thucydides account of the peloponnesian war

In all essence, the episode is most likely from a later Greek or Roman account of his life. The same account also claims that after the lecture, Herodotus spoke with the youth and his father, stating: Oloros your son yearns for knowledge. According to some accounts, the young Thucydides wept with joy after hearing the lecture, deciding that writing history would be his life's calling. While still a youth of 10–12 years, he and his father were supposed to have gone to the agora of Athens where the young Thucydides heard a lecture by the historian Herodotus. A somewhat doubtful anecdote of his early life still exists. Thucydides identifies himself as an Athenian, telling us that his father's name was Olorus and that he was from the Athenian deme of Halimous. He may have also been involved in quelling the Samian Revolt. Thucydides says that he fought in the war, contracted the plague, and was exiled by the democracy. The most reliable information comes from his own History of the Peloponnesian War, in which he mentions his nationality, paternity, and birthplace. In spite of his stature as a historian, modern historians know relatively little about Thucydides's life. More generally, Thucydides developed an understanding of human nature to explain behavior in such crises as plagues, massacres, and civil war. The Melian dialogue is regarded as a seminal work of international relations theory, while his version of Pericles' Funeral Oration is widely studied by political theorists, historians, and students of the classics. His text is still studied at universities and military colleges worldwide. He also has been called the father of the school of political realism, which views the political behavior of individuals and the subsequent outcomes of relations between states as ultimately mediated by, and constructed upon, fear and self-interest. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of ' scientific history' by those who accept his claims to have applied strict standards of impartiality and evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect, without reference to intervention by the gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. 400 BC) was an Athenian historian and general.

Thucydides ( / θ( j) uː ˈ s ɪ d ɪ ˌ d iː z/ Ancient Greek: Θουκυδίδης, romanized: Thoukudídēs c.

Thucydides account of the peloponnesian war