Showing results for "thucydides" in Classics

The rivalry between two of the dominant city states of Ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, erupted into a war lasting nearly 30 years and was to have a dramatic effect on the balance of power in the area. Between 431 and 404 BCE, the two cities battled it out on land and sea, aided by their...

Compiled by Thucydides, an Athenian historian and general during the Peloponnesian War, The History of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) is considered to be one of the first scholarly historical works ever written.

Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War is one of the most famous, influential, and moving works of genuine history in our traditions. His brilliant account of the civil war among the Greeks redefined how we should analyze the past, driving a permanent wedge between accounts based on myth and folk traditions and those based on empirical investigation and a rational inquiry into human motives. The work is also a profoundly tragic illumination, not merely of the self-destructive events of the civil war, but also of the future course of human history.

This famous oration included in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War has been credited as highly significant due to its unique nature amongst others in its genre. Following the annual tradition, Pericles delivers his speech at the public funeral for the victims of war. Even though designed to glorify and commemorate the dead, Pericles soon turns his oration into an ode to Athens celebrating the many achievements of this proud city.