Thucydides: The First Historian
The History of the Peloponnesian War is still the
greatest study of war and power politics in world literature.
The class will examine six excerpts: Pericles'
description of democratic Athens, Thucydides' eyewitness
account of the plague, his analysis of the bloody
Corcyrean Revolution, the public debate in Athens
over the rebellious colony of Mytilene, the negotiations
between Athens and the neutral island of Melos,
and the narrative devoted to the Athenian invasion
of Sicily. Relevance to today's world begins with the
similarity of Sparta to the USSR and Athens to America.
Thucydides offers cogent lessons on the limits
of Realpolitik and the kind of tunnel vision that can
produce a Vietnam War or the occupation of Iraq.
Suggested Reading
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War
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