Perspective

Thucydides, son of Olorus from Halimous, the author of the text, was also a participant in the military conflict. He is thought to have been born c. 460 and died c. 395 BC, though dating is speculative. The History of the Peloponnesian War is his only work in existence. He is often considered to be the founder of rigorous historical investigation as he enforced a high standard of evidence and approached his material largely with a neutral bias. The author was an Athenian general who led forces in the war, contracted the plague, and was ultimately exiled by the Athenians.

Thucydides, in the introduction to the text, gives his reason for writing as a desire to record a history of events which he considered to be of monumental importance. Indeed, the very presence of so many translations, editions, and revisions of the text twenty-five centuries after its completion validates Thucydides'...