Major Works

• The Peloponnesian War

  - Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, trans. S. Lattimore. New York: Hackett Publishing Co., 1998.
  Review: Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War mixes tragedy and intellection, profound emotion and painstaking analysis. Steven Lattimore has met the most daunting challenge to a translator of Thucydides, which is to provide a sense of this combination.… More

Commentary

• Man in His Pride

  - Grene, David, Man in His Pride, Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1950.

• “Thukydides und Machiavelli.”

  - Reinhardt, Karl. "Thukydides und Machiavelli." In Reinhardt, Vermächtnis der Antike: Gesammelte Essays zur Philosophie und Geschichtsschreibung. Gottingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1966.

• Chance and Intelligence in Thucydides

  - Edmunds, Lowell. Chance and Intelligence in Thucydides. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975.

• The City and Man by Leo Strauss

  - Strauss, Leo. “On Thucydides' War of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians.” In The City and Man, 50–85. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Originally published 1964 by the University Press of Virginia.
  From the publisher: The City and Man consists of provocative essays by the late Leo Strauss on Aristotle’s Politics, Plato’s Republic, and Thucydides’ Peloponnesian Wars. Together, the essays constitute a brilliant attempt to use… More

• The Necessities of War: A Study of Thucydides’ Pessimism

  - Pouncey, Peter R.  The Necessities of War: A Study of Thucydides' Pessimism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1980.
  From the publisher: Peter Pouncey presents for us and for the gods the mind of Thucydides as an historian and writer. Pouncey gives us an amazing reading of Thucydides’ amazing reading of the confused experience of wartime events. He nails down for us… More

• The Human Thing: The Speeches and Principles of Thucydides’ History

  - Cogan, Marc.  The Human Thing: The Speeches and Principles of Thucydides' History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.
  Introduces speeches of Thucydides’ History, including Pericles Funeral Oration.

• Thucydides

  - Connor, W. Robert. Thucydides. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.
  From the Publisher: This full-scale sequential reading of Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian War will be invaluable to the specialist and also to those in search of an introduction and companion to the “Histories.” Moving beyond other… More

• Thucydides

  - Hornblower, Simon. Thucydides. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987.

• Thucydides and Athenian Imperialism

  - De Romilly, Jacqueline . Thucydides and Athenian Imperialism. Translated by Philip Thody. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reprint. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1988.

• The Ambition to Rule: Alcibiades and the Politics of Imperialism in Thucydides by Steven Forde

  - Forde, Steven. The Ambition to Rule: Alcibiades and the Politics of Imperialism in Thucydides. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989.

• The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition (A New History of the Peloponnesian War)

  - Kagan, Donald. The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition, Ithaca: Cornell U. Press, 1991.
  Overview: Why did the Peace of Nicias fail to reconcile Athens and Sparta? In the third volume of his landmark four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War, Donald Kagan examines the years between the signing of the peace treaty and the destruction of the… More

• Love of Glory and the Common Good: Aspects of the Political Thought of Thucydides

  - Palmer, Michael. Love of Glory and the Common Good: Aspects of the Political Thought of Thucydides, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1992.  
  Overview: More clearly than any previous work on the subject, Michael Palmer’s Love of Glory and the Common Good defines the relationship between Periclean democracy and the decline in Athenian political life that followed the death of Pericles. The… More

• “Varieties of Realism: Thucydides and Machiavelli”

  - Forde, Stephen, “Varieties of Realism: Thucydides and Machiavelli,” Journal of Politics, vol. 54, no. 02, , 372-393, 1992.
  Review: Realists have dominated the postwar study of international politics, but they have not always taken seriously the problems of realism as a moral theory. One such problem is the difficulty of reconciling realism with devotion to ethics in any sphere,… More

• Thucydides, Hobbes, and the Interpretation of Realism

  - Johnson, Laurie. Thucydides, Hobbes, and the Interpretation of Realism, DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1993.
  Table of Contents: List of Abbreviations Introduction Ch. 1 Human Nature 3 Hobbes 4 Thucydides 27 A Comparison of Hobbes and Thucydides on Human Nature 63 Ch. 2 Justice 72 Hobbes 73 Thucydides 98 A Comparison of Hobbes and Thucydides on Justice 140 Ch. 3… More

