The Plague of War: Athens, Sparta, and the Struggle for Ancient Greece

Ancient Warfare and Civilization

by Jennifer T. Roberts

In 431 BC, the long simmering rivalry between the city-states of Athens and Sparta erupted into open warfare, and for more than a generation the two were locked in a life-and-death struggle. The war embroiled the entire Greek world, provoking years of butchery previously unparalleled in ancient Greece. Whole cities were exterminated, their men killed, their women and children enslaved. While the war is commonly believed to have ended with the capture of the Athenian navy in 405 and the subsequent starvation of Athens, fighting in Greece would continue for several decades. Sparta's authority was challenged in the so-called Corinthian War (395-387) when Persian gold helped unite Athens with Sparta's former allies. The war did not truly end until, in 371, Thebes' crack infantry resoundingly defeated Sparta at Leuctra, forever shattering the myth of Spartan military supremacy.

Jennifer Roberts' rich narrative of this famous conflict is the first general history to tell the whole story, from the war's origins down to Sparta's defeat at Leuctra. In her masterful account, this long and bloody war affected every area of life in Athens, exacerbated divisions between rich and poor in Sparta, and sparked civil strife throughout the Greek world. Yet despite the biting sorrows the fighting occasioned, it remains a gripping saga of plots and counter-plots, murders and lies, thrilling sea chases and desperate overland marches, missed opportunities and last-minute reprieves, and, as the war's first historian Thucydides had hoped, lessons for a less bellicose future. In addition, Roberts considers the impact of the war on Greece's cultural life, including the great masterworks of tragedy and comedy performed at this time and, most infamously, the trial and execution of Socrates. A fast-paced narrative of one of antiquity's most famous clashes, The Plague of War is a must-read for history enthusiasts of all ages.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Greece, Ancient History, Ancient, War, Audiobook

446 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2017

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

[Alexander Theofanidis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ενας συνοπτικός απολογισμός του Πελοποννησιακού πολέμου, νηφάλιος και καλογραμμένος, χωρίς συμπάθειες και αντιπάθειες (εξαιρώ τον... λατρεμένο χαρακτηρισμό της Κορίνθου ως... "στρίγκλας"). Μεστή γραφή που δε σταματά στην εξιστόρηση των συμβάντων, αλλά περιλαμβάνει και κρίσεις, αξιολογήσεις και αποτιμήσεις προσώπων, καταστάσεων και επιλογών.
Μπορεί να μην είναι το βιβλίο που θα φέρει τα πάνω κάτω στην παγκόσμια ιστοριογραφία, αλλά διαβάζεται ευχάριστα και προσφέρει γνώση.

*** ΕΙΔΙΚΟ ΑΡΝΗΤΙΚΟ ΥΣΤΕΡΟΓΡΑΦΟ ΓΙΑ ΤΙΣ ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ ΨΥΧΟΓΙΟΣ ***
Το βιβλίο έχει πάμπολλα λάθη επιμέλειας και αρκετά errata (τινά εξ' ευτών... τέρατα) που το αδικούν. Επίσης (επειδή και το υλικό στο έντυπο είναι φετίχ, διατί να το κρύψωμεν άλλωστε;), η ποιότητα του μέσου είναι τραγική. Πρώτη φορά στην καριέρα μου ως αναγνώστη μου ξεκολλάει και σκίζεται από μόνο του εξώφυλλο κατά τη διάρκεια της ανάγνωσης (χωρίς να υποστεί κάποια έντονη πίεση).
Αγαπητέ Ψυχογιέ, μπορεί να βγάλατε φράγκα με τη σέσουλα χάρη στο Χάρι Πότερ, αλλά θέλετε ακόμα πολλή προσπάθεια για να αρθείτε στο ύψος άλλων εκδοτικών οίκων. Η ποιότητα απαιτεί συνέπεια και διάρκεια, όχι πυροτεχνήματα και shots in the dark.

