The Peloponnesian War was an exceptionally predominant war that had consequential outcomes for both Athens and the opposing side of the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. The Peloponnesian War was an ancient Greek war that began in 431 to 404 BC. Thucydides was an Athenian historian who wrote the account of “History of the Peloponnesian War”, which became the most immeasurably valuable primary source. The events of the Peloponnesian War, the outcomes, the consequences of the Spartan victory and
Thucydides was born in 460 B.C.E in a noble family, which was linked to Athens and its leaders. He was one of the greatest ancient Greek historians and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, in which he describes the struggle between Athens and Sparta. Thucydides was also interested in the technical part of the war. He focused on the difficulties and possibilities in a war between the powerful land force of Sparta along its allies and the powerful naval force of Athens. He observed that
431 BCE, historian Thucydides wrote his take on it. In his work “The History of the Peloponnesian War” Thucydides talks about the social and political consequences of the plague, a personal account on the experiences he lived through. Anywhere during 99-55 BCE poet Lucretius had his work “On the Nature of the Universe” end with an account of the Athenian plague. Lucretius’s account was nearly an exact translation of Thucydides’ description of the plague. But whereas Thucydides wrote historically
primary source that I have chosen to read and analyze is The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, more specifically the second book. The reason I chose this document is because the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, the two major poleis of Ancient Greece, may not be as well-known as other conflicts around that age, such as the Persian Wars. I figured it would be interesting to understand the conflict and wars between the very Greece that shaped the modern Western World. Regarding
omnipotence. Thucydides’ retelling of the Peloponnesian War is considered a secular text mainly due to the fact that the work was one of the first of its time period to not put any emphasis on the Gods. Many believe that the work’s lack of religious referencing is what makes it secular; however, under further examination, the reason the text does not discuss Gods could be due to the overall topic and theme of the book. Since Thucydides is based primarily on the history of the Peloponnesian War, the lack
This is part of a larger work, History of the Peloponnesian War, where Thucydides records his during the Peloponnesian War from his perspective and sources he has used. The extract is set during the first Battle of Mantinea (418 BC) during the Peloponnesian War with Sparta and her allies against Athens, Argos, and Mantinea. What Thucydides is saying in this extract is that the Spartan King Agis knew that the opposing army would extend their right wing out of fear to shield themselves and so he planned
Patterns Presented in Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War Thucydides is known as one of the first historians to portray events that took place in his own words and thoughts during the ancient Greek period. His writing focuses on Greek history that captures events that happened in this age. Thucydides main focus in his writing was on the military, this includes famous battles such as the Peloponnesian war, as well as the political events that had occurred during his era of journalism. The war between Sparta
Thucydides was born around 460 BC and will live until 404 BC. Unfortunately, when dealing with ancient civilization it can be hard to find meaningful records and artifacts. Not a lot is known about Thucydides and his life because of this. He lived in Athens and his father was Olorus. In 424, he will be elected strategos and will later be sent to Amphipolis to try to stop an attack by the private Spartan army lead by Brasidas. However, he will be too late and the city will have already fallen and
Besides this classic security dilemma Thucydides describes in Book I Section 23, he also presents different variations of this realist theory. In one of them, the Athenians found themselves in the unlikely position to gain a security bonus could by capturing an external asset. At the eve of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians stood before the decision whether or not to take a side in the dispute between Corinth and Corcyra. The Corcyraeans word the dilemma in the following terms: To give the
Thucydides gives his reasoning of the cause of the Peloponnesian War. “The real though unavowed cause I believe to have been the growth of the Athenian power, which terrified the Lacedaemonians and forced them into war; but the reasons publicly alleged on either side were as follows.” (Zagorin 40). Thucydides will then go into the grievances, which will lead to the war. He looks at four main episodes, but will give more attention and thought to the first two grievances dealing with Corcyra and Potidaea