ABOUT THIS BOOK

Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War is one of the most significant historical and political texts of Ancient Greece, enjoying a broad appeal among the educated general public since at least 1628. The past decade has seen the historian garner significant attention even in the popular press, as scholars and politicians alike have sought to employ the History to analyze current international relations. Despite this popularity, the complexity of Thucydides’ Greek has left the original language surprisingly challenging.

Commentary on Thucydides, Book 3 remedies this situation by offering detailed linguistic explanations and grammatical clarifications designed to appeal both to seasoned Classicists and to a broader group of non-specialist readers who may still be developing their Greek language skills. Starting with 428 BCE, Book 3 covers a critical period of the Peloponnesian War in which the conflict began to manifest its extraordinary violence and scale. The book contains influential and controversial discussions, including Thucydides’ own analysis of the nature of war and the ways that it teaches “lessons of violence” to individuals and states. Book 3 also features the famous Mytilenean Debate, an argument premised on the thesis that all international relations are, or should be, fundamentally amoral. Educated readers have always looked to Thucydides in turbulent times, and this commentary will open up his text to a wider audience.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Rachel Bruzzone is Assistant Professor in the Cultures, Civilizations, and Ideas Department at Bilkent University.

REVIEWS

“Book 3 of Thucydides’ History has been as much in need as any of a single-volume commentary, featuring, as it does, some of the highpoints and some of the hardest Greek of the entire work. Rachel Bruzzone does a superb job of combining concise, helpful elucidations of Thucydides’ language with judicious attention to issues of interpretation and pivotal themes. All readers of Thucydides, from undergraduates to experienced scholars, will greatly profit from consulting her commentary.”— Tobias Joho, University of Bern, Switzerland

“As an internationally recognized expert on Thucydides, Rachel Bruzzone is in an excellent position to take on the challenging task of writing a commentary that makes Thucydides’ difficult Greek accessible for upper-level undergraduate and lower-level graduate students without any prior exposure to Thucydides and that, at the same time, teaches them to appreciate the intellectual depth and literary artistry of this author. Bruzzone’s commentary succeeds in this dual task admirably, providing lucid information on realia, historical background, grammar and linguistics and taking novice students on an exciting journey of discovering Thucydides’ historical, philosophical, and literary aims. The book is thoroughly researched, well-written and will make a great addition to the growing list of Student Commentaries published by the University of Michigan Press.”— Bernd Steinbock, University of Western Ontario

“Rachel Bruzzone has produced a superb commentary on Book 3 of Thucydides, a Book so full of historiographical masterpieces as to require a true expert to explicate. Bruzzone is that expert. She plumbs the depths of Thucydides’ rhetoric to uncover the meaning of his speeches and his narrative and to make them accessible to all readers, a rare feat.”— Hunter Rawlings, Cornell University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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