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A review by buddhafish
The History of the Peloponnesian War: Revised Edition by Thucydides
77th book of 2023.
I began this, without realising, exactly two months ago in April. I then stopped for a duration of time as my girlfriend and I flew to Athens and I spent the next two weeks exploring, island-hopping, etc., those who follow me already know all this. At one point, on an island, I was right across from the Peloponnesian region of the mainland; in fact, it was so close between the mainland and this island, it looked swimmable. It's taken me some time to get back into it, and I've mostly read the rest of this book whilst at work in short but concentrated bursts around, well, work.
The fact that we can read this is fascinating enough, some two-thousand odd years later. Thucydides was a general in the Peloponnesian War (an Athenian), and dedicated himself to writing an unbiased history book* about the 20+ years of the War. He mostly succeeds, though certain scholars far smarter than I am see through his supposed unbiasedness. The most interesting fact about the text are the many speeches, that are like Shakespearean monologues, littered throughout, from generals and politicians. Many of these Thucydides would have heard in the flesh, others by word-of-mouth; the world was still very much orientated around the oral tradition, so though their validity can be questioned, I imagine the essence of the speeches are very much intact. Thucydides takes us through the war chronologically, apparently a fairly modern concept in history telling, and reports as the seasons pass. In many respects, large portions of this are dry, dense and crammed with information and names. I'm no stranger to ancient texts or names as I studied Classical Civilisation for three years myself at college, though my focus was on the Romans and my study revolved around writers like Cicero, Suetonius and Tacitus (the last of whom I dreaded). Suetonius and Cicero were more readable and compelling, particularly the former, and I would recommend both of them as ancient writers before Thucydides, though they are of course Roman. My trip to Greece has fuelled my interest in Ancient Greece and I will explore more primary sources in the years to come. In my final year of college I did study The Odyssey, but that's as far as I got with Greek history/epics. I'd say this is a book for those who are truly interested and not an easy window into the primary sources; that said, I found it worthwhile and interesting, if not long and slow-going.
After mooching around on some islands my girlfriend and I went back to Athens and went to the park where Socrates's prison is held. Not far from there is the entrance to a tomb, where two bodies were buried. One of these was Thucydides himself. Below is the single photograph I took of the site.
_____
*This is, by many, considered one of the earliest 'history books' ever, if not the first. Thucydides is, as we would understand, a sort of 'modern' historian in his unbiased and chronological telling of the War and its events.
I began this, without realising, exactly two months ago in April. I then stopped for a duration of time as my girlfriend and I flew to Athens and I spent the next two weeks exploring, island-hopping, etc., those who follow me already know all this. At one point, on an island, I was right across from the Peloponnesian region of the mainland; in fact, it was so close between the mainland and this island, it looked swimmable. It's taken me some time to get back into it, and I've mostly read the rest of this book whilst at work in short but concentrated bursts around, well, work.
The fact that we can read this is fascinating enough, some two-thousand odd years later. Thucydides was a general in the Peloponnesian War (an Athenian), and dedicated himself to writing an unbiased history book* about the 20+ years of the War. He mostly succeeds, though certain scholars far smarter than I am see through his supposed unbiasedness. The most interesting fact about the text are the many speeches, that are like Shakespearean monologues, littered throughout, from generals and politicians. Many of these Thucydides would have heard in the flesh, others by word-of-mouth; the world was still very much orientated around the oral tradition, so though their validity can be questioned, I imagine the essence of the speeches are very much intact. Thucydides takes us through the war chronologically, apparently a fairly modern concept in history telling, and reports as the seasons pass. In many respects, large portions of this are dry, dense and crammed with information and names. I'm no stranger to ancient texts or names as I studied Classical Civilisation for three years myself at college, though my focus was on the Romans and my study revolved around writers like Cicero, Suetonius and Tacitus (the last of whom I dreaded). Suetonius and Cicero were more readable and compelling, particularly the former, and I would recommend both of them as ancient writers before Thucydides, though they are of course Roman. My trip to Greece has fuelled my interest in Ancient Greece and I will explore more primary sources in the years to come. In my final year of college I did study The Odyssey, but that's as far as I got with Greek history/epics. I'd say this is a book for those who are truly interested and not an easy window into the primary sources; that said, I found it worthwhile and interesting, if not long and slow-going.
After mooching around on some islands my girlfriend and I went back to Athens and went to the park where Socrates's prison is held. Not far from there is the entrance to a tomb, where two bodies were buried. One of these was Thucydides himself. Below is the single photograph I took of the site.
_____
*This is, by many, considered one of the earliest 'history books' ever, if not the first. Thucydides is, as we would understand, a sort of 'modern' historian in his unbiased and chronological telling of the War and its events.