[Chin Joo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subtitle of this book "Athens, Sparta, and the Struggle for Ancient Greece" gives one the impression that this book is another rehash of Thucydides' "The Peloponnesian War". This book is more than that, it doesn't just focus on the history, grand strategy or the tactics of the War, it also dedicates quite a bit space to the social situation in the warring states, placing most emphasis on Athens. In other words, the author tried to tell a more complete story of the War and its consequences thereby supporting her thesis that in war, nobody wins.

I am always partial to books that try to present a complete picture of the history they are written for. In achieving this, I am not averse to the idea of authors including information from non-scholastic sources, even fiction, as long as the authors clarify them as such. To her credit Dr Roberts did exactly that, including materials from plays of Aristophanes, works of Plato and most gratifying for me, quoting lavishly from Xenophon, who is always considered an inferior writer compared to his contemporaries (particularly Plato).

However, this book somehow didn't work for me. The pattern adopted by the author is quite similar for all chapters. She would start with the War itself, spending much on the strategies, tactics and the outcome. She would then close out the chapters by trying to help the readers to understand the socio-politico situations, quoting from the works referred to above. Unfortunately, in doing so, the momentum is inevitably broken. The Peloponnesian War is a long one and it should come as no surprise that all decisions and communication would be slow. But the action was constant throughout the 27 years and in between the actual fighting, we had the intrigue of one power trying to maneuver the smaller players to their advantage. The introduction of the socio-politico situations from the different sources not only disrupts the flow, they ended up becoming a distraction to the main story. Take for example, in one of the last chapters, the author dedicated much of the chapter to talking about education in Greece. Not only does this topic not fit nicely within the chapter, it is hard to understand how it enhances the book. An earlier work by the author's PhD supervisor, Prof Donald Kagan, known simply as The Peloponnesian War offers a much tighter narrative.

What I like about this book though, is the fairness with which the author treats both Athens and Sparta. Unlike the book cited above by Prof Kagan who clearly is partial to Athens, Dr Roberts is a more balanced in her approach. Athens was not without blame in perpetuating atrocities and Sparta was not always invulnerable on land. Similarly, in victory Sparta made some of the worst policies in governing whereas Athens appears to be a more robust society that can bounce back even in defeat.

Overall, I think this book is not a bad read. It is well-researched and has gone further chronologically than what Thucydides wrote in his book, extending the story using Xenophon's Hellenica and various other sources, telling the story of Sparta's eventual ruin. If you are only interested in the Peloponnesian War though, then you may find this book somewhat draggy and Prof Kagan's book would be better suited.

(Find this book at Goodreads.)

Listen to the podcast where the author discussed the book.

Reference

Kagan, D. (2004). The Peloponnesian War. Penguin Books, NY.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Peloponnesian War is one of those subjects which, whenever a new book is published about it, begs the question, "do we really need another book on it?" This is understandable considering that 1) having been written about for nearly 2,500 years it has been one of the most worked-over events in human history, 2) the first of these books, Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, ranks as one of the foundational texts of Western historiography and in many respects will never be bettered, and 3) recently (i.e. within the past half-century) Donald Kagan wrote both a four-volume history of the war AND a single-volume condensed version which are difficult to top as a modern account for the conflict. With all of these books, is there space for another?

The answer, as Jennifer Roberts proves, is a clear yes. She demonstrates this by fitting the conflict within the context of Greek city-state relations in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. By widening her focus, she shows the war not as the culmination of inter-city-state rivalry as it has sometimes been presented, but as one of a series of conflicts which neither began nor ended with the war itself. This is not a novel revelation (anybody who has more than a passing familiarity with Hellenic Greek history understands this), but by adopting this approach Roberts makes several more obscure points clearer, foremost among them being that Sparta was not so much the ultimate victor as merely temporarily ascendant among the city-states, with their defeat of Athens setting the stage for their own downfall a generation later.

Roberts's approach offers one of the best assessments of the impact of the war upon ancient Greece. While lacking the immediacy of the ancient sources or the thoroughness of Kagan's coverage, she draws upon both sources as well as others to provide a clear-eyed understanding of its true significance. It makes for an excellent resource for anyone seeking to understand a conflict which became one of the great referential points of Western history, because while it may have been only one of many wars the Greeks fought with each other, it has endured in the popular imagination in ways which make it relevant even today.

