Born circa 460 B.C.; died 400 B.C. Greek historian.
Thucydides came from an aristocratic and well-to-do Athenian family. In 424 B.C, during the Peloponnesian War, he was a strategus and commanded an Athenian squadron off Thrace. He was not able to prevent the Spartan commander Brasidas from capturing Amphipolis, as a result of which he was condemned in Athens and sent into exile. During the 20 years that he was away from his native land, he collected materials for his historical work. He returned to Athens in 404.
Thucydides’ History, consisting of eight books, is devoted to the Peloponnesian War of 431–404 B.C. (the narrative is brought down to the autumn of 411). Despite the incompleteness of individual parts, the History stands as an artistic whole. As distinct from Herodotus, Thucydides ascribed great importance to the critical verification of the data that the historian has at his disposal for setting forth his theme; only after this, in Thucydides’ opinion, is it possible to turn to a reconstruction of the past. Thucydides saw the principal task of the historian as a seeking out of the truth (I, 20). In explaining historical phenomena, Thucydides paid particular attention to the causes of events. His rationalism excluded as a cause the direct intervention of divine forces in historical events, although he did not specifically deny the existence of gods or the divine principle. Ascribing primary importance to objective historical factors, not only political but also economic, Thucydides, unlike subsequent historians, was still not inclined to emphasize the role of particular individuals; he did not ignore, however, the importance of the minds and wills of outstanding figures, as is seen from his characterization of Pericles. Thucydides emphasized the importance of Athenian sea power; it was to the excessive growth of the might of Athens and to the aggressive policy of the Athenians that he ascribed the principal cause of the inter-Hellenic conflict. Although Thucydides wrote primarily a military history, he paid a great deal of attention to the sociopolitical struggle. He was one of the first to give a detailed description of civil conflicts, the clashes between democratic and oligarchic factions.
In his political views, Thucydides was an advocate of moderate, rationally regulated power. He was hostile to radical democracy, and he belittled its leaders, Cleon and Hyperbolus. In contrast, Thucydides thought highly of the moderately oligarchic rule of the Five Thousand in Athens (end of 411), considering that this constituted a rational mixing of oligarchic and democratic elements. However, neither Thucydides’ sympathy nor his antipathy is ever very noticeable in his History, and, on the whole, his exposition is distinguished for its high degree of objectivity. Thucydides is considered to be the greatest historian of antiquity, a writer who left a vivid and reliable description of one of the most important events of ancient history.
Thucydides historiae, vols. 1–2. Edited by C. Hude. Leipzig, 1908–13.
Thucydides, vol. 1. Edited by O. Luschnat. Leipzig, 1954.
In Russian translation:
Istoriia, vols. 1–2. Translated by F. Mishchenko and revised by S. Zhebelev. Moscow, 1915.
E. D. FROLOV