The History of the Peloponnesian War Paperback – June 30, 2019

This is a difficult book to read and a difficult review to write. Both lie in the book's richness and the fact that many books, not only reviews, have been written about Thucidides' masterpiece. For example, there is an excellent (and most warmly recommended) article in Wikipedia. Can I add anything? Well, it is still worth a valiant try. A word of warning- before you embark on this reading adventure, get yourself a good detailed map of the contemporary Mediterrenean. It would be a great help to understand the various moves and identify the many actors of this 21-year power-play.Thucidides has been labeled as the first scientific historian. His account is incredibly objective, even-handed , and non-partisan. He participated personally in the Peloponesian wars as a minor strategos (military leader or general) and was banished for not achieving what he was supposed to do. From that point on, he retired to his extensive family holdings in Tracia and gave all his time (presumably) to research the war and interview the witnesses. His account ends abruptly, probably due to his sudden death, and covers the first 21 years of the 27-year war. The best parts are the speeches of the leaders, generals and representatives of various countries or factions. Obviously, Thucidides had not been present on these occasions and considering the poor records available 2400 years ago, had no access to recordings or stenograms. Most are therefore hearsay, at best, or the authors conviction that what he related should have been said. Nevertheless, the speeches are a marvelous exmple of how human nature did not change one bit in more than two thousand years. The people we observe through Thusidides' words are intelligent, educated, ambitious, demagogues and true lovers of their countries, heroes and rogues, many times could be perceived by us as both good and bad, depending on circumstances. The squabling, cultured, even effeminate democratic Athenians prove to be exceedingly good at war and barely fail to subjugate the whole Peloponesian league led by the harsh warlike Spartans. For Thucidides, however, there are no moral judgements, only cold examination of circumstances. Even Alcybiades, a rare example of turncoat, double-dealer, demagogue and villain is not censured. Rather Thucidides raises his eyebrows questioningly at the naivete of the people who continued to believe and follow, nay even invite this man despite all the evidence available.Only in one case, that of Cleon, Thucidides looses his admirable cool. Cleon, the cowardly demagogue and cheat who instigates a doomed military campaign and is forced to lead it by the more responsible Athenian general. Thucidides describes that campaign how Cleon hesitates, stumbles, always puts his worst foot forward, and then wins by an unbelivable fluke. His description of thea rguments presented by the Athenian envoys to the representatives of Melos precede Macchiavelli's "The Prince" by two thousand years. The Melians choose honor and love of their freedom. Their cause being right, they are consequently slaughtered and the women and children sold into slavery.Do not omit his moving description of the Athenian plague. It is a rare gem!And by all means, do read it!

This 2,500 year-old translated book (The History of the Peloponnesian War) is a wealth of details for the researcher or historical scholar but difficult to read and comprehend in its present form for the lay person. This reader began it after it was referenced in a more modern book entitled: “Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?” by Graham Allison; the book by Allison, I highly recommend; but not so much this ancient one unless one is a historian or researcher trying to get close to original source material. The text reminds on of a pre Gregorian calendar with reference to: “the fourteenth of the month of Elaphebolion; … and their allies on the twelfth day of the Spartan month Gerastius” The language structure was a bit cumbersome but the author (long since dead) assumes that the reader has a detailed grasp of the geography of ancient Greece. As an example part of the text reads: "The Lacedaemonians and Argives, each a thousand strong, now took the field together, and the former first went by themselves to Sicyon and made the government there more oligarchical than before, and then both, uniting, put down the democracy at Argos and set up an oligarchy favourable to Lacedaemon. These events occurred at the close of the winter, just before spring; and the fourteenth year of the war ended. The next summer the people of Dium, in Athos, revolted from the Athenians to the Chalcidians, and the Lacedaemonians settled affairs in Achaea in a way more agreeable to the interests of their country." Moreover, the author assumes that the reader is knowledgeable of all of the different city states and which alliances have been formed between various ones and how they change with time. The interested scholar could write an annotated book with maps and tables listing which city states were fighting against which other city states and how in tabular form this changes with time. As the war went on well more that (the first) ten year period before a break and then continued on, such a task with one or more maps is not trivial but would improve understanding of this historical (translated) original work. This reviewer was glad to have the manuscript available on a Kindle app; many words were sufficiently obscure as to be unknown to the reader, even so, some words were unknown to the Kindle dictionary or used in an archaic way such as “engine” or “trophy” or “embassy.” In any event it was a struggle to get through this book that capture the details of many years of battles involving many city states some with changing allegiances. Two alternative version might have wider appeal if written: an abridged version or an annotated version.

I once was in the U.S. Army. As part of our job we were always encouraged to study history to see how people thought and wars were executed. No war is ever the same so what we are reading to learn is the why. There is also how people responded to different tactics and strategies.I found this easy to read as the translation made it appear like we were reading today's news. Not just the actins but the politics of the time. There are great descriptions of the time and place. The only thing that is missing is visual maps to put the places in perspective. Luckily you can get maps of the time off the net as a supplement.I have a paperback edition which is easily navigated and you can place sticky notes in. I also have a kindle version which you can put book marks in. the problem with the kindle is the text-to-speech has a horrible time translating place and people names. The advantage of the kindle is it moves you forward so you do not doddle. I am contemplating a hard copy for the library and reverence.There is enough detail that it may require a second reading after you have digested the first. I am also looking for some good books to tell me what I would have noticed in this book.

I wanted to read some fun history. This wasn't it. The names were hard to follow. I began to suspect that the main significance of the war was that Thucydides wrote this book. I didn't get halfway through it. Maybe it picked up later.Then I read The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan. Marius and Sulla! That was a butt-kicking book. I learned a lot, and that book was hard to put down. Duncan is not afraid of 3-word sentences. If you're reading this, get Duncan's book on Kindle.