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting history. I've read several histories of the Peloponnesian War and appreciate how difficult it must be to pack all of it into one volume. Jennifer Roberts, though, has approached it in a different way, and one I think successful. She does relate the military course of the war, and she does give the proper weight to the 1st grand historian of the war, Thucydides and his recognition of the dynamic between states we can recognize in our own time. Roberts's history goes outside the military scope of the war to emphasize how it interacted with Greek political and social developments during those years. Much of her book concerns how the war affected society and how society affected the war. She writes of the war's effects on philosophy, drama, politics. For instance, she spends time describing how religion influenced military operations. Her explanation of how individual dramas were used for political impact is fascinating. There's even a detailed account of the trial and hemlock-laced death of Socrates. It's all terribly interesting and skillfully done, rubbing the society and arts so smoothly into the fabric of political debate, decision-making, and military operations that it becomes a whole.

The book is flawed by the inadequacy of its maps, though. There are maps, of course, but not enough. Some maps are of events which are relatively unimportant, too. Mostly there aren't enough supporting the dense political weave of Greece at the time, busy as it was with numerous city-states and their alliances. This reader spent a lot of time trying to find which of the book's maps would help me locate the region I was currently reading about.

[J.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jennifer Roberts does a very good job of explaining the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. It's written on a level that even those unfamiliar with Ancient Greece will be able to read and understand, although there's a lot of people who come up in the history - I wish I'd realized sooner there was a who's who listing in the back of the book. What I found especially interesting were the insights into the cultures of the different city/states, particularly Athens. Roberts doesn't just talk about the war and the battles but explains a lot of the background among the different groups and the changing alliances. The one thing I thought was missing was more about the effects on the populace. There is a little of it but in rather general terms, but from the author's preface ("I grew up in a haunted house. The specter of war hung over my sister and me, for our father had been badly damaged by his [WWII] experiences..." she says at the very beginning) I thought we'd get more of a personal type of feeling, but maybe I was wrong to expect that from such old history (nearly 2,500 years ago). And although it's a history that's very accessible for those unfamiliar with the era, it might go without saying that an interest is probably necessary. Still, I really enjoyed this book.
3.5 stars

[Myke Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

An outstanding in-depth analysis of (mostly) Thucydides, augmented from Xenophon. Roberts' prose style is engaging and captures the mix of drama and momentous movements in intellectual development that were at the core of the Peloponnesian Wars. Her command of sources and language are first rate and she brings you on board without clobbering you over the head with them. Most importantly, she does not shrink from the devastating consequences of the conflict, and refuses to fall into the trap that most historians do: judging violence through an ancient lens, through which such horrific human costs were considered worth paying. Roberts' vision of Thucydides story is about as far from glorious as you can get, as well it should be.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable, fast-paced overview of the Peloponnesian War and its aftermath.

[Piker7977 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roberts provides a refreshing and lucid narrative of the Peloponnesian War that describes its origins, darkest days, and the conflict's lingering shadow over the Greek poleis. While some may call her work critical and negative, but I found it to be rather enlightening as it has a definite historiographical tone to it. She is very critical of Athens during the war and Sparta in the endgame. The previous histories I have read usually pick one or the other as a guilty party (it seems that Sparta takes this role more often than not). By describing both city-states in a negative light, they are taken off a pedestal and almost appear to be selfish and backwards. I suppose you could argue that this history has an anti-war sentiment to it when considering the multi-culpability argument. Roberts is also critical of Thucydides and is not afraid to call out when his conclusions, arguments, and opinions are a little fishy. This is also appreciated. Just because he is the main go-to source for this war does not mean that he should be given the benefit of the doubt. Many of her criticisms and scrutinies are worth the price of the book.

Great history on the war between Athens and Sparta with a dash of insight into how a polis operates, and how it is subsequently affected by war.

