Thucydides The History Of The Peloponnesian War

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In The History of the Peloponnesian War Thucydides famously describes the devastating epidemic that hit Athens which killed nearly a third of the Athenian population, including the famous general Pericles. The History can be quite a useful source if one wish to know the hardships the Athenians faced when the disease ravaged Athens as it is essentially an eye-witness account since Thucydides himself was infected for a time. But as an objective medical record it would be best to look elsewhere since Thucydides’ terms regarding the epidemic are imprecise. Thucydides, surely being familiar with the Hippocratic theory, did not assume there was a divine cause but did not give a cause and effect for the illness. He instead went into extreme detail