Thucydides - The Complete Works of Thucydides (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 19)

The Complete Works of

THUCYDIDES

(c. 460395 BC)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2013

Version 2

The Complete Works of

THUCYDIDES

By Delphi Classics, 2013

The Translations

Athens Thucydides birthplace

THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR

Translated by Benjamin Jowett

Thucydides famous history recounts the events of the Peloponnesian War, which was fought between the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta, and the Delian League, led by Athens. The author himself was an Athenian that happened to serve as a general during the war and the book has been widely celebrated for its objective and scientific approach to history. Thucydides is one of the first historians to employ a strict standard of chronology, recording events by year, with each year consisting of the summer campaign season and a less active winter season. This method contrasts sharply with Herodotus earlier work The Histories , which is chronologically mixed at times and makes frequent digressions into unrelated areas.

Thucydides work is famous for its extensive use of first-person speeches in order to elaborate on the events it portrays. 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, which is found in Book Two. Thucydides undoubtedly heard some of these speeches himself, whilst for others he relied on eyewitness accounts and, of course, many others must be products of his imagination.

The gods play no active role in Thucydides History, which is different from Herodotus History. Instead, Thucydides regards history as being caused by the choices and actions of human beings. Nevertheless, religion and piety play critical roles in the actions of the Spartans, and to a lesser degree, the Athenians and Thucydides is clearly concerned with natural occurrences, such as earthquakes and eclipses, which to modern readers would be viewed as superstitious occurrences.

The History of the Peloponnesian War was divided into eight books by editors of later antiquity. The first book, 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), the remainder of the History (Books II through to VIII) rigidly maintains its focus on the Peloponnesian War to the exclusion of almost all other topics.

Thucydides explains that the primary cause of the Peloponnesian War was the growth in power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta. The historian traces the development of Athenian power through the growth of their Empire in the years 479 BC to 432 BC in first Book 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 honour and interest came afterward. (1.75.3)

The Athenians also argue that, We have done nothing extraordinary, nothing contrary to human nature in accepting an empire when it was offered to us and then in refusing to give it up. (1.76) They claim that anyone in their position would act in the same fashion. The Spartans 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.

It is commonly thought that Thucydides died while still working on his History, since it ends in mid-sentence and only goes up to 410 BC, leaving six years of the war uncovered. Furthermore, there is a great 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 text, it has been proposed that the conflicting passages were written at different times and that Thucydides opinion on the conflicting matter had changed over time.

Thucydides great work has been extremely influential in both ancient and modern historiography. It was embraced by the authors contemporaries and immediate successors with enthusiasm, with many authors seeking to complete the unfinished history. Xenophon wrote his Hellenica as a continuation of Thucydides History, beginning at the exact moment that Thucydides work leaves off. However, Xenophons continuation is generally considered inferior in style and accuracy compared with Thucydides text, though it is generally regarded as the most accurate and accomplished continuation of Thucydides great work. To complement Thucydides unfinished text, Xenophons continuation Hellenica, translated by H. G. Dakyns,is also provided in this collection.

Head of Thucydides. The portrait is a copy, probably late Hellenistic, of a lost Greek work of the early fourth century BC.

An early papyrus fragment of the famous History

Vase painting of a Hoplite soldier

CONTENTS

One of the principal events narrated in Thucydides great work Pericles Funeral Oration by Philipp von Foltz

Sphacteria island, one of the principal scenes of the History, where the Athenians enjoyed a famous victory in 425 BC: for the first time forcing the Spartans to surrender to them.

Alcibiades (c. 450 404 BC) was a charismatic Athenian statesman, orator, and general, who played a major role in the second half of that conflict as a strategic advisor, military commander and politician.