Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War Book VI

Edition of the former part of Thucydides' account of the Sicilian Expedition that ended so catastrophically for Athens (415-413 BCE).

Christopher Pelling (Edited by)

9781316630211, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 January 2022

370 pages
21.5 x 13.8 x 2.1 cm, 0.47 kg

'The Introductions serve as warm and erudite welcomes into a text often represented as cold and formidable. … The commentaries are extremely rich … Pelling's volumes facilitate greater access to Thucydides, while his insightful readings demonstrate the way that Thucydides' authorial choices leave the reader with a sense of the tragedy of the Peloponnesian War.' Rachel Bruzzone, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

In Books 6 and 7 Thucydides' narrative is, as Plutarch puts it, 'at its most emotional, vivid, and varied' as he describes the Sicilian Expedition that ended so catastrophically for Athens (415–413 BCE). Book 6 features tense debates both at Athens, with cautious Nicias no match for risk-taking Alcibiades, and at Syracuse, with the statesmanlike Hermocrates confronting the populist Athenagoras. The spectacle of the armada is memorably described; so is the panic at Athens when people fear that acts of sacrilege may be alienating the gods, with Alcibiades himself so implicated that he is soon recalled. The Book ends with Athens seeming poised for victory; that will soon change, and a sister commentary on Book 7 is being published simultaneously. The Introduction discusses the narrative skill and the part these books play in the architecture of the history. Considerable help with the Greek is offered throughout the Commentary.

Introduction
Deviations from Alberti
Sigla
THUCYDIDES: THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR BOOK VI
Commentary
Bibliography
Indexes.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Historiography [HBAH], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Translation & interpretation [CFP]