Reassessing the Peloponnesian War

by: Gartland, S. Osborne, R.

Reassessing the Peloponnesian War

Editors: Samuel Gartland, University of Leeds
Robin Osborne, University of Cambridge

Modern accounts of the great war between the Athenians and the Spartans in the late fifth century BC have simply reanalysed the gripping analysis of military and political events given by Thucydides. But a great deal of other evidence survives from this best-known of all periods of Athenian history. This book exploits that evidence and our rich knowledge of ancient Greek society to reveal the Peloponnesian War as not just an event but an experience that reshaped Athenian society as it was happening. It looks again not merely at the causes of the war and its military and political narratives, but at how the war reshaped the world, for men, for women, and even for the gods. This book not only re-illuminates the most dramatic years of classical Athenian history, it reshapes what it is to write history.

Provides multiple perspectives on one of the most traumatic events in ancient Greek history
Simultaneously reveals the power and the limitations of the highly influential account by Thucydides
Makes clear the ways in which we make history, as much as history makes us

Table of Contents
1. Introduction: rewriting the Peloponnesian War Samuel Gartland and Robin Osborne
2. An entangled history of the Peloponnesian War Kostas Vlassopoulos
3. The causes of the Peloponnesian War Robin Osborne
4. The Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian War Polly Low
5. Peloponnesian war aims and strategies, 432–420: Sparta versus its allies Hans van Wees
6. Athenian politics and the Peloponnesian War Vincent Azoulay
7. Greek constitutional thinking and the Peloponnesian War Lynette Mitchell
8. The Peloponnesian War and the changing shape of the world Samuel Gartland
9. Rape and sexual violence in the Peloponnesian War Alastair Blanshard
10. Gods: what are they good for? Religion and the Peloponnesian War Hannah Willey
11. The Peloponnesian War: a prophecy: Thucydides and the clash of civilizations James Davidson.

Editors
Samuel Gartland , University of Leeds
SAMUEL GARTLAND is Lecturer in Ancient Greek History and Culture at the University of Leeds.

Robin Osborne , University of Cambridge
ROBIN OSBORNE is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at the University of Cambridge.

Reassessing the Peloponnesian War

by: Gartland, S. Osborne, R.

• ISBN-13: 9781009461535 / 978-1-009-46153-5
• ISBN-03: 1009461532 / 1-009-46153-2
• Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2025