Overview

In Books 6 and 7 Thucydides' narrative is, as Plutarch puts it, 'at its most emotional, vivid, and varied' as he describes the Sicilian Expedition that ended so catastrophically for Athens (415–413 BCE). Book 7 opens with Athens seemingly on the point of victory, but the arrival of the Spartan commander Gylippus marks a change in fortunes and the Athenian commander Nicias is soon sending home a desperate plea for reinforcements. Three narrative masterpieces follow their arrival, first the eerie confusion of the night battle on the heights, then the naval clash in the Great Harbour, and finally the desperate attempt to escape and the slaughter at the river Assinarus. Following the sister commentary on Book 6, the Commentary offers students considerable help understanding the Greek while the Introduction discusses Thucydides' narrative skill and the part these books play in the architecture of the history.

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'… the level of erudition is high and the analysis of grammar, syntax, and rhetoric admirable. The introduction to this volume is very thorough … Pelling takes up all major and some minor aspects of the book and gives them full treatment …' Hunter R. Rawlings III, Histos 'Anyone reading Thucydides' books VI and VII can, perhaps even should, benefit from the deep knowledge of and understanding for the text Pelling displays.' Jan P. Stronk, Exemplaria Classica 'The Introductions serve as warm and erudite welcomes into a text often represented as cold and formidable … The commentaries are extremely rich … Pelling's volumes facilitate greater access to Thucydides, while his insightful readings demonstrate the way that Thucydides' authorial choices leave the reader with a sense of the tragedy of the Peloponnesian War.' Rachel Bruzzone, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Author Information

CHRISTOPHER PELLING is Emeritus Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford. His books include, most recently, Herodotus and the Question Why (2019) and, earlier, Literary Texts and the Greek Historian (2000); Plutarch and History (2002); and Twelve Voices from Ancient Greece and Rome (with Maria Wyke, 2014). He has also written commentaries on Plutarch's Caesar (2011) and, in the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics series, Plutarch's Life of Antony (1988) and, with Simon Hornblower, Herodotus Book 6 (2017). His edited or co-edited volumes include Characterization and Individuality in Greek Literature (1990), Ethics and Rhetoric (1995), Greek Tragedy and the Historian (1997), Ancient Historiography and its Contexts (2011), and Rediscovering E. R. Dodds (2019). He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.

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