A New History of the Peloponnesian War

This stimulating new study provides a narrative of the monumental conflict of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and examines the realities of the war and its effects on the average Athenian.

• A penetrating new study of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta by an established scholar
• Offers an original interpretation of how and why the war began
• Weaves in the contemporary evidence of Aristophanes in order to give readers a new sense of how the war affected the individual
• Discusses the practicalities and realities of the war
• Examines the blossoming of culture and intellectual achievement in Athens despite the war
• Challenges the approach of Thucydides in his account of the war

List of illustrations viii

List of maps x

List of abbreviations xi

Chronology xiii

Acknowledgments xix

Preface xxi

Prelude – a band of brothers 1

1 ‘From this the Corinthians developed their bitter hatred for the Athenians’ 4

2 ‘Give the Greeks their freedom’ 25

3 ‘Our city is an education to Greece’ 44

4 ‘War is a violent teacher’ 67

5 ‘Spindles would be worth a lot’ 85

6 ‘Weeping for joy’ 111

7 ‘The strong do what they have the power to do’ 132

8 ‘What of us then who for our children must weep?’ 144

9 ‘The whole of Greece against Athens’ 165

10 ‘Ships gone . . . don’t know what to do’ 186

11 ‘Athens is taken’ 205

12 ‘Here’s to the noble Critias!’ 223

Epilogue 241

Appendix A: A note on sources 243

Appendix B: Who’s who in the Peloponnesian War 248

Appendix C: A Peloponnesian War glossary 258

Bibliography 263

Index 275

"Tritle's overall aim is to make the content and context of the Peloponnesian War more accessible to those unfamiliar with classics, and on the whole I believe he succeeds. His tone throughout is quite relaxed...but for those unfamiliar with classical Greek history and/or the Peloponnesian war Tritle's book is a good starting place." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, December 2010)

"He has produced a major new account of the Peloponnesian War that will allow readers of Thucydides to feel what it was actually like to be at war and to understand the breakdown of legal, moral, and political principles that caused prolonged human suffering on such a colossal scale. We are in his debt.." (Michigan War Studies Review, 2 October 2010)

"Recommended. Undergraduate libraries and above". (Choice, 1 November 2010)

Lawrence A. Tritle is Professor of History at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He has previously taught at Loyola University, Chicago and UCLA as visiting Professor of History. He is the author or editor of eight books on Greek history, including Phocion the Good (1988) and From Melos to My Lai (2000), as well as numerous articles on various aspects of the ancient world. He has served on the editorial board of the Ancient History Bulletin (1996 – 2003) and as president of the International Plutarch Society (1997-1999). This new study by a respected historian provides a unique narrative of the Peloponnesian War, a monumental conflict between Athens and Sparta that raged for 27 years across the Greek world. The conflict’s resulting destruction of cities, mass enslavements, and loss of human life – in short, the horrors of war – bears strong resemblance to the violence of modern war from the Western front to Vietnam. Despite these common factors, little attention has been paid to the contemporary nature of the Peloponnesian War, and its impact on the society and culture of the time.

Incorporating an original interpretation of how and why the war developed, and a perceptive analysis of its conduct, Tritle weaves in the contemporary evidence of Aristophanes and other dramatists to illustrate how war affected the average Athenian. He discusses the effect of the violence on both the individual and society, in the light of modern understanding of the impact of the brutality of war. He also describes how, despite the conflict, Athens witnessed a blossoming of culture and intellectual achievement, including the plays of Sophocles and Euripides, and the philosophical questioning of Socrates.

“An insightful, highly readable history of the first all-out war in western history. Tritle knows Greek history and he knows what war does to soldiers and civilians alike.”
Tom Palaima, University of Texas at Austin

“Not another paraphrase of Thucydides, Tritle's sensitive new history of the great war between Athens and Sparta marshals the literary and material evidence to explore the human and societal experience, showing once again that military history extends far beyond the battlefield.”
Waldemar Heckel, University of Calgary

“Swift narrative, mastery of modern scholarship, and unusual integration of classical literature. Like his great source Thucydides, the author was a soldier, and the terrible brutality of war is immanent.”
Mortimer Chambers, UCLA

“By helping us understand broadly and deeply the human and social dimension of this war, Tritle’s book brilliantly justifies its ambitious title of a ‘new history’ of an often-treated old war.”
Kurt A. Raaflaub, Brown University