The History of the Peloponnesian War

Reading The Peloponnesian War is like using a time machine. Thucydides fought in the war as a general but was then exiled by Athens. As an exile, he traveled freely during two more decades of the war and spoke to witnesses on both sides. His account of the war has great immediacy, and the reader has the sensation of being spoken to directly from a distance of 2,400 years.Thucydides exhibits a deep understanding of politics. For example, he describes a relationship between state power and tyranny: "... as the power of Hellas grew, and the acquisition of wealth became more an object, the revenues of the states increasing, tyrannies were by their means established almost everywhere... ." These tyrannies could suppress dissent by distributing economic benefits: "For the love of gain would reconcile the weaker to the dominion of the stronger." At the beginning of the war, Athens was a democracy that subjugated others through an empire; near the end of the war, democracy in Athens itself is subverted by an oligarchic conspiracy.He also has a lot to say about the short-sightedness and irrationality of men. During a debate in Athens over strategy, Thucydides says, "Oracles of the most various import were recited by the collectors, and found eager listeners in one or other of the disputants. And of the Athenians' ambition to invade Sicily: "So thoroughly had the present prosperity persuaded the citizens that nothing could withstand them, and that they could achieve what was possible and impracticable alike, with means ample or inadequate it mattered not. The secret of this was their general extraordinary success, which made them confuse their strength with their hopes."Above all, this is a war story, and it is filled with accounts of raids, sieges, routs and pursuits, and naval battle. These accounts are pretty stirring, and an attentive reader could learn a lot about military science from the book.I read the free Kindle edition, translated by Richard Crawley, with the e-text prepared by Albert Imrie. There is nothing in either the translation or the Kindle implementation to complain about, but there are no maps. You can find reasonably usable historical maps of the Peloponnesian war online.

This classic did not disappoint me. It is well-written: clear and easy to read. It's very long (the war lasted 27 years!) and full of details about who led what military forces, who said what, etc. that for me, and I think for most readers today, are simply irrelevant. But those parts can be very easily skipped; the excellent paragraphing helps a lot in this respect.What is fascinating about this history is what it shows about the Greek civilization at that time. In particular, as Thucidides states explicitly, it shows how avarice, distrust, and the "us-them" conflict omnipresent in every human society combine to produce endless war -- laying waste the land (of an agricultural civilization), killing each other, murdering captured males and enslaving their women and children, and breaking or planning to break alliances as soon (or before) the oaths to uphold them are sworn. It gives us yet another demonstration that "plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose" -- We (the human race) know lots about our history and yet we continue to repeat it. A broader lesson is the divergence between the ostensible ethics of a society and its actual practices -- again something that continues, perhaps exacerbated, to this day.So it's a sad story and a good read.

The price is unbeatable but the translation is pretty rough. Many sentences had to be reread to just sort out the awkward phraseology. Thucydides is hard to translate because even in his time his writing was criticized for neologisms, very quirky metaphors and abstractions and odd turns of phrase. But this makes it all the more important to have a good translation. This one does used modern terminology that is sometimes jarring in the context of the era of the history, So Thucydides was not an easy read for his contemporaries and thus a "good translation" that reads easily also fails to convey the characteristic of the actual work itself. The translation by Warner perhaps comes as close to palatable and yet conveys the unique style that is Thucydides. As a work, it could be a 21st Century treatise. The parallels to current events are almost eerie from the "neocon" Alcibiades urging Athens to the Iraquian Syracuse war disaster to the oligarchy displacing the Athenian democracy.... the parallels are remarkable.

I absolutely loved the style in which the story is told, rather than making everything as brief as possible, Thucydides takes his time, he is as long-winded as they come and that's a good thing. Sometimes a multitude of words are needed to fully explain a situation, sometimes it's even best to look at things from more than 1 perspective, a crazy thought I know. Around the page 400-500 mark it really hit me, this is exactly what we need in the world today. I can only hope that other Greek classics are done in the same style, at the very least this book has me seeking them out. I can even say who fought in, who won, and what the basic sides were in the Peloponnesian War, not something I could have said before I picked up this book

Like Twain once said a Classic is a book everyone wants to have read, but no one wants to read. I am very glad I read this. I read it in a course at the US Naval War College. The NWC used this after the end of Vietnam to look at that war in a different perspective. It was helpful, not only in understanding Vietnam better, but in understanding all the reason why a nation shouldn't go to war unless it absolutely has to. This is something we have forgotten a lot with the misbegotten adventures in Iraq Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria. It is a little difficult to get through, but much wisdom imparted along the way. The dialogs and discussion in forums in the marketplace are excellent.

The copy I purchased from Kimble has no illustrations I miss maps and knowing what the arms, body armor, and ships looked like be extremely useful to a non professional. The book ends without the final resolution. A final chapter or two by a modern historian would be good to have.

For anyone who wonders how an unfinished manuscript from the 4th century BC became one of the seminal works of military history, influencing people from Machiavelli, all the way to analysts of our present day, one only has to indulge in Thucydides highly readable, and extremely eventful narrative.The first book explains the treaty system that preceded the outbreak of hostilities, describing a diplomatic process between Corinth, Athens, Lacedaemon and other city states within the Greece of its day, henceforth referred to as Hellas. Early on Thucydides posits the cause of the war as the growth of the power of Athens, and from the ensuing pages, it becomes clear that many states joined the anit-Athenian alliance more out of fear of subjugation, rather than pursuit of particular grievances. Corinth had a particular grievance against Athens, namely that they fought against them with the Corcyraeans at the time of the original treaty. As Thucydides states, "the love of gain would reconcile the weaker to the dominion of the stronger, and the possession of capital enabled the more powerful to reduce the smaller towns to subjection." Much detail is given to the deliberations and consideration of war, such as manpower, naval power, and logistical control of sea and land. One can evince from this 2,400 year old text that rational considerations of real politik played just as an important part in war and peace back then as they do today. The Peloponnesian war, we learn, was often beset with a variety of natural disasters, such as a wide outbreak of disease, earthquakes, and the eruption of Mount Etna. All through out books II to IV alliances shift, as the various Hellenic peoples shift their alliances, wagering on the strength of their adversaries, and the feasibility of their alliances. A diplomatic process is in play throughout, with various city-states exchanging embassies, and establishing a diplomatic dialogue. Various truces follow, including a truce which established naval rights, and sharing of holy places, in many ways a good example for the parties of today's Middle East Peace Process. However, truces soon collapse, and wanton devastation is routinely dished out, including attacks upon retreating armies, and event the destruction of temples. The most startlingly relevant feature of Thucydides work is that it reads in many ways like a modern day conflict with the formation of alliances, the break down of relations, the proclamation of truces, their subsequent abrogation. An interesting part of the book features a campaign in Sicily, which features a decent insight into Sicily's ancient history, revealing how it has from time immemorial been a land of different masters. Considering that the world of 4th Century BC Greece was certainly not as small as the world of the present day, the logistical difficulties of such a war, coupled with the incursions into Sicily, and limited involvement of the Persians, this was pretty much as close to a world war as one is likely to read from classical history. Despite this works unfinished status, it is a timeless classic and relevant to many modern day studies, whether it is classics, philosophy, or most importantly, international relations.

For price excellent

A must for Students of classical and Ancient Greek studies. . . . . . . . . . .

Fascinating

Very good