, W. Robert, Thucydides. Princeton: Princeton University Press (1984). ISBN 0-691-03569-5.
  • Crane, Gregory, . Berkeley: University of California Press (1998).
  • Hornblower, Simon, A Commentary on Thucydides. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon (1991-1996). ISBN 0-19-815099-7 (vol. 1), ISBN 0-19-927625-0 (vol. 2).
  • Hornblower, Simon, Thucydides. London: Duckworth (1987). ISBN 0-7156-2156-4.
  • Orwin, Clifford
    Clifford Orwin

    Clifford Orwin is a Canadian scholar of ancient, modern, contemporary and Jewish political thought. He is also a prominent controversial writer on contemporary politics and culture....
    , The Humanity of Thucydides. Princeton: Princeton University Press (1994).
  • Romilly, Jacqueline de, Thucydides and Athenian Imperialism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell (1963). ISBN 0-88143-072-2.
  • Rood, Tim, Thucydides: Narrative and Explanation. Oxford: Oxford University Press (1998). ISBN 0-19-927585-8.
  • Strassler, Robert B, ed. The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War. New York: Free Press (1996). ISBN 0-684-82815-4.


Translations

  • Thomas Hobbes
    Thomas Hobbes

    Thomas Hobbes was an English philosophy, remembered today for his work on political philosophy. His 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory....
    , 1628:
  • William Smith
    William Smith (scholar)

    Very Revd. Dr William Smith , Dean of Chester, Greek and Latin scholar and first translator of the works of Thucydides.Smith was born in Worcester in 1711, the son of the rector of St Nicholas' Church....
    , 1753
  • Johann David Heilmann, 1760
  • Richard Crawley, 1874:
  • Benjamin Jowett
    Benjamin Jowett

    Benjamin Jowett was an England scholar, classicist and theology, and Master of Balliol College, Oxford....
    , 1881:
  • Edgar C. Marchant, 1900
  • Charles Forster Smith, 1919
  • Rex Warner
    Rex Warner

    Rex Warner was an England classics, writer and translation. He is now probably best remembered for The Aerodrome , an allegory novel whose young hero is faced with the disintegration of his certainties about his loved ones and with a choice between the earthy, animalistic life of his home village and the pure, efficient, emotionally det...
    , 1954
  • John H. Finley, Jr., 1963
  • Walter Blanco, 1998
  • Steven Lattimore, 2002