Thucydides, Pericles, and the Idea of Athens...

The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) was fought between the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta. The conflict is thoroughly recounted by historian Thucydides, an Athenian general, in his work History of the Peloponnesian War. It resulted in victory by Sparta. The war is generally divided into three main phases: (1) the Archidamian... [continue reading]

Thucydides (c. 460/455 - 399/398 BCE) was an Athenian general who wrote the contemporary History of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, which lasted from 431 BCE to 404 BCE. However, Thucydides' History was never finished, and as such, ends mid-sentence in the winter of 411 BCE. The Histories was divided into thirteen separate books... [continue reading]

Pericles (495–429 BCE, whose name means "surrounded by glory") was a prominent statesman, famous orator, and General (in Greek 'Strategos’) of Athens during the Golden Age of Athens. So profound was his influence that the period in which he led Athens has been called the 'Age of Pericles’. This statesman’s influence on Athenian society was so great... [continue reading]

The city of Athens, Greece, with its famous Acropolis, has come to symbolize the whole of the country in the popular imagination; and not without cause. Athens, which began as a small, Mycenaen community (though still worthy of the massive Cyclopean stonework which characterized the great palaces of the Poloponnese) grew to become a city which, at its height, epitomized... [continue reading]

The word 'war' comes to English by the old High German language word 'Werran’ (to confuse or to cause confusion) through the Old English 'Werre' (meaning the same), and is a state of open and usually declared armed conflict between political entities such as sovereign states or between rival political or social factions within the same... [continue reading]