Thucydides

Thucydides (thoo-SID-id-ees) was an Athenian from a rich family. He was related to the Athenian general Miltiades, who led the Athenians against the Persians at Marathon. Thucydides also became a general in the Athenian army. He led troops in the Peloponnesian war with Sparta in the late 400's BC, but when he lost a battle the democratic government exiled him for the rest of the war (they made him leave Athens and leave the Athenian army). Thucydides left Athens and spent the rest of the war writing a book about how the war started and what happened during the war, and why the Spartans finally won. Most of what we know about the Peloponnesian War comes from Thucydides' book. He died shortly after the end of the war.

To find out more about Thucydides, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your local library.

The Peloponnesian War, by Donald Kagan (reprinted 2003). Kagan is basically a military historian, and a conservative. This is a shortened version of his four-volume book about the same war, for the popular reader.

The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides, with commentary by Robert B. Strassler (1998). The original account of the war by an Athenian general turned historian.

The Peloponnesian War
Herodotus
Xenophon
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