- Hardcover: 711 pages
- Publisher: Free Pr (October 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0684828154
- ISBN-13: 978-0684828152
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 18 x 4.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #556,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War is one of the great books in the Western tradition, as well as its first true historical narrative. Editor Robert Strassler has annotated this classic text to make it more accessible to modern readers and added dozens of maps for easy reference. A helpful introduction places Thucydides in proper historical context and a series of short appendices focus on particular aspects of life and war during the period. But the bulk of the book itself, where Thucydides chronicles the long struggle between Athens and Sparta, enjoys an unexpected freshness on these pages--partly due to Strassler's magnificent editorial labors, but mostly because it's a great story resonant with heroes, villains, bravery, desperation, and tragedy. Every library should have a copy of Thucydides in it, especially libraries on military history, and The Landmark Thucydides is without question the best version available.
From Library Journal
Strassler, an unaffiliated scholar of classical studies, has remedied many of the flaws of Richard Crawley's 1874 translation of The Peloponnesian War. He has added descriptive paragraph-by-paragraph synopses, topic headers on every page, numerous maps keyed to the adjoining text, explanatory footnotes, an extensive index, an excellent introduction by Victor Davis Hanson (California State Univ.), and 11 appendixes (by various scholars) on politics, warfare, and society in the Greece of the fifth century B.C.E. What the editor has done he has done well, creating a valuable basic reference for students of ancient history. His work has only two flaws: it lacks a substantial bibliography, having only a two-page "concise" one; and the price will put it out of reach of many institutions. For academic libraries and others with large history collections.?James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke out, and believing that it would be a great war, and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke out, and believing that it would be a great war, and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best book and version ever,
By clemens keultjes (Nijmegen, Netherlands) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (Paperback)
I found this book on sale in a bookstore in Nijmegen, Holland. It looked very appealing, I bought it, took it home with me and waited for several months before I read it. I am not a scholar, nor a historian, I am interested in history and in fact rather than fiction. The splendid appendices gave insight in much of the text and maps are a definite plus. As for the book itself. The further along you get, the more you are drawn into it. It really has the aura of an eye witness account. But somehow Thucydides manages to go beyond mere history and trancend the story into a classic Greek drama, the rise and fall of Athens. By the time the Athean fleet sails for Sicily I realised his very factual style of writing had turned an historic event of over two thousand years ago into harsh everyday reality. Here's a man struggling with depicting a war he was part of, with losses that he himself felt, with the downfall of a country that was his. After reading it, I read Livius. The difference to me is stunning. Whereas Livius writes from a very chauvinistic Roman viewpoint, Thucydides actually tried to write a factual account. Even more stunning that Livius didn't manage objectivity with events hundreds of years ago and Thucydides did with events in his own lifetime. Read it as you would read a newspaper. Recently, I've often seen the book misquoted and its authority misused, suggesting that few people actually read it. Do yourselves a favour, buy it, put it on your bookshelves and for God's sake, read it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Edition of Thucydides!!!,
By
This review is from: The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (Hardcover)
As someone who has always been interested in ancient Greek history but have never studied it in any depth, Thucydides' "History of the Peloponnesian War" was the best place to start. More importantly with "The Landmark Thucydides"! First of all the translation was excellent, very easy for a contemporay of the 21st century to understand. The introduction, appendices, footnotes, glossery, and index all accumulate to give you a wealth of knowledge and perspective. Not just on clarifying whats happening in the narrative, but all the background information, and extra insights into the Classical Greek world really puts everything in context and allows modern readers to really appreciate why the different Greeks acted as they did.By the end of the book it leaves you with a wealth of information that leaves you craving more, and in so doing, prompting you to go out and find other works, by both ancient and contemporary writers about this fascinating period of western civilization. I owe a great debt to the compilers of this edition, not the least of which Thucydides' himself, for at least in regards myself, taking a spark of knowledge and appreciation of this wonderfully fascinating time, and turning it into a full blown firestorm of inquiry and excitment. This is an excellent book and an excellent edition!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
brilliant,
By
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This review is from: The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (Paperback)
This is a beautiful and immensely helpful edition. I wish some of the translation were more literal but at the same time it is very readable and poetic. As for the History itself, it seems an understatement to call it a masterpiece. Thucydides was right in calling it 'a possession for all times,' but could even he have imagined that 2400 years later people would still be reading it with pleasure and profit?If you sink yourself into it, even the small battles become exciting, and the speeches are amazing for their profundity and timelessness.
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