[Hem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I’m a newbie to Ancient Greece, I feel confident in saying that Jennifer Roberts’ The Plague of War might just be the finest single-volume account of the Peloponnesian War, adeptly juggling multiple dubious historical sources, the sheer avalanche of battles and betrayals and motives and generals, as well as a profound examination of the impact that this seemingly endless conflict had on the (primarily) Athenian and Spartan societies. It is rare for me to take a step into a new culture and be so thoroughly spellbound as to fervently go through the bibliography in an effort to decide my next area of interest within the same civilisation — a testament to the quality of the book.

I almost delayed picking it up because of an earlier experience that didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it to. Ancient Rome was the starting point in my journey through ancient civilisations and, without being aware of the existence of Mary Bear’s SPQR (tops most reading lists on the subject), I dived into Tom Holland’s Rubicon to get my first taste of the Roman Republic. To cut a long story short, Rubicon desensitised me to events long before Julius Caesar took a particular liking to killing Gauls by the millions. Because the narrative was too tightly focused on the fall of the Republic, I rarely felt comfortable enough to empathise with the common people or the wider society of that particular time and place. Hence, as a corrective, my initial plan to approach Ancient Greece included a general history covering hundreds of years of progress and speed bumps. But after sampling the introduction to The Plague of War, I felt the urge to stick with it, and boy am I glad I did.

One of the biggest strengths of the book is the simplicity of its linear structure. Each chapter begins with a teaser of what’s ahead and comes attached with any information which is relevant to the events. The Spartans, for instance, were able to field 8,000 fully-trained male fighters against Persia in 480 BC, but this figure declined steeply to just 700 by the time Sparta’s hegemony over the Greek states was broken once and for all by Thebes at Leuctra in 371 BC — a 90% drop in just over a century. While early chapters do contain hints of Sparta’s population struggles, this particular statistic is unleashed for maximum impact on the reader just before the final battle. The rationale behind nearly every number and preferred narrative made by the author is explained in the footnotes, and even historians like Thucydides and Xenophon are not spared in snarky asides that definitely served to liven up the proceedings. Jennifer Roberts, most importantly, knows how to write in a way that holds the attention of the reader, and she never lets go. I was hooked from the moment I started reading the introduction, one sentence seemingly flowing into the next, the narrative exhibiting a natural tendency to hit peaks and troughs with perfect timing.

I’m no expert on Ancient Greece, but a strong impression I got while reading this account was that the author approached it in a balanced way. She makes several convincing points, one of which is that The Peloponnesian War, despite lasting for nearly four decades with intermittent periods of peace, had plenty of losers and no clear winner(s). The pendulum swung the way of Athens at certain points, and swung in favour of Sparta at others. It was Athens’ hubris, Sparta’s fear, and opportune Persian meddling which ensured the complaints of other powerful Greek city-states like Corinth, Thebes, and Argos — some of whom ignited the conflict in the first place — fell on deaf ears at critical junctures. The war, moreover, was not founded on a clash of ideology, a popular modern Cold War-inspired interpretation, even though Sparta propped up oligarchies wherever it could and Athens ignited democratic revolutions across the length and breadth of its empire. Rather, it originated from those basest of human impulses: pride, self-preservation, paranoia. As such, no one featured in this account comes out smelling likes roses — except maybe Pericles (to be fair, Pericles even had the nerve to convince a Spartan King, marching to war against Athens, to turn back and go home at the risk of being exiled). Wherever the historians contradict each other, inflate numbers, or fall short on details, the author steps in to point out the discrepancy and advices the reader to feel free to doubt it. She also takes strong exception to the commonly-held belief that the Peloponnesian War ended in 404 BC with Lysander tearing down the Long Walls of Athens, and instead makes a compelling argument that it really ends with the naval defeat handed to Sparta at Cnidus in 394 BC by Conon and Persia — ultimately resulting in a stalemate.

