Thucydides on the Outbreak of War: Character and Contest

Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War is a foundational text in the disciplines of Classics, International Relations, and Political Theory. The History is a masterpiece of classical political though, a revealing study of the first democracy at war, and a canonical book for the student of international politics. Yet the text is rarely studied in a truly interdisciplinary context. In Thucydides on the Outbreak of War, S.N. Jaffe offers a new reading of Thucydides’ famous account of the origins of the Peloponnesian War, engaging with scholars from the fields of Classics and Political Science. He explores how the beginning of particular, ancient war may reveal something of enduring interest about war itself.