Audiobook · read by volunteers
History of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides
Read by Ryan, Chris Mitchell, Kirsten Ferreri, C. Berrius, Victoria Long, Deborah Clark, ianish · 26 chapters · 20 h 57
About the book
In the fifth century before our era, the two greatest powers of the Greek world went to war. Athens had a fleet, an empire and a great democratic tradition; Sparta had an army and an oligarchic discipline. For nearly three decades, their conflict drew in almost every city in the Greek world, and one Athenian who had served as a general set out to write down what he had seen. Thucydides produced a work of history that remains a model of its kind: unsparing, analytical, and attentive to what pressure does to people and to cities. Its speeches, its portraits of plague and revolution, and its reflections on power have been read for twenty-four centuries. Seven readers share about twenty-one hours across twenty-six chapters of this recording. A cornerstone of Western history writing.
Introduction
Thucydides, who lived from about 460 to about 395 BC, was an Athenian who served as a general during the Peloponnesian War, the long conflict between Athens and Sparta and their allies. He was exiled after a military failure, and used the years of exile to collect information from both sides. His account of the war, which he began to write while events were still unfolding, is often called the first work of scientific history. He sought explanations in human nature, in political calculation and in the pressure of events, rather than in the will of the gods.
The History is divided into eight books, though that division was made by later editors. It stops in the middle of the story, in the year 411, and so the end of the war is not part of it. Among its most famous parts are the funeral speech of Pericles, the description of the plague in Athens, the discussion at Melos and the account of the Sicilian expedition. Modern scholars admire its literary power as much as its accuracy, and it has been studied by statesmen, soldiers and political theorists ever since.
This recording follows the English translation by Richard Crawley (1840-1893), published in 1874. It contains twenty-six chapters and runs for about twenty-one hours, with seven LibriVox volunteers sharing the reading. It is a demanding but rewarding work, and its questions about power, fear and the fragility of institutions feel remarkably current. Settle in for a long listen, and let it unfold at its own pace. The recording makes it possible to take in a whole ancient war on a long commute or across a season of evenings, in the company of a very clear-eyed guide.
Public domain
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text