The most common gripe with The Plague of War, based upon a cursory of other reviews, seems to be the author’s tendency to digress in nearly every chapter. On the contrary, I’d argue that the book is stronger because of it. These digressions are the only way to understand how the wider populace (the Athenian society to be more precise) viewed the war and suffered through it. For instance, pursuing the ‘island strategy’ meant that Athenians hid behind their Long Walls and resorted to naval engagements against Sparta and its allies, a move which was sure to emasculate Athenian hoplites. So Pericles, the mastermind of the strategy, stood up in the great assembly on the occasion of the first annual funeral of the war to deliver a moving oration, reminding his fellow citizens what is unique about the Athenian way of life and contrasting it with that of Sparta’s. In another chapter, Aristophanes’ famous play Lysistrata is analysed at some length to understand the plight of Greek women and how they might put an end to the war (by going on a sex strike!). Because of the paucity of historical sources, the only way to understand the evolution of the concerns of the Athenian masses is to examine the rhetoric, plays, education of the times. While Athens deservedly gets much of the spotlight, the problems afflicting Sparta — growing inequality, population decline, constant menace of a helot (slaves/serfs) rebellion, threat posed by the plunder of war to their austere way of life — are also briefly examined. Indeed, a common theme running throughout the book is the declining population in Athens (due to plague and war) and Sparta (due to war and lack of reforms to expand the base of citizenship), which is a fascinating topic on its own. Such tangents not only open up new areas of enquiry for the reader, but also serve as temporary relief amidst the relentless violence, ever-changing names of generals, the sheer stupidity and hubris of powerful people, that constituted the war. Add to this confusion the existence of around a hundred Greek city-states peppered throughout the account. Thus, the tangents pursued by the author serve several valuable purposes and, ultimately, enriched my reading experience.

Finally, even if you don’t finish reading the book, you’ll find the bibliography of The Plague of War to be a valuable guide in your educational journey through Ancient Greece. Jennifer Roberts must’ve undertaken quite an odyssey (pun intended) in preparation for writing this book, and it is reflected in the sheer diversity and number of literary sources cited in the book. By the end, it ended up contributing nearly a dozen books to my burgeoning reading list on the subject.

To conclude, I found the The Plague of War to be eye-opening reading experience and, if you’re new to this period of history, I’m sure you will too.

[Jeff Lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

With clear and succinct writing, Roberts provides a good overview of Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War. It is addressed to the general reader or student who should have read Thucydides first—it certainly no Cliff Note. Roberts adds commentary, and in the Epilogue, she sets out her analysis in full. Prior to reading Roberts I read Victor Davis Hanson’s, A War Like No Other, that I found just a bit more satisfying. I also read Donald Kagan’s, The Peloponnesian War, also an excellent overview and reference. However, Roberts supports her text with generous footnotes which contain further analysis and commentary. Her supporting material is scholarly and extremely valuable for further reading. Her book is certainly valuable as a helpful guide and reference to return to from later study or reading Thucydides’ History. The Index is extremely detailed and so makes finding facts easy. Of course the scholar or over achiever’s selection is Donald Kagan’s four volume collection on the war.

[Paul Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically a retelling of the very familiar story of the Peloponnesian War, as originally written by Thucydides. Very much like Thucydides the focus is on battles and campaigns, while I was hoping for something a little broader in scope. For example the plague in Athens and its effects on the city and the war, is told in a very conventional way. Nothing new is added. No new insights or interpretations. And, hundreds of pages of text and not one single woman gets a mention. The dramatists and their presentation of the great war are mentioned on but in no real depth. Archaeological and other physical evidence is all but ignored.

