An Analysis of Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War (The Macat Library)

"Few works can claim to form the foundation stones of one entire academic discipline, let alone two, but Thucydides's celebrated History of the Peloponnesian War is not only one of the first great works of history, but also the departure point from which the modern discipline of international relations has been built. This is the case largely because the author is a master of analysis; setting out with the aim of giving a clear, well-reasoned account of one of the seminal events of the age - a war that resulted in the collapse of Athenian power and the rise of Sparta - Thucydides took care to build a single, beautifully-structured argument that was faithful to chronology and took remarkably few liberties with the source materials. He avoided the sort of assumptions that make earlier works frustrating for modern scholars, for example seeking reasons for outcomes that were rooted in human actions and agency, not in the will of the gods. And he was careful to explain where he had obtained much of his information. As a work of structure - and as a work of reasoning - The History of the Peloponnesian War continues to inspire, be read and be taught more than 2,000 years after it was written."--Provided by publisher Cover Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents WAYS IN TO THE TEXT Who Was Thucydides? What Does History of the Peloponnesian War Say? Why Does History of the Peloponnesian War Matter? SECTION 1: INFLUENCES Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author’s Contribution SECTION 2: IDEAS Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author’s Work SECTION 3: IMPACT Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited The History of the Peloponnesian War is acknowledged as the first great work in the fields of history and political theory. It uses narrative, debate, and analysis to document the war between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BCE). But its importance lies less in the story than in the way Thucydides tells it. It is the first major work of political inquiry that did not attribute events to divine intervention. It introduced instead a critical method of looking to human actions as the basis for understanding—a method that continues to be used today. Many greats cite Thucydides as an influence; figures including Hobbes, Hume and Nietzsche have praised his writing.