History of the Peloponnesian War

by Thucydides

Overview

Important sections on the funeral oration, the account of the plague of Athens and the obituary of Pericles are stressed in a Greek text supplemented by an English introduction and commentary.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442946910
Publisher:	ReadHowYouWant
Publication date:	07/13/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	606 KB

About the Author

Robin Waterfield is a British classical scholar, translator, and editor, specializing in ancient Greek philosophy and history. Among others, his translations include Plato’s Republic, Herodotus’s The Histories, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, and Aesop’s Fables. He lives in Greece. 

Table of Contents

Book I
I.	The State of Greece from the earliest Times to the Commencement of the Peloponnesian War	1
II.	Causes of the War--The Affair of Epidamnus--The Affair of Potidaea	11
III.	Congress of the Peloponnesian Confederacy at Lacedaemon	28
IV.	From the end of the Persian to the beginning of the Peloponnesian War--The Progress from Supremacy to Empire	39
V.	Second Congress at Lacedaemon--Preparations for War and Diplomatic Skirmishes--Cylon--Pausanias--Themistocles	50
Book II
VI.	Beginning of the Peloponnesian War--First Invasion of Attica--Funeral Oration of Pericles	67
VII.	Second Year of the War--The Plague of Athens--Position and Policy of Pericles--Fall of Potidaea	87
VIII.	Third Year of the War--Investment of Plataea--Naval Victories of Phormio--Thracian Irruption into Macedonia under Sitalces	99
Book III
IX.	Fourth and Fifth Years of the War--Revolt of Mitylene	119
X.	Fifth Year of the War--Trial and Execution of the Plataeans--Corcyraean Revolution	140
XI.	Sixth Year of the War--Campaigns of Demosthenes in Western Greece--Ruin of Ambracia	155
Book IV
XII.	Seventh Year of the War--Occupation of Pylos--Surrender of the Spartan Army in Sphacteria	169
XIII.	Seventh and Eighth Years of the War--End of Corcyraean Revolution--Peace of Gela--Capture of Nisaea	187
XIV.	Eighth and Ninth Years of the War--Invasion of Boeotia--Fall of Amphipolis--Brilliant Successes of Brasidas	200
Book V
XV.	Tenth Year of the War--Death of Cleon and Brasidas--Peace of Nicias	229
XVI.	Feeling against Sparta in Peloponnese--League of the Mantineans, Eleans, Argives, and Athenians--Battle of Mantinea and Breaking up of the League	240
XVII.	Sixteenth Year of the War--The Melian Conference--Fate of Melos	267
Book VI
XVIII.	Seventeenth Year of the War--The Sicilian Campaign--Affair of the Hermae--Departure of the Expedition	275
XIX.	Seventeenth Year of the War--Parties at Syracuse--Story of Harmodius and Aristogiton--Disgrace of Alcibiades	290
XX.	Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of the War--Inaction of the Athenian Army--Alcibiades at Sparta--Investment of Syracuse	303
Book VII
XXI.	Eighteenth and Nineteenth Years of the War--Arrival of Gylippus at Syracuse--Fortification of Decelea--Successes of the Syracusans	325
XXII.	Nineteenth Year of the War--Arrival of Demosthenes--Defeat of the Athenians at Epipolae--Folly and Obstinacy of Nicias	344
XXIII.	Nineteenth Year of the War--Battles in the Great Harbour--Retreat and Annihilation of the Athenian Army	349
Book VIII
XXIV.	Nineteenth and Twentieth Years of the War--Revolt of Ionia--Intervention of Persia--The War in Ionia	369
XXV.	Twentieth and Twenty-first Years of the War--Intrigues of Alcibiades--Withdrawal of the Persian Subsidies--Oligarchical Coup d'Etat at Athens--Patriotism of the Army at Samos	387
XXVI.	Twenty-first Year of the War--Recall of Alcibiades to Samos--Revolt of Euboea and Downfall of the Four Hundred--Battle of Cynossema	403
	Maps	419

Editorial Reviews

The most politic historiographer that ever writ.”

Thomas Hobbes

A magnificent achievement, making ancient history live in a vernacular for our time.”—Kirkus (starred)

“Robin Waterfield has a track record of marvelous translations of Herodotus, Plato, and others, and now his Thucydides is just as good, extremely readable and accessible without any dumbing down of this demanding author. It is enhanced by the introduction and notes by Polly Low, telling readers exactly what they need to know to make the most of a perpetually engrossing text.”—Christopher Pelling, Professor of Greek Emeritus, University of Oxford

“Athenian historian (if that's what he was) Thucydides is a notoriously gritty and gristly writer. Even his fellow ancient Greeks found translating him hard going. For a happy combination of accuracy (prime Thucydidean quality), literary fluency, and interpretative skill, this new translation by super-experienced Robin Waterfield with the assistance of distinguished ancient historian Polly Low will be far more than a transient showpiece of the sort Thucydides abhorred.”—Paul Cartledge, author of Democracy: A Life

“Waterfield’s elegant, modern translation of Thucydides will serve both scholars and general readers exceptionally well, while Low’s introduction and notes offer just the right amount of context and explanation, illuminating the text rather than weighing it down. In their hands Thucydides’ great work shows the same ‘bloom of perpetual newness’ that Plutarch once saw in the Parthenon.”—Johanna Hanink, Brown University

​“Thucydides of Athens...is a dominating author like few others. Is he a historian, or philosopher, or social scientist? The truest answer is easily all three at once. Robin Waterfield's translation of a bold and powerful writer brimming with creative ideas on matters of language and politics is crisp, readable, and true to the author's diction. Polly Low's introduction is accessible and expansive without being pedantic. Famous debates on choosing war (Athens vs. Sparta), the use and abuse of power (Athenian imperial aggressions vs. Mytilene and Melos), and descriptions of wartime suffering (Pericles's iconic funeral speech) reveal issues of war and peace, justice and law, relevant to any time. Thucydides is a writer for the ages: Waterfield and Low, his interpreters today.”—Lawrence A. Tritle, Loyola Marymount University

From the Publisher

★ 2025-08-01
Inglorious Greeks.

We think of the ancient Greek Thucydides as the father of modern history. He wrote a literate, literaryHistory of the Peloponnesian War that relied on sourced evidence, personal experience, and an argument that the study of the past helps us live in the present. He also shaped great orations less as transcriptions of actual speech than as highly curated, rhetorical performances. Waterfield’s new translation of his history makes voices come alive in idiomatic modern English. Pericles’ famous funeral speech, for example, has a directness that resonates with Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and with the arching cadences of John F. Kennedy: “When it is by their actions that men have proved their valor we are required to show them honor byour actions.” Pericles comes off as a quotable adviser for our times: “For it isn’t easy to find the right balance in a speech when even people’s grasp of the truth is insecure.” Or take this description of the plague in words all too familiar to us now: “The grimmest aspect of the disease was the despair that afflicted people when they realized they were sick; once they had made up their minds that there was no hope, they were well on the way to giving up without a fight.” Thucydides has been used and reused to justify a range of political positions, from virtuous diplomacy to transactional realpolitik. For readers new to the history, the excellent introduction by Polly Low offers a clear guide to the worlds of Greek politics and power and to the tensions between democracy and oligarchy, revealing an ancient world as fractured, as fraught, and as full of personalities as our own.

A magnificent achievement, making ancient history live in a vernacular for our time.

Kirkus Reviews