Jeffrey S. Rusten - Böcker

Thucydides' account of the war between Athens and Sparta is the first great work of political history and still a fundamental text for political science and international relations today; it is also a compelling story, full of vivid characters and tragic miscalculations. This collection of essays is designed to accompany, instruct, and stimulate readers of Thucydides by making accessible some classic and influential studies that are frequently cited but not always easy to access. (One-third of the essays appear here in English for the first time.) All Greek is translated, and an introductory chapter surveys the chronology and thematic controversies among Thucydides' readings from antiquity to the present.

Thucydides' account of the war between Athens and Sparta is the first great work of political history and still a fundamental text for political science and international relations today; it is also a compelling story, full of vivid characters and tragic miscalculations. This collection of essays is designed to accompany, instruct, and stimulate readers of Thucydides by making accessible some classic and influential studies that are frequently cited but not always easy to access. (One-third of the essays appear here in English for the first time.) All Greek is translated, and an introductory chapter surveys the chronology and thematic controversies among Thucydides' readings from antiquity to the present.

The second book of Thucydides' history is of particular literary interest, containing as it does such important sections as the funeral oration, the account of the plague at Athens and the obituary of Pericles. Professor Rusten's commentary aims to assist the students to learn to read Thucydides. It scrutinises not only the standard historical context but also the literary and philosophical one, and devotes special attention to the exceptionally complex structures and techniques of language which make Thucydides the most difficult as well as most profound of ancient historians. The introduction surveys biographical interpretations of the text, suggests a new approach to fictive elements in the speeches, and sketches the chief features of Thucydidean style. This edition is intended primarily as a textbook for undergraduates and students in the upper forms of schools (both introduction and commentary are meant to be accessible even to less advanced students of Greek), but any Greek scholar will find it rewarding.

Mabel Lang's long career as a scholar and teacher has given her a unique perspective on one of the most important authors in western literature. Thucydidean Narrative and Discourse brings together several of her most thoughtful papers on figures and issues including the 400, Cleon, and Alcibiades, and joins them with new material on narrative technique. The assembled papers are an important complement to Professor Lang's pathbreaking study of Herodotean narrative. Together with introductory essays by the volume's editors, these papers will enable students of historiography in general to obtain a better understanding of how Thucydides engaged his audience. Although they were written over many years, the papers share a consistency of insight that makes them continually relevant to all who endeavor to understand the literary art of Thucydides.