Talk:History of the Peloponnesian War

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 25 August 2021 and 1 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): George Y Saad.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 23:42, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Comments
"... Thucydides aimed to provide an accurate and detailed account, thoroughly citing his sources whenever he could not provide a first-hand account."

This statement is not entirely accurate. While Thucydides did go out of his way to provide accurate and detailed first-hand accounts (unlike historians before him or for a long time after him), he more often than not provided no direct attributions of his sources, instead relying on generic eyewtiness testimonies (usually combined from several witnesses). His use of written documentation is sparse and pretty much never cited, and there has been some contention over his reworking and abridging of the speeches he presents throughout his history.

Of course all this is based on modern standards, and for someone writing a history in the fifth century BCE, his methods were hundreds and hundreds of years beyond his time.


 * The article's "thoroughly" leaves a little wiggle room, but is perhaps too strong. Even so, a statement like "more often not provided no direct attributions" should itself have a supporting authority. Also, this article would greatly benefit from references to a couple of the important survey articles on the historiography of the History. Stan 05:48, 15 Jun 2004 (UTC)


 * The only source Thucydides cites for anything is Homer, who gets mentioned several times in book one. Nothing else gets cited.  Herodotus actually has a better record for sources, since he quotes numerous poets as evidence for events long before his time. I can only assume the people working on this have not actually read Thucydides.68.118.61.219 23:57, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Please don't be insulting. Stan 01:09, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Why do we have synopses for chapters? The text of this article (and others) refer to Books.Lisiate 04:09, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

subject headings
This article was in serious need of organization, so I've added subject headings. Obviously there needs to be some more organization and certainly expansion/referencing (citation of sources) of these sections, but at least there is something of a framework to work on. Jim 18:52, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

Section Entitled "The Role of Religion"
I have once deleted the link to free will since it is idiosyncratic and not realy essential to understanding the History. It was returned. Any objections to removing it again?Jim
 * It's significatn, but I'm not sure it merits its own section . . . UnDeadGoat 23:26, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Image
I have restored the image of the tenth-century Manuscript. The manuscript is obviously public domain, but so is the book, E.M. Thompson's Introduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography, OUP 1912.

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Demosthenes
This page has a link regarding the Athenian general Demosthenes, yet it links to the page of Demosthenes the orator. However, the orator is born some 30 years after the events described by Thucydides, and it doesn't seem to me like this can therefore be the same person.

reader-response criticism?
Doesn't this school of thought hold that the reader creates meaning, making the author (essentially) irrelevant? The Connor quotation re: Thucydides seems inappropriate in this context. Any English PhDs out there? Ifnkovhg (talk) 10:29, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Greek Hoplite2.jpg
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BetacommandBot (talk) 22:31, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

literature
I am not sure that anyone has ever considered the writing to be a chronicle. I see no reason why the designation 'literature' should prevent Thuycdides' history from being as truthful an account as possible (which I take to be the meaning of the obscure term 'objective'(Pamour (talk) 12:34, 10 October 2012 (UTC)).

Outline Section. Book 6
One of the events in Book 6 is described as "Parties at Syracuse". I didn't find anything that would fit this heading, should it refer to the "pro-Syracusan party" at Catana instead?(6.50-6.51). I also could not find anything in Book 6 that would fit the description "Investment of Syracuse" so I removed it. If anyone disagrees with these changes, revert away. Biggs Pliff (talk) 23:45, 4 August 2013 (UTC)

Chronology
"Thucydides is one of the first western historians to employ a strict standard of chronology, recording events by year, with each year consisting of the summer campaign season and a less active winter season. This method contrasts sharply with Herodotus' earlier work The Histories, which jumps around chronologically and makes frequent and roundabout excursions into seemingly unrelated areas and time periods and has set the standard for historiographical rigor to this day."

This section is ambiguous and confusing. The second sentence needs to make it clear whether "and has set the standard for historiographical rigor to this day" refers to HotPW or Herodotus. I _think_ it refers to HotPW but this is not clear. PateraIncus (talk) 10:38, 17 June 2014 (UTC)

When was it published?
Could someone please add the approximate date of its publication/finalized creation to the infobox I added to the page? --DawnDusk (talk) 19:14, 28 January 2021 (UTC)