Classic Political Realism

Thucydides of Athens was born around 471 BC and was a witness during the rise of Athens to greatness under the inspired leadership of Pericles. In 430, the second year of the Peloponnesian War, he became infected and survived the dreadful plague he describes vividly. Later, as a general in 423, he failed to save Amphipolis from the enemy and was exiled. He recounts this event not in volumes of self-justification but in one sentence of his history of the war – that he happened to be an exile for twenty years. He probably lived on his estate in Thrace but had the opportunity to observe both sides in certain campaigns of the war and returned to Athens after its defeat in 404. He had begun to compose his famous history, with its hopes and horrors, triumphs and disasters, in analytical detail from first-hand knowledge as well as others' accounts. The war was, in fact, three conflicts with an uncertain peace after the first, and Thucydides had not unified these stories into one account when death came before 396. His history of the first conflict, 431–421, was almost complete, while Thucydides was still working on it when the war spread to Sicily and a conflict (415–413) also complete in his grim and brilliant record, although not wholly adjusted. His history of the final conflict of 413–404 is cut off (in the middle of a sentence) when it refers to the year 411. Thus, his work remained incomplete and unchecked as a whole. Nevertheless, in the refined description and depth of thought, this history is unsurpassed. The Loeb Classical Library edition of Thucydides is in four volumes.

Pages: 464, Year of Publication: 0101, Dimensions: 10.8x10.8cm