Overview

Thucydides was labelled the 'greatest historian that ever lived' by Macauley and no study of Classical Greece is complete without encountering his history of the Peloponnesian War, the greatest war of Greeks against Greeks in the late fifth century BCE, which ended in the fall of Athens. This concise introductory guide sets Thucydides in context as a Greek historian writing about the Peloponnesian War; as an intellectual in the era of the 'sophists', who were willing to question a variety of traditional assumptions; and as an upper-class Athenian who lived through and was actively involved in the Peloponnesian War as a general. Including a survey and summary of Thucydides' work, P. J. Rhodes explores the principles and practices of historiography which Thucydides originated and implemented throughout his History: his narrative insight, an almost scientific judgment and exposition of sources and prejudices, and a strictly defined and authoritative view of what was required in a history of a war. In addition to examining Thucydides' work, the volume provides an overview of the social, political and intellectual contexts Thucydides was writing in, and looks at his impact in antiquity and beyond, from forming modern concepts of impartial history to his effect on popular culture.

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9781472523990

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Reviews

Simultaneously comprehensive and concise, an investigation-without adulation- of Thucydides' underlying approach to writing history through revealing collections of parallel passages, his possible omissions or exaggerations, and his later reputation, from the perspective of one of the foremost modern historians of classical Greece. -- Jeffrey Rusten, Professor of Classics, Cornell University, USA

[This] new short introduction is welcome, not only to classicists ... Rhodes outlines all the right questions to ask about the text and sends the reader back to find the places which will yield the answers ... [R]eaders beginning to get to grips with Thucydides will find this an invaluable guide. * Classics For All Reviews * Readers seeking to orient themselves for the first time to scholarship on the historian will be particularly well served, but even specialists will find much of interest here. * The Classical Review * The volume clearly lends itself to being dipped into, which is facilitated by the clear and thoughtful structure, as well as by impressive comprehensiveness ... Overall, Rhodes' Thucydides would be a valuable book to assign to an advanced undergraduate reading course on Thucydides, [and] as a companion text for students wresting with History itself. * Classics Ireland * Simultaneously comprehensive and concise, an investigation—without adulation— of Thucydides' underlying approach to writing history through revealing collections of parallel passages, his possible omissions or exaggerations, and his later reputation, from the perspective of one of the foremost modern historians of classical Greece. -- Jeffrey Rusten, Professor of Classics, Cornell University, USA

[This] new short introduction is welcome, not only to classicists ... Rhodes outlines all the right questions to ask about the text and sends the reader back to find the places which will yield the answers ... [R]eaders beginning to get to grips with Thucydides will find this an invaluable guide. * Classics For All Reviews * Readers seeking to orient themselves for the first time to scholarship on the historian will be particularly well served, but even specialists will find much of interest here. * The Classical Review * The volume clearly lends itself to being dipped into, which is facilitated by the clear and thoughtful structure, as well as by impressive comprehensiveness ... Overall, Rhodes' Thucydides would be a valuable book to assign to an advanced undergraduate reading course on Thucydides, [and] as a companion text for students wresting with History itself. * Classics Ireland * Simultaneously comprehensive and concise, an investigation-without adulation- of Thucydides' underlying approach to writing history through revealing collections of parallel passages, his possible omissions or exaggerations, and his later reputation, from the perspective of one of the foremost modern historians of classical Greece. -- Jeffrey Rusten, Professor of Classics, Cornell University, USA

Author Information

P. J. Rhodes is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History, Durham University, UK, and Member of the Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East.

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