History of the Peloponnesian War

An Athenian general of the fifth century B.C. chronicles the disastrous 27-year conflict between Athens and Sparta. Thucydides traces the conflict's roots and provides detailed, knowledgeable analyses of battles and the political atmosphere.

The entire Greek world plunged into three decades of bloodshed in 431 B.C., when the ongoing friction between Athens and Sparta exploded into war. Ten years into the struggle, the Athenian general Thucydides was dismissed for a military failure that led to a triumph for posterity: the former general retired to write an account of the war, resulting in one of the world's great history books.
Thucydides' chronicle of the disastrous 27-year conflict between the Greek city-states resonates with tales of heroism and villainy, deeds of courage and desperation, and the eternal folly of human nature. As an insightful amateur historian, he traces the war's roots to prior hostilities between Greece and Persia and examines the relative merits of the Athenian League and the Spartan alliance. Scrupulously impartial and accurate, Thucydides presents detailed, knowledgeable analyses of battles in addition to dialogues reflecting the political atmosphere. This ancient tale of the rise and fall of a democratic empire remains enduringly relevant to modern times.

Book I

I. The State of Greece from the earliest Times to the Commencement of the Peloponnesian War

II. Causes of the War--The Affair of Epidamnus--The Affair of Potidaea

III. Congress of the Peloponnesian Confederacy at Lacedaemon

IV. From the end of the Persian to the beginning of the Peloponnesian War--The Progress from Supremacy to Empire

V. Second Congress at Lacedaemon--Preparations for War and Diplomatic Skirmishes--Cylon--Pausanias--Themistocles

 

Book II

VI. Beginning of the Peloponnesian War--First Invasion of Attica--Funeral Oration of Pericles

VII. Second Year of the War--The Plague of Athens--Position and Policy of Pericles--Fall of Potidaea

VIII. Third Year of the War--Investment of Plataea--Naval Victories of Phormio--Thracian Irruption into Macedonia under Sitalces

 

Book III

IX. Fourth and Fifth Years of the War--Revolt of Mitylene

X. Fifth Year of the War--Trial and Execution of the Plataeans--Corcyraean Revolution

XI. Sixth Year of the War--Campaigns of Demosthenes in Western Greece--Ruin of Ambracia

 

Book IV

XII. Seventh Year of the War--Occupation of Pylos--Surrender of the Spartan Army in Sphacteria

XIII. Seventh and Eighth Years of the War--End of Corcyraean Revolution--Peace of Gela--Capture of Nisaea

XIV. Eighth and Ninth Years of the War--Invasion of Boeotia--Fall of Amphipolis--Brilliant Success of Brasidas

 

Book V

XV. Tenth Year of the War--Death of Cleon and Brasidas--Peace of Nicias

XVI. Feeling against Sparta in Peloponnese--League of the Mantineans, Eleans, Argives, and Athenians--Battle of Mantinea and Breaking up of the League

XVII. Sixteenth Year of the War--Melian Conference--Fate of Melos

 

Book VI

XVIII. Seventeenth Year of the War--The Sicilian Campaign--Affair of the Hermae--Departure of the Expedition

XIX. Seventeenth Year of the War--Parties at Syracuse--Story of Harmodius and Aristogiton--Disgrace of Alcibiades

XX. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of the War--Inaction of the Athenian Army--Alcibiades at Sparta--Investment of Syracuse

 

Book VII

XXI. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Years of the War--Arrival of Gylippus at Syracuse--Fortification of Decelea--Successes of the Syracusans

XXII. Nineteenth Year of the War--Arrival of Demosthenes--Defeat of the Athenians at Epipolae--Folly and Obstinacy of Nicias

XXIII. Nineteenth Year of the War--Battles in the Great Harbour--Retreat and Annihilation of the Athenian Army

 

Book VIII

XXIV. Nineteenth and Twentieth Years of the War--Revolt of Ionia--Intervention of Persia--The War in Ionia

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

XXVI. Twenty-first Year of the War--Recall of Alcibiades to Samos--Revolt of Euboea and Downfall of the Four Hundred--Battle of Cynossema

 

Maps