- Thucydides (c.460/455- 399/8 BC) was an Athenian General and wrote the contemporary History of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, which lasted from 431- 404 BC.
- Thucydides' History was never finished, and as such, ends mid-sentence in the winter of 411 BC.
- The Histories was originally divided into 13 separate books by later scholars, but is now, in its modern form, divided into 8 books.
Thucydides is quite often seen as the first historian to use 'modern' ideals, with regards to his methodologies and ideologies; the way that he uses eye witnesses sources and cross-examines them, the way that he uses speeches (a much debated issue) and how his work is a “possession for all time” (1.22), rather than a piece designed to please the public (one of Thucydides’ many possible jibs at Herodotus and the other prose chroniclers of the day).
However, Thucydides’ History was by no means the first history, which might be argued to have originated from Homer’s oral ‘history’ of the Hellenes’ heroic age, still, a clear distinction to make is that whilst Homer was inspired by the Muses, Thucydides was inspired by his “histories”, his inquiries (our word for history comes from the same Greek word which means an inquiry). But again, Thucydides was not the first person to write down their findings as a History, it was Thucydides’ near contemporary Herodotus who did that (on such a grand scale, that is there were other ‘proto-historians’ before him also). And whilst Herodotus was not inspired by the muses (despite some of his passages feeling like they might have been) he still involves the gods and superstitions as motives and reasons for events.
- There are two "Lives of Thucydides", both rather lacking, the better, more detailed, account is a combination of biography and literary criticism, and was written by a 6th C. AD grammarian called Marcellinus.
- From Marcellinus we know that Thucydides' father was called Olorus (a Thracian name), he was also perhaps related to Cimon, since Olorus was the name of Cimon’s grandfather too.
During Thucydides’ generalship, he was sent to Thrace to oppose the actions of the Spartan general Brasidas there. It was during this time that Thucydides failed to defend the city of Amphipolis, and as a result of this, was sent into exile by the Athenian people for twenty years. There is no real way to say for certain what happened to Thucydides after this, since he does not refer to his own actions per say after his failure at Amphipolis (which he recounts in the 3rd person). However, it is reasonable to assume that this exile present him with an excellent opportunity to gather accounts from both the Spartan and Athenian side of things. Thucydides may have returned to Athens, around 404, with the fall of the Athenian Democracy and the imposition of the Thirty Tyrants in Athens by the victorious Spartans, but again, this is not certain.
There are various elements of his History which are very worthy of note;
- Pericles' funeral oration (2.35-6),
- Description of the plague (2.47-54),
- The Mytilenian Debate (3.36-50), the Melian Dialogue (5.85-113),
- The Sicilian Expedition (6 & 7) and
- Introductory sections, which include his Archaeologia and Methodologies (1.1-23).
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