[Daphne Papadopoulou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ένας άμεμπτος ιστορικός οδηγός για οποιονδήποτε επιθυμεί να εξοικειωθεί με τον Πελοποννησιακό Πόλεμο, να κατανοήσει τα βαθύτερα πολιτικά, κοινωνικά, και πολιτισμικά αιτία του, αλλά και να παρακολουθήσει με ζωντάνια τις αιματηρές λαμβάνουσες χώρα μάχες που συγκλόνισαν τον αρχαίο ελληνικό κόσμο και έκαμψαν το μεγαλείο των επικρατουσών μεγάλων δυνάμεων.
Το βιβλίο παρουσιάζει άνευ ωραιοποιήσεων την πραγματικότητα ενός εμφυλίου, προβάλλοντας αναλογίες με πιο πρόσφατα πολεμικά συμβάντα, καθώς ο αλληλοσπαραγμός συνιστά ένα φαινόμενο ουκ ολίγες φορές επαναλαμβανόμενο. Η διαχρονικότητα της ματαιοδοξίας των ισχυρών αναφαίνεται με την αφήγηση των ιστορικών μαχών σε ξηρά και θάλασσα, στις οποίες συμπεριλαμβάνονται εγκλήματα πολέμου, σφαγές αμάχων, παράπλευρες απώλειες, πλεκτάνες και προδοσίες. Η εξιστόρηση είναι γλαφυρή αλλά όχι κουραστική, εύκολα κατανοητή, και η συγγραφέας εισάγει πληθώρα επεξηγήσεων, πραγματολογικών και ιδεολογικών στοιχείων, όπως και παραλλήλων πολιτισμικών συμβάντων, που υποβοηθούν την πολυπρισματική κατανόηση των τεκταινομένων. Περιλαμβάνονται επίσης χάρτες που καθιστούν εύληπτη τη γεωγραφική υπόσταση των συμμαχιών και των συρράξεων, όπως και εικόνες γλυπτών, τύμβων ή προσωπικοτήτων.
Φυσικά, παρά το γεγονός πως το βιβλίο συνιστά μια ενδελεχή μελέτη του Πελοποννησιακού Πολέμου και των γεγονότων πριν και μετά τις θεωρούμενες κατά τον Θουκυδίδη χρονολογίες έναρξης και λήξης του πολέμου, σε αρκετά σημεία παραλείπονται λεπτομέρειες προς αποφυγήν μακρηγορίας και σύγχυσης. Φυσικά, οι παραλείψεις αυτές δεν εμποδίζουν την κατανόηση της ιστορικής αναδρομής, αλλά αντιθέτως καθιστούν το βιβλίο αρκετά εύκολο και ευχάριστο στην ανάγνωση. Ασφαλώς, όποιος επιθυμεί να εμβαθύνει περαιτέρω μπορεί πάντοτε να ανατρέξει στις αρχαίες ιστορικές πηγές, αυτές καθαυτές.
Ωστόσο, η παρούσα ιστορική έρευνα είναι αψεγάδιαστη. Πρόκειται για ένα βιβλίο πλήρως αντιπολεμικό, αφού προβάλλει τη διαφθορά, τις συνομωσίες, τις αιμοδιψείς βλέψεις των επιτηδείων και τον αλκιβιαδισμό (κυριολεκτικά και συνυποδηλωτικά!). Διασαφηνίζεται, κατ' αυτόν τον τρόπο, πως ο αρχαίος ελληνικός κόσμος αποτελεί πολλά παραπάνω από εξωραϊσμένους θεσμούς, πολιτισμικά θαύματα και φιλοσοφία.
Η ανθρώπινη φύση δε μεταβάλλεται σε 2.500 χρόνια. Στον πόλεμο εκλείπει η αιδώ και οι διαπραττόμενες ύβρεις πληθαίνουν και βαίνουν ες αεί περισσότερο αποτρόπαιες. Η σκαιότητα του Πελοποννησιακού Πολέμου και η απαισιοδοξία του Θουκυδίδη επιβεβαιώνονται εις τους αιώνες, όπως και μέσω του συγκεκριμένου βιβλίου. Εντούτοις, μέσω της μελ��της των συμβάντων αυτών, ελπίζει ο ανθρωπισμός να χειραφετηθεί από τη φιλοπόλεμη πραγματικότητα του.
Προτεινόμενο σε όλους όσους δύνανται να παρακολουθήσουν τα ιστορικά γεγονότα με κριτική διάθεση και προβληματισμό, καθώς η απλή ανάγνωση άνευ εκ των υστέρων σκέψης δε θα προσφέρει πολλά στον αναγνώστη, παρά μόνο ενδεχομένως εγκυκλοπαιδικές γνώσεις.
Εξαιρετικό βιβλίο!

