Thucydides History Of The Peloponnesian War Summary

Thucydides – The History of the Peloponnesian War – Book 1 – Summary

THUCYDIDES: THE HISTORY OF THE
PELOPONNESIAN WAR [BOOK I]
SUMMARY
APRIL 7, 2014 ORWELL1627 11 COMMENTS
BOOK I
Chapter 1: The State of Greece from the Earliest Times to the
Commencement of the Peloponnesian War
 Thucydides claims that the Peloponnesian war was the largest war in
history to that point in time, and also more worthy of relating to
posterity than any other war.
 He provides a brief history of Greece.
 He discusses the method of writing his history – i.e. he will adhere
strictly to the facts, and abstain from exaggerating or inserting
entertaining anecdotes for the sake of truth, which Thucydides believes
to be of the utmost importance to those who require an exact account
of the past in order to interpret the future; for the future always
resembles, if not reflects, the past.
 He claims that the true cause of the Peloponnesian war the growth
of Athenian supremacy, and the fear of the Lacedaemonians as a
consequence of this aggrandizement.
“The way that most men deal with traditions, even traditions of their own
country, is to receive them all alike as they are delivered, without applying
any critical test whatever. So little pains do the vulgar take in the
investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to
hand.”
“The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from
its interest; but if it be judged useful by those inquirers who desire an
exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future,
which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it,
I shall be content. In fine, I have written my work, not as an essay which is
to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time.”
“The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in
Lacedaemon, made war inevitable.”
Chapter 2: Causes of the War – The Affair of Epidamnus – The Affair of
Potidaea
 Epidamnus was a colony in Illyria, settled by colonists form Corinth
and Corcyra. The common people expelled the nobles from the land.

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