History

Thucydides c. 450 - c. 400 BC – the greatest ancient Greek historian and general, contemporary, eyewitness, and participant in the Peloponnesian War. The History of Thucydides is one of the most significant early ancient Greek works - dedicated to the Peloponnesian War of 431-404 BC between Athens and Sparta. This war, which in modern terms would be called a civil war, encompassed all of ancient Hellas in the 5th century BC and practically brought an end to the flourishing of the classical world of Ancient Greece. Thucydides was one of the first to apply a strict standard of chronology, recording the events of the war by year, beginning his work immediately after the outbreak of hostilities, anticipating that this war would be important and the most remarkable of all that had occurred until then.