[Dominic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jennifer Roberts' "The Plague of War" is a very informative history of warfare in ancient Greece. She covers what we now call the Peloponnesian War, essentially a period of warfare between Athens, Sparta, and their allies. This period was crucial not just for shaping ancient Greece and all that it entails - philosophy, politics, arts, etc - but also because the systems of alliances informed our understanding of international relations theory. Modern readers would do well to pay attention to this period of history.

Unfortunately, I don't think Roberts' book is best suited to casual or non-expert readers in the field, even though it seems geared for that audience (the book starts with a fairly lengthy history of 5th century Greece). Granted, the Peloponnesian War is complicated and I can only imagine the difficulty she faced in sorting through the mass of names, places, and dates. Still, even as an avid reader of ancient history, I often found myself lost and occasionally needed to take a break from the book. The book overall is fairly dry, with little of the drama that infuses the works of Tom Holland, for example. Given the complexity of the subject, I also felt there was much that could have been omitted, such as the brief asides about popular theatrical dramas or developments in Greek philosophy. There's enough going on in the book without those.

One of the most interesting arguments Roberts makes about the Peloponnesian War is that it didn't end when most historians believe it did. Most historians have based their understanding of the war on Thucydides' histories and thus mark the end of the war with Sparta's triumph over Athens at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC. However, Roberts argues that this only marked a temporary pause in the fighting. A decade after the battle, fighting in Greece began again, this time with a less decisive conclusion. Ultimately, she notes that the fighting didn't truly stopped until Thebes defeated Sparta in 371.

In short, this is a valuable book, but not recommended for readers with no prior background on the war. I might recommend this book after reading Hanson's "A War Like No Other" or even reading a few articles online about the broad outlines of the war before diving into this tome.

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Peloponnesian War, thanks to Athenian general-in-exile Thucydides, is the best known of the wars of antiquity. The war, or series of wars with intermittent peace, illustrates what the ancient Greeks called hubris, and what I call the arrogance of stupidity. Or the stupidity of arrogance, because often it was the pride and arrogance of the citizens, in Athens, or leaders, in Sparta, that lead to defeat, economic near-collapse and loss of territory and international prestige.

Needless to say, the conduct of the war by the principal states of Athens and Sparta clearly illustrates the late Carlo Cipolla's Third or Golden Law of Human Stupidity: A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

I read Roberts' mentor, Donald Kagan's 2004 treatment of the Peloponnesian War, a few years back. So attempting to compare and contrast them from memory is a task beyond me. But Roberts tells with story with a light and lively touch for such a weighty topic. While the action of the historical events lumbers from one disaster to recovery, and on to the next disaster the telling is conversational in Roberts' hands. I recommend this book to anyone who loves Classical history.

[Brian Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

The noted classicist Jennifer T Roberts has produced a book of tremendous strength, impeccable research and a firm grounding in the ancient Greek culture before, during and directly following the deadly conflict of the Peloponnesian War.
We are provided with new insights into the social and economic structures common at the time, as well as the philosophical and dramatic arts, and how this most bitter and prolonged conflict affected all aspects of life. Roberts, by avoiding the need to include the many speeches of Thucydides Peloponnesian War, offers a clarity and a driving narrative, together with the all too alarming and growing body count that underscores the terrible cost that Sparta, Athens and their allies suffered, with the ultimate victim being the Greek culture.
Overall,a splendid and absorbing read, only marred by perhaps the occasional modern interpretation of the original Greek 'you guys wanted this ' which jarred with my English sensibilities just slightly.
For those wanting a more involved and accessible account of this confrontation, this book is a must read.

