Volume II: Books IV-V. 24

by Simon Hornblower

Published 6 January 2005
This is the second volume of a three-volume historical and literary commentary of the eight books of Thucydides, the great fifth-century BC historian of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Books IV-V. 24 cover the years 425-421 BC and contain the Pylos-Spakteria narrative, the Delion Campaign, and Brasidas' operations in the north of Greece. This volume ends with the Peace of Nikias and the alliance between Athens and Sparta.

A valuable feature of this volume is the full thematic introduction which discusses such topics as Thucydides and Herodotus, Thucydides' presentation of Brasidas, Thucydides and kinship, speech - direct and indirect - in IV-V. 24, Thucydides and epigraphy (including personal names), IV-V. 24 as a work of art: innovative or merely incomplete?

Thucydides intended his work to be `an everlasting possession' and the continuing importance of his work is undisputed. Simon Hornblower's commentary, by translating every passage of Greek commented on, for the
first time allows readers with little or no Greek to appreciate the detail of Thucydides' thought and subject-matter. A full index is provided at the end of the volume.

Volume I: Books i-iii

by Simon Hornblower

Published 13 March 1997
This is the first volume of a three-volume historical and literary commentary on the eight books of Thucydides, the great fifth-century BC historian of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Of the three books covered in this volume, Book I presents Thucydides' aims in writing the work and the historical background to the war. Books II and III describe the main events of the first five years of the war (431-426) and include Pericles' funeral oration, the
plague of Athens, the revolt of Mytilene, the destruction of Plataea, and civil war in Corcyra.

Thucydides intended his work to be `an everlasting possession' and the continuing importance of his work is undisputed. Simon Hornblower's commentary, by translating every passage or phrase of Greek commented on, for the first time allows the reader with little or no Greek to appreciate the detail of Thucydides' thought and subject-matter. It is the first complete commentary written by a single author this century and explores both the historical and literary aspects of the work. A full index
is provided at the end of the volume.

This is the second volume of a three-volume historical and literary commentary of the eight books of Thucydides, the great fifth-century BC historian of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Books iv-v.24 cover the years 425-421 BC and contain the Pylos-Spakteria narrative, the Delion Campaign, and Brasidas' operations in the north of Greece. This volume ends with the Peace of Nikias and the alliance between Athens and Sparta.

A new feature of this volume is the full thematic introduction which discusses such topics as Thucydides and Herodotus, Thucydide's presentation of Brasidas, Thucydides and kinship, speech - direct and indirect - in iv-v.24, Thucydides and epigraphy (including personal names), iv-v.24 as a work of art: innovative or merely incomplete?

Thucydides intended his work to be `an everlasting possession' and the continuing importance of his work is undisputed. Simon Hornblower's commentary, by translating every passage of Greek commented on for the first time, allows readers with little or no Greek to appreciate the detail of Thucydides' thought and subject-matter. A full index at the end of the volume.