Explanation:
Monumental advances in math, science, philosophy, government, literature, and art have made the Ancient Greeks the envy of world’s past and present. The Greeks gave us democracy, the scientific method, geometry, and so many more building blocks of civilization that it’s hard to imagine where we would be without them.
However, images of Ancient Greece as a peaceful world where art and culture thrived above everything else are simply wrong. War was just as common as anything else, and it plays a critical role in the story of Ancient Greece.
The Peloponnesian War, fought between Athens and Sparta (two leading ancient Greek city states) from 431 to 404 BCE, is perhaps the most important and also the most well-known of all these conflicts as it helped redefine the balance of power in the ancient world.
The Peloponnesian War is also significant because it’s one of the first wars documented in a reliable way. The ancient Greek historian Thucydides, who many consider the world’s first true historian, spent time traveling to the various theaters of war to interview generals and soldiers alike, and he also analyzed many of the long- and short-term causes of the Peloponnesian war, an approach still taken by military historians today.
His book, The Peloponnesian War, is the point of reference for studying this conflict, and it has helped us understand so much of what was going on behind the scenes. Using this source, as well as a range of other primary and secondary sources, we have put together a detailed summary of this famous ancient conflict so that you can better understand this momentous period of human history. Although the term “Peloponnesian War” was never used by Thucydides, the fact that the term is all but universally used today is a reflection of the Athens-centric sympathies of modern historians.