[Bill V · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very easy read. Mrs. Roberts writes in a clear and concise manner. There are multiple maps and the narrative is top notch. Not only does the author provide details of the battles and military campaigns but she also gives insight into Greek societal and cultural structures as well as a smattering of Greek terms with their definitions.
Mrs. Roberts goes beyond the time period covered by Donald Kagan's book on the same subject. She supports her argument convincingly and I learned about other items of relevance such as the eventual downfall of Sparta. My major criticism is she writes too casually, as if she is having a conversation. In some aspects I do consider her work to be better than Kagan's and I believe the two titles complement each other quite well.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written. The book is detailed with the academic depth of coverage you would expect from the Oxford University Press but is still readable by an average adult. Too often authors dumb a topic down to an overview of little value or fill the book with unexplained references that make the book difficult to read and requires a separate book to explain the first book.

Professor Roberts provides a history of the conflict between Athens and Sparta for the leadership of Ancient Greece that is easy to read and understand.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read on a subject I've never studied before, the struggle between Athens and Sparta. It certainly showed how horrifically violent wars could be back then. It was a real tussle between the two city states, with first one and then the other dominating, then swinging back again.

The author did a pretty good job, but I did feel she got a bit side-tracked into areas not entirely relevant to the story at hand. But overall, an interesting study of a very violent period of Greece's history.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, detailed look into the Pelopennesian War.

The only downsides are the lack of visual aides, and even someone like myself who can find Samos on a map and knows where the Chalcidian Peninsula is had a lot of trouble with the authors continuous jumping around to these small poleis that were involved in the war. In addition, the author spends a good amount of time delving into the culture of Athens at the time. Interesting surely, but it can throw off the flow of the narrative of the war which again can be hard to follow.

But overall, glad I read it. Extremely well cited as well.

[Jeff Millard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Roberts does an excellent job of providing a sweeping narrative of the war while focusing on the core idea of violence breeding more violence. At times it can be confusing to follow the numerous individuals and locations but I think preexisting knowledge of the time period would make for a more enjoyable experience. This was my first foray onto the Peloponnesian War so I found myself having to constantly flip to maps and look up names to better wrap my head around the topic which at times was very distracting. Overall an enjoyable and highly educational history.

[Miroslav · Rating 5 out of 5]

výborná detailná cesta klasickým Gréckom v období pred, počas a po Peloponézskej vojne (431-404 bc) a následný vývoj do r.362 bc (Korintská vojna a Tébska vojna). Až táto kniha mi ukázala, že storočná rivalita oboch blokov (Délsky námorný spolok Atén a Peloponézsky spolok Sparty) viedla k úplne zbytočným a nič neprinášajúcim vojnám, ktoré nielen že stáli život 150.000 ľudí, ale otvorili dvere novej sile na scéne - Macedónii.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good moderate/light study of the Peloponnesian War. A great read especially as I’m reading Thucydides at the same time. Lots of factors played a role in the conflict - plague (my fav), demographics, money, etc. Unfortunately rather timely in our day as one could draw parallels to current arguments regarding democracy vs oligarchy vs autocracy and long wars...

[steve tang · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very boring to read

It would be more interesting if dynamics of those kings and warriors were written in story like. The plain straightforward statements for history sounds more like a text book.

[Connor Folsom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is highly informative and fascinating with great detail into the events of ancient Greece and the important players of the time. I loved learning about this form of ancient history and is a great read for high school and college students.

[Colin Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great oversight of the Peloponnesian War (and then some).

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of this should be placed on the audiobook, but I found it to be slow, muddled, and frustrating to get through.

[Shannon Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

would have loved some more maps

[Kostas Hitchens Pap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Πολύ κουραστικό βιβλίο, πάρα πολλές λεπτομέρειες ,χάνεσαι μέσα του δεν βγάζεις άκρη

[Panagiotis Gioxas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ευκολοδιαβαστο και για έναν αρχάριο αναγνώστη.Με καλές κριτικές αναφορές στο τότε και το σήμερα.Θα σου δώσει ένα βήμα να πας παρακάτω στην ιστορική σου αναζήτηση....

[Igor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful for research not for fun.