New History Peloponnesian War

This new study by a respected historian provides a unique narrative of the Peloponnesian War, a monumental conflict between Athens and Sparta that raged for 27 years across the Greek world. The conflict's resulting destruction of cities, mass enslavements, and loss of human life - in short, the horrors of war - bears strong resemblance to the violence of modern war from the Western front to Vietnam. Despite these common factors, little attention has been paid to the contemporary nature of the Peloponnesian War, and its impact on the society and culture of the time. Incorporating an original interpretation of how and why the war developed, and a perceptive analysis of its conduct, Tritle weaves in the contemporary evidence of Aristophanes and other dramatists to illustrate how war affected the average Athenian. He discusses the effect of the violence on both the individual and society, in the light of modern understanding of the impact of the brutality of war. He also describes how, despite the conflict, Athens witnessed a blossoming of culture and intellectual achievement, including the plays of Sophocles and Euripides, and the philosophical questioning of Socrates.