Thucydides, an Athenian historian and general, wrote about the Peloponnesian War that began in 431 BC. He fought in the war and contracted the plague that killed Pericles and many other Athenians. His father's name was Olorus, and he came from the deme of Halimous. A disputed story claims that when Thucydides was ten to twelve years old, he heard Herodotus lecture at the agora of Athens. The account says the young man wept with joy after hearing the speech. Another version states Herodotus told his father, "Oloros your son yearns for knowledge." This episode likely comes from a later Greek or Roman source rather than contemporary records.
In 424 BC, Thucydides served as a strategos sent to Thasos. During the winter of 424, 423 BC, the Spartan general Brasidas attacked Amphipolis. Eucles, the Athenian commander at Amphipolis, asked Thucydides for help. Brasidas offered moderate terms to the people of Amphipolis before Thucydides could arrive. When Thucydides reached the city, it was already under Spartan control. News of the fall caused great consternation in Athens. The democracy blamed him for failing to save the city. Thucydides claimed it was not his fault because he simply could not reach it in time. He was exiled as punishment for this failure.
Thucydides owned gold mines at Scapte Hyle, a coastal area in Thrace opposite the island of Thasos. His family had considerable affluence and lasting influence in the region. After exile, he took up permanent residence on the estate. The income from the gold mines allowed him to dedicate himself to full-time history writing and research. He became a well-connected gentleman who funded his own historical investigations after involuntary retirement from political and military spheres. Later sources suggest he may have lived until 397 BC or slightly later. Pausanias wrote that someone named Oenobius passed a law allowing Thucydides to return to Athens shortly after the war ended in 404 BC. Plutarch preserved a tradition that Thucydides was murdered on his way back to Athens.
Methodology And Style
Thucydides began writing his History at the onset of the war in 431 BC. He declared his intention was to write an account which would serve as "a possession for all time." The work breaks off near the end of the twenty-first year of the war in 411 BC. It does not elaborate on the final seven years of the conflict. Thucydides believed the Peloponnesian War represented an event of unmatched importance.
He assiduously consulted written documents and interviewed participants about the events he recorded. Unlike Herodotus, Thucydides did not acknowledge divine intervention in human affairs. He placed a high value on eyewitness testimony and wrote about events in which he probably took part. His method included lengthy formal speeches that were literary reconstructions rather than direct quotations. He stated these recreations used what he believed ought to have been said. Without this approach, the gist of what was said might never be known.
A celebrated example is Pericles' funeral oration, which heaps honour on the dead and includes a defence of democracy. The speech contains lines like: "The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men; they are honoured not only by columns and inscriptions in their own land, but in foreign nations on memorials graven not on stone but in the hearts and minds of men." Stylistically, the placement of this passage heightens the contrast with the description of the plague in Athens immediately following it. This graphically emphasizes the horror of human mortality and conveys a powerful sense of verisimilitude.