Peloponnesian War
A Greek war for hegemony between Athens and Sparta.
Last updated
G. & J. Cary, John Murray · Public domain
It transformed Greek warfare from limited, formalized fighting into total war between democratic and oligarchical ideologies.[1]
Life and work
Thucydides was exiled in 423 BC and settled in the Peloponnese, where he collected sources and wrote his history for the rest of the war.[2] The first attack was by the Thebans on the Athenian outpost at Plataea on 4 April 431 BC.[3] Thucydides provides the main historical source for the war, stating he began writing his history at the war's outbreak and used first-hand accounts.[2] Thucydides is considered by scholars to be reliable and neutral, though his reported speeches are his own interpretation of the general arguments, not verbatim records.[2]
Xenophon was born in Athens, served as a mercenary, and fought for Sparta.[4] Xenophon wrote Hellenica about 40 years after the war's conclusion, and his account is generally seen as favoring Sparta.[4] The war's opening phase, named after King Archidamus II of Sparta, is called the Archidamian War and lasted from 431 to 421 BC.[3]
References
- Wikipedia, "Peloponnesian War" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kagan, "The Peloponnesian War", Viking Press, 2003, p. 488 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Peloponnesian War" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fine, "The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History", Belknap Press, 1983, p. 528-533; Morley 2021, p. page 43, "Even more problematic are the speeches that he put into the mouths of important individuals, while admitting the impossibility of recording them verbatim" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Peloponnesian War" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Peloponnesian War, The", Encyclopædia Britannica, 14th ed., 1929. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Peloponnesian War" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gatto, "Review of: Xenophon and Sparta", Bryn Mawr Classical Review (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Peloponnesian War (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Peloponnesian War (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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