• The Humanity of Thucydides by Clifford Orwin

  - Orwin, Clifford. The Humanity of Thucydides. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.
  From the Publisher: Thucydides has long been celebrated for the unflinching realism of his presentation of political life. And yet, as some scholars have asserted, his work also displays a profound humanity. In the first thorough exploration of the relation… More

• Polis and Polemos: Essays on Politics, War,and History in Ancient Greece in Honor of Donald Kagan

  - Hamilton, Charles D., and Peter Krentz, eds. Polis and Polemos: Essays on Politics, War,and History in Ancient Greece in Honor of Donald Kagan, Claremont, CA: Regina Books, 1997.

• Thucydides and the ancient simplicity: The Limits of Political Realism

  - Crane, Gregory. Thucydides and the ancient simplicity: The Limits of Political Realism,  Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1998.
  Overview: Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War is the earliest surviving realist text in the European tradition. As an account of the Peloponnesian War, it is famous both as an analysis of power politics and as a classic of political realism.… More

• Justice Among the Nations: on the moral basis of power and peace

  - Ahrensdorf, Peter and Pangle, Thomas.  Justice Among the Nations: on the moral basis of power and peace, Kansas: The University of Kansas, 1999.
  From the publisher: In the post-Cold War era, we have lost the clarity that once characterized our vision of international conflict. Foreign affairs are no longer defined solely by the ideological battles fought between capitalism and communism or by the… More

• “The fear of death and the longing for immortality: Hobbes and Thucydides on Human Nature and the Problem of Anarchy”

  - Ahrensdorf, Peter, “The fear of death and the longing for immortality: Hobbes and Thucydides on Human Nature and the Problem of Anarchy,” The American Political Science Review, vol. 94, no. 3,  579-593, 2000.
  Overview: Recent challenges to the modern secular state invite us to reexamine the arguments made by its theoretical founders, especially Hobbes. Hobbes argues that the desire for security is the most reliable and rational desire of our nature, and the state… More

• Money and the Corrosion of Power in Thucydides: The Sicilian Expedition and its Aftermath

  - Kallet, Lisa.  Money and the Corrosion of Power in Thucydides: The Sicilian Expedition and its Aftermath.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
  From the publisher: Wealth and power are themes that preoccupy much of Greek literature from Homer on, and this book unravels the significance of these subjects in one of the most famous pieces of narrative writing from classical antiquity. Lisa Kallet… More

• The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan

  - Kagan, Donald. The Peloponnesian War. New York: Penguin Books, 2004.
  From the Publisher: For three decades in the fifth century B.C. the ancient world was torn apart by a conflict that was as dramatic, divisive, and destructive as the world wars of the twentieth century: the Peloponnesian War. Donald Kagan, one of the… More

• Thucydides: An Introduction for the Common Reader

  - Zagorin, Perez.  Thucydides: An Introduction for the  Common Reader.  Princeton: Princeton University Press,  2005.
  Overview: This book is a concise, readable introduction to the Greek author Thucydides, who is widely regarded as one of the foremost historians of all time. Why does Thucydides continue to matter today? Perez Zagorin answers this question by examining… More

• Thucydides: The Reinvention of History

  - Kagan, Donald. Thucydides: The Reinvention of History, New York: Penguin Books, 2010.
  From the publisher: Yale professor of classics Kagan thoroughly examines Thucydides’ life and work to successfully demonstrate that the Athenian historian was the first to utilize a truly professional (i.e., realistic and methodical) approach in recounting… More

• Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7

  - Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7
  First Entry: After refitting his four ships, Gylippus leaves Tarentum, and, receiving at the Epizephyrian Locri more favourable news of the situation at Syracuse, proceeds undisturbed by Attic ships through the strait to Himera. From this point he enters into… More