Thucydides: A Very Short Introduction

by Jennifer T. Roberts

Very Short Introductions : Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring

In 432 BCE the powerful city-state of Sparta on the peninsula of the Peloponnesus in southwestern Greece declared war on Athens, head of a mighty naval coalition. The war would last until Sparta finally brough Athens to its knees in 404. The Athenian aristocrat Thucydides, suspecting the magnitude of the conflict that was unfolding before his eyes, at once undertook to record its history, exploring the causes and course of the war in the context of his great human nature. An introduction to Thucydides' thought and background, this book examines Thucydides' account of the war in the context both of the international situation in the classical Greek world and of the intellectual traditions of the fifth century BCE, exploring the historian's connection to prose writers like Herodotus as well as poets like Homer and the tragedians, and investigating the complex dynamics of the war that changed the Greek world forever.

ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

Published February 27, 2025

About the author

Jennifer Tolbert Roberts is Professor of Classics and History at the City College of New York and the City University of New York Graduate Center. She is the author of Athens on Trial: The Anti-Democratic Tradition in Western Thought and Herodotus: A Very Short Introduction, and editor (with Walter Blanco) of the Norton Critical Editions of Herodotus' The Histories and Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War.

Reviews

[Natalie]

sighhh, now for the paper worth most of my grade

[Dovide]

A little disappointing.
2.5/5

[Taylor Swift Scholar]

Meh. I didn’t learn a ton that wasn’t covered by the Landmark Thucydides.

[avé maria]

analysis/insight barely above wikipedia level, helpful for western civ, for some reason impossible to pirate?

[Richard D]

Good primer, although it's kinda more about his writing than the goat himself