The Landmark Thucydides : A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War

This series really is the Gold Standard for historical texts from the ancient world. Every page is lavishly footnoted, with authoritative texts putting the source material into a wider context, in many cases with accompanying photographs or drawings. I would highly recommend it for any curious amateur historians.

Although the translation lacks the brilliance and gravity of Benjamin Jowett's rendition (this edition is based on Crawley's of 1874) it is more than adequate (so long as the reader does not hanker after Crawley's Victorianisms) ; but what sets this edition aside is the wonderful reference maps, footnotes, and explanatory material which enable the reader to follow the twists and turns of this epic story. It is understood that the whole of this work was perhaps still work-in-progress when Thucidides left it, his growing appreciation of the machinations of the Persians shows through at times. The account breaks off in the awful year of 411; Athens, tragically, was finally destroyed as a power in 405. Those readers who are familiar with Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" may wish to reflect on the portrayals of Pericles through his speeches and those of Oedipus; and Thucidides' description of the plague in Bk. 2.47 et seq. in 430. Pericles died in 429, the year in which the play was first performed, and the character of Oedipus and the memory of the plague would have been vivid in the minds of the audience.

A good translation well presented in a handsome hardback with an excellent selection of maps and notes to help you understand the text and follow the history it describes

Thucydides original and direct translation is excellent but challenging. Robert B Strassler however has distilled and presented this wonderful 2500 year old material in a highly accessible approach. The almost 3 decades long savage and brutal conflict from 431 to 404 BCE, between the two superpowers of the time, Athens and Sparta, seems to be more relevant than ever. Curiously enough, if one was to remove the weapons/arms technology from the context, the rest confirms that the traits of human behaviour remain almost unchanged. Politics, policies, diplomacy, strategies, tactics, peace treaties, logistics, rhetoric, revenge, retribution, intelligence, etc., are all in this magnificent history.

The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) is little known in present times, yet we could learn so much from it. The historian, the first in Europe, Thucydides, served in it and was exiled for failure to hold a fortress. It can be difficult reading (I've translated it), mainly because so many place names are now unfamiliar. Strassler does much to help with this. We don't know why the author never finished the work, after eight volumes in great detail. Books 6 and 7 are especially valuable in warning us against the urgings of charlatans, even now. I recommend this along with Kagan's work on the subject and Hutchinsons' 'Attrition'. Brutal as the conflict was, what followed was arguably worse still under a puppet government.

Excellent value for money. Clearly organised and concise. Language has been adapted for ease of reading without loss of accuracy. Illustrated with the just the right amount of maps - they are really informative and succint. The maps help position the reader in context across the whole book and also where he/she is in the historical events so brilliantly narrated by Thucydides. Cross references with other parts of the book are also quite helpful. A must-have item for political science, strategy and history students.

As a student at uni currently studying ancient history, I found this translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War to be incredibly helpful in understanding the chronology and the characters of the Peloponnesian War, and hugely useful for revision, what with the summaries, maps, references, index, and editing. Just sad there couldn't be more landmark histories for everything I'm studying!

Classic of Classics presented in a way that is for today but not loosing anything of the original.

Um clássico explicado, esmiúçado e colocado em contexto. Uma leitura extraordinária, arrebatadora.

十分な手ごたえがある。

Brilliant edition. A must-have must-read book.

The maps and supporting information made reading this book easy and enjoyable.

I suffered through Thucydides many years ago in college and never understood what all the fuss was about. This was greatness for the ages? Please. The book was tedious and obscure, and it certainly didn't help when I was told how wonderful it is in the original Greek. Strassler has done a wonderful thing. He's taken an old translation (19th century), done a bit of judicious editing, and made it sing. Pericles' funeral oration turns out be be extraordinary oratory. Thucydides himself turns out to be a clear and powerful writer. Strassler's excellent maps help bring the text to life - they are numerous and right there where you need them. Sometimes the almost exact the same map shows up again a couple of pages after its first appearance because the text on that page refers to a location on it - there's no flipping back and forth to find a map. Where the text mentions a location, Strassler gives us a map. The footnotes are very helpful. I especially like the dates put at the top of every page - Thucydides doesn't offer much help with chronology, and those dates help keep everything in place. The index is very useful; it's what every index should aspire to be. The essays at the end of the book, which cover everything from local politics in Athens and Sparta to coinage to trireme warfare, are tremendously informative. I only wish some of them had been longer. All of this makes this edition of Thucydides a fine study tool. At the heart of it we shouldn't forget Thucydides himself. His history is a powerful examination of war, why war is fought, how men behave in time of war. He shows clearly that the Peloponnesian war was a disaster for all Greeks and he shows why. The Greeks were extraordinary observers and describers of human nature, and their observations remain as sharp and relevant today as they ever were. It's his skill as an observer of his fellow men that gives Thucydides claim to being the best historian of all times. I once thought that the claim was so much puffery from classicists trolling for students, but Strassler makes me repent of that belief. This history is indeed great, a work for the ages, and Strassler has presented it in the best possible light.