After the Greco-Persian wars that resulted in a triumphant win for the Greeks, the city-states of Athens and Sparta struggled for dominance. As a result, a lengthy conflict between them and their allies consumed the Greek world for about three decades with the eventual surrender of Athens in 404 B.C.E. The detailed events of this conflict were captured in Thucydides masterpiece the History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides not only lived during that era but he was an active participant in the war. His decision to document the events was based on his belief that “this would be a major war and more momentous than any previous conflict.” In his eyes, Thucydides saw the magnitude of the upcoming events as being something that the Greek world …show more content…
The first thing that made an impression to me was the sheer length of the book. Reading the whole 648 pages was not an easy task, but I must admit that many of the chapters were very interesting. Many may argue that they are many flaws to it, but I personally believe that it is one of the best historical books that was written to this day. Thucydides was one of the first historians that recorded the events in a chronological order, a method that allows the reader to follow the storyline much easier and a method that is widely used by today’s historians. Additionally, his attention to detail as well as providing evidence to support his claims makes him a pioneer of modern history. Another fact that I find fascinating is that throughout his book, Thucydides remains for the most part impartial to either side. That in my opinion, allows him to write more objectively, something that was unheard of during his time. If you recall, previous historians like Herodotus, described the military conflict as a fight between good and evil. In Thucydides eyes, there was not such a thing. He believed that a conflict could arise between two sides that were good but didn’t agree with each other. Also, Thucydides decision to include events other than military conflict, such as important speeches provides us the opportunity to see the human aspect during times of