Author Description

Thucydidean Themes is a collection of seventeen essays by Simon Hornblower on the great fifth-century BC Greek historian Thucydides; but other ancient Greek historians, notably Herodotus, also feature. The chapters are arranged thematically, in three main parts (general; discussions of particular sections of the History; Thucydides' reception). Although most have previously appeared in print, many have been extensively rewritten for this volume. All are provided with prefatory material which reviews recent work on the topic. Thucydidean Themes is intended both as a companion volume to the author's recently completed three-volume Commentary on Thucydides, and as a freestanding contribution to the study of Thucydides. Like the Commentary, the present volume exploits every available approach - historical, literary, rhetorical, onomastic, epigraphic, religious, philosophical, textual, and archaeological - while the specially written Introduction seeks to identify what is distinctively admirable about Thucydides' History.