Thucydides (ca. 460 BC – ca. 395 BC) was an ancient Greek historian, and the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC. Thucydides is considered by many to be a scientific historian because of his efforts in his History to describe the human world in terms of cause and effect, his strict standards of gathering evidence, and his neglect of the gods in explaining the events of the past. Other scholars lay greater emphasis on the History’s elaborate literary artistry and the powerful rhetoric of its speeches and insist that its author exploited non-"scientific" literary genres no less than newer, rationalistic modes of explanation.

Life

Considering his stature as a historian, we know comparatively little about Thucydides' life. The most reliable information comes from his own History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides identifies himself as an Athenian, tells us that his father's name was Olorus and that he was from the Athenian deme of Halimous. Thucydides tells us that he contracted the plague that ravaged Athens and killed Pericles along with many other Athenians. He owned gold mines at Scapte Hyle, a district of Thrace on the Thracian coast opposite the island of Thasos.

Because of his influence in the Thracian region, Thucydides tells us, he was sent as a strategos (general) to Thasos in 424 BC. During the winter of 424-423 BC, the Spartan general Brasidas attacked Amphipolis, a half-day's sail west from Thasos on the Thracian coast. Eucles, the Athenian commander at Amphipolis, sent to Thucydides for help.Brasidas, aware of Thucydides' presence on Thasos and his influence with the people of Amphipolis and afraid of help arriving by sea, acted quickly to offer moderate terms to the Amphipolitans for their surrender, which they accepted. Thus when Thucydides arrived, Amphipolis was already under Spartan control (see Battle of Amphipolis). Amphipolis was of considerable strategic importance, and news of its fall caused great consternation in Athens.Because of his failure to save Amphipolis, Thucydides says:

Using his status as an exile from Athens to travel freely among the Peloponnesian allies, he was able to view the war from the perspective of both sides. During this time, he conducted important research for his history.

This is all that Thucydides himself tells us about his own life. We are able to infer a few other facts from reliable contemporary sources. Herodotus tells us that Thucydides' father's name, Olorus, was connected with Thrace and Thracian royalty. Thucydides was probably connected through family to the Athenian statesman and general Miltiades, and his son Cimon, leaders of the old aristocracy supplanted by the Radical Democrats. Cimon's grandfather's name was Olorus, making the connection exceeding likely. Another Thucydides lived before the historian and was also linked with Thrace, making a family connection between them very likely as well. Finally, Herodotus confirms the connection of Thucydides' family with the mines at Scapte Hyle.

The remaining evidence for Thucydides' life comes from less-reliable later ancient sources. According to Pausanias, someone named Oenobius was able to get a law passed allowing Thucydides to return to Athens, presumably sometime shortly after Athens' surrender and the end of the war in 404 BC. Pausanias goes on to say that Thucydides was murdered on his way back to Athens. Many doubt this account, seeing evidence to suggest he lived as late as 397 BC. Plutarch claims that his remains were returned to Athens and placed in Cimon's family vault.

The abrupt end of his narrative, which breaks off in the middle of the year 411 BC, has traditionally been interpreted as indicating that he died while writing the book, though other explanations have been put forward.

Education

Although there is no certain evidence to prove it, the rhetorical character of his narrative suggests that Thucydides was at least familiar with the teachings of the Sophists. These men were traveling lecturers, who frequented Athens and other Greek cities.

It has also been asserted that Thucydides' strict focus on cause and effect, his fastidious devotion to observable phenomena to the exclusion of other factors and his austere prose style were influenced by the methods and thinking of early medical writers such as Hippocrates of Kos. Some have gone so far as to assert that Thucydides had some medical training.

Both of these theories are inferences from the perceived character of Thucydides' History. While neither can be categorically rejected, there is no firm evidence for either.

Character

Inferences about Thucydides' character can only be drawn (with due caution) from his book. Occasionally throughout The History of the Peloponnesian War his sardonic sense of humor is hinted at, such as during the Athenian plague (Book II), when he remarks that some old Athenians seemed to remember a rhyme that said with the Dorian War would come a "great death." Some claimed the rhyme was actually about a "great dearth" (limos), and was only remembered as "death" (loimos) due to the current plague. Thucydides then remarks that, should another Dorian War come, this time attended with a great dearth, the rhyme will be remembered as "dearth," and any mention of "death" forgotten.

Thucydides admired Pericles and approved of his power over the people, though he detested the more pandering demagogues who followed him. Thucydides did not approve of the radical democracy Pericles ushered in but thought that it was acceptable when in the hands of a good leader. He was also strategos under Pericles and therefore presumably would have had an insight into his strategy, which he approved of. It should also be worth remembering that Thucydides problems were connected with Cleon, who prosecuted him over his failure at Thasos. Therefore, he personally would make a distinction between the Athens during Pericles and the Athens after his death.

Although Thucydides has sometimes been misrepresented as a cold chronicler of events, strong passions occasionally break through in his writing, for example in his scathing appraisals of demagogues such as Cleon and Hyperbolus. And Thucydides was clearly moved by the suffering inherent in war, and concerned about the excesses to which human nature is apt to resort in such circumstances. For example, this is evident from his analysis of the atrocities committed during civil conflict on Corcyra in Book 3, Chapters 82-83, which includes the memorable phrase "War is a violent teacher".