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.

• Thucydides on the Nature of Power

  - Woodhead, A. G. Thucydides on the Nature of Power. Martin Classical Lectures, 24. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970.

• 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

• “Form und Wandel des Machtdenkens der Athener bei Thukydides.”

  - Rengakos, Antonios. "Form und Wandel des Machtdenkens der Athener bei Thukydides." In Hermes Einzelschrift Heft 48. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1984.

• Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy

  - Strauss, Leo, “Preliminary Observations on the Gods in Thucydides’ Work,” Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1985.
  One of the outstanding thinkers of our time offers in this book his final words to posterity. Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy was well underway at the time of Leo Strauss’s death in 1973. Having chosen the title for the book, he selected the… 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 Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism

  - Strauss, Leo, “The Meaning of Political History,” The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism, ed. T. Pangle Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1989.
  Review: This concise and accessible introduction to Strauss’s thought provides, for wider audience, a bridge to his more complex theoretical work. Editor Pangle has gathered five of Strauss’s previously unpublished lectures and five hard-to-find… More

• The Fall of the Athenian Empire (A New History of the Peloponnesian War)

  - Kagan, Donald. The Fall of the Athenian Empire, A New History of the Peloponnesian War, Ithaca: Cornell U. Press, 1991.
  Overview: In the fourth and final volume of his magisterial history of the Peloponnesian War, Donald Kagan examines the period from the destruction of Athens’ Sicilian expedition in September of 413 B.C. to the Athenian surrender to Sparta in the spring… 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

• “The Use and Abuse of Thucydides in International Relations.”

  - Johnson-Bagby, Laurie M.  "The Use and Abuse of Thucydides in International Relations," International Organization 48:1, pp. 131-53, 1994.
  Overview: International relations scholars are prone to claiming that the ancient historian of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides, is a realist of one kind or another. Paul Viotti and Mark Kauppi tell us that Thucydides “is usually credited with being the… More

• “Thucydides’ Critique of Realism”

  - Rahe, Paul.  “Thucydides' Critique of Realism,” Security Studies, vol. 5, no. 2, 105-141, 1995.

• “International Realism and the Science of Politics, Thucydides, Machiavelli and Neo-Realism”

  - Forde, Stephen, “International Realism and the Science of Politics, Thucydides, Machiavelli and Neo-Realism,” International Studies Quarterly 39, 141-160, 1995.

• 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 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’ War Narrative: A Structural Study

  - Dewald, Carolyn.  Thucydides’ War Narrative: A Structural Study.  Berkeley CA: University of California Press, 2005.
  Overview: As a sustained analysis of the connections between narrative structure and meaning in the “History of the Peloponnesian War, “Carolyn Dewald’s study revolves around a curious aspect of Thucydides’ work: the first ten years of… 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 5

  - Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5
  First Entry: Chapters 1-24: The tenth year of the war The Athenians for religious reasons drive the Delians from their island. αἱ σπονδαὶ διελέλυντο: the truce was at an end, but no warlike operations are recorded until Cleon led the… More