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THUCYDIDES AND THE
HISTORY OF HIS AGE
G. B. Grundy
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Basil Blackwell, Oxford, Vol I originally
1910, this second edition with Vol II then in 1948, and this reprint of both in
1961 - vol 1, 553 pgs., vol II, 256 pgs., index, footnotes, many illustrations
in Vol II, maps
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Reviewer Comments:
This is a massive study of all aspects of fifth century Greek society with
special attention to economic reality, as far as it is known now. As the title
indicates it takes the incomparable work of Thucydides as a core historical
source. But the author has sought and employed many other sources as well. As
he notes, his original purpose was to prepare a background study to an edition
of Thucydides' work, but his efforts soon expanded into a full sized history of
the Greek society. As such it is an extremely valuable reference for the real
life context in which Thucydides was living and writing. However, much more has
been learned about classical Greece, much from archeology, in the 100 years
since it was published. The author's two prefaces tell the story. The summary
table of contents indicates the breadth of the subject matter and its important
study of subjects not much addressed in editions of Thucydides' text. It is
clear that Dr. Grundy included in his Volume II important but ancillary
subjects that could not be fitted into volume I.
Some or many readers today will not find professor Grundy's exposition pleasant
but instead distasteful - not 'politically correct' in their opinion. But his
view is well worth consideration. In his prolegomena he spells this out at some
length.
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Vol I - Preface
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Prolegomena to Thucydides - Introductory
Chapter - The Nature of Thucydides' Work
The author begins: "Thucydides, an Athenian, composed a history of the war
between the Peloponnesians and Athenians The historian did not aim at writing a
general history of the period within which fell the event which he records. His
attention was confined to that great war which was to be so fateful to the
Greek states of his day - fatefulness which he and thinking men seem to have
anticipated at its very outset. They knew, what every Greek felt, that the
Athenian Empire was not merely an outrage but a menace to political liberty as
the race understood liberty; and that the states of Greece had set their teeth
with the intention of destroying this power which threatened not merely the
freedom but, by its control of large sources of food supply, the very lives of
many of them. "
Note: Peloponnesians and Athenians - NOT Sparta and Athens.
Dr. Grundy continues with a description of contemporary Greek thinking about
literature - epics and drama. He relates Thucydides' effort to the literary
creation of Herodotus. He writes that Thucydides set his own much narrower
field and omitted much information about aspects of contemporary Greek history
that would have more fully explained the war. He points out that much of what
would be of great interest to us now, was uninteresting to his readers who
already had common knowledge of their lives.
And he concludes: "With Thucydides the military history is a means to an
end, not an end in itself. He aimed at being a teacher, not of strategy or
tactics, but of politics, understanding by politics that life of men in
communities. His method was inductive. he cited facts and then drew conclusions
from them. He believed in cycles of history, and he wished to aid the case of
civilization by showing men how, under a given set circumstances, individuals,
and, above all, communities, had in the past acted rightly or wrongly, in order
that in the future the mistakes of the past might be avoided." And,
"his work is full of implied moral judgments'.
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Part I: - The Life of Thucydides - Chapter I
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Part II: - The General Reliability of the
Received Text of Thucydides - Chapter II
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Part III: _ The Economic Background of Greek
History
Chapter III The Food Supply of Greece
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Chapter IV Slavery and Labour
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Chapter V Economic Position of Classes in
Attica in the Sixth Century
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Chapter VI Economic Development and Policy in
Attica B.C. 510 to B.C. 462
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Chapter VII The Periklean Democracy and the
Athenian Empire
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Part IV: - Chapter VIII The Policy of Sparta
in the Fifth Century
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Part V: The Art of War During the Later Half
of the Fifth Century
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Chapter IX The Natural Conditions of Warfare
in Greece
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Chapter X The Citizen, the Professional, and
the Mercenary Army
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Chapter XI Methods of Fighting Employed by
Greek Armies at the Time
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Chapter XII Light-Armed Troops and Cavalry
in Greek Warfare
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Chapter XIII Siege Operations
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Chapter XIV Naval Warfare
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Part VI: The Causes and Strategy of the Ten
Years' War
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Chapter XV The Causes and Plans of the War
as Set Forth in Thucydides
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Chapter XVI The War in Attica - Boeotia and
the Isthmus
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Chapter XVII The Corinthian Gulf and
North-West Greece
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Chapter XVIII Sicily - Macedonia and
Chalkidike - The Asiatic Coast - The Results of the War
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Appendix: The Composition of Thucydides'
History
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Chapter I The General Question
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Chapter II The Composition of Book I
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Chapter III Special Sections and Passages in
the introductory Matter of Book I
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Chapter IV Consideration of Passages from I,
xxiv-cxivi
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Chapter V The Expressions (xxxxx in Greek)
in Thucydides
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Chapter VI The Composition of the Story of
the Ten Year's War
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Chapter VII The Story of the Ten Year's War
After Thucydides' Exile
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Chapter VIII The Close of the Ten Year's War
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Chapter IX The Fifth Book (25-116)
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Chaper X The Sixth and Seventh Books
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Chapter XI Date of Composition of Books v
(25-116), vi, vii
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Chapter XII Book Vii
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Chapter XIII Summary
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Volume II
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Preface
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Introduction
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I Humanism: The Spirit of an Age
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II Thucydides the Man
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III Thucydides and the Philosophy of History
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IV Religion in Greek Life
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V The Strategy of the Decelean and Ionian
Wars
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VI The Topography of Thucydides
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VII Parties at Athens During the
Peloponnesian War
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VIII Sparta in the Latter Half of the Fifth
Century
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