This is the second volume of a three-volume historical and literary commentary of the eight books of Thucydides, the great fifth-century BC historian of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Books iv-v.24 cover the years 425-421 BC and contain the Pylos-Spakteria narrative, the Delion Campaign, and Brasidas' operations in the north of Greece. This volume ends with the Peace of Nikias and the alliance between Athens and Sparta.
A new feature of this volume is the full thematic introduction which discusses such topics as Thucydides and Herodotus, Thucydide's presentation of...

The ancient Greek achievement in the writing of history set the standard for all time. The nature of that achievement, though, looks increasingly problematic in the light of recent work on such topics as literacy, orality, rhetoric, narrative technique, and the invention of tradition. In this book, eight ancient historians consider both the achievement and the problems involved in the study of the Greek historians. These essays reflect the best and most recent scholarship on the subject.

Simon Hornblower argues for a relationship between Thucydides and Pindar not so far acknowledged in modern scholarship. He argues that ancient critics were right to detect stylistic similarities between these two great exponents of the "severe style" in prose and verse. In Part One he explores the background of epinikian poetry and athletics, the values shared by the two authors, and religion and colonization myths, and presents a geographically organized survey of Pindar's Mediterranean world, exploiting onomastic evidence. Part Two includes an analysis of Thucydides' account of the Olympic...

Ancient sport made a huge if indirect contribution to the literature of ancient Greece, since some sixty poems by Pindar and Bacchylides ("epinikian odes"), written to commemorate victories, survive from the Classical period. This book is a collection of essays about that literature, and about the social and physical context for which it was written. The editors assembled an internationally distinguished team of speakers for the original 2002 seminar series held in London, and these papers form the backbone of the book. But to ensure coherence and comprehensive coverage, they have...

Simon Hornblower argues for a relationship between Thucydides and Pindar not so far acknowledged in modern scholarship. He argues that ancient critics were right to detect stylistic similarities between these two great exponents of the "severe style" in prose and verse. In Part One he explores the background of epinikian poetry and athletics, the values shared by the two authors, and religion and colonization myths, and presents a geographically organized survey of Pindar's Mediterranean world, exploiting onomastic evidence. Part Two includes an analysis of Thucydides' account of the Olympic...

Volume VI of the new edition of The Cambridge Ancient History covers years that include the rise of Macedon and the campaigns of Alexander the Great. The volume treats the politics and economy not only of old Greece but also of the Near East and the western Mediterranean. It has sections on the continued development of classical art and the formation of the philosophical schools in Athens. This second edition, completely replanned and rewritten, is a full and reliable guide to the advances in scholarship of the past sixty-five years.

Thucydidean Themes is a collection of seventeen essays by Simon Hornblower on the great fifth-century BC Greek historian Thucydides; but other ancient Greek historians, notably Herodotus, also feature. The chapters are arranged thematically, in three main parts (general; discussions of particular sections of the History; Thucydides' reception). Although most have previously appeared in print, many have been extensively rewritten for this volume. All are provided with prefatory material which reviews recent work on the topic. Thucydidean Themes is intended both as a companion volume to the...

The Alexandra attributed to Lykophron is a minor poetic masterpiece. At 1474 lines, it is one of the most important and notoriously difficult Greek poems dating from the Hellenistic period (most likely the early second century BC).

Most of the poem purports to be a prophecy by the mythical Trojan princess, Kassandra, the most beautiful of the daughters of King Priam, and her prophecy ranges from the Trojan War to the Roman defeat of Macedon in 197 BC, which took place in the poet's own time. The poem's importance arises from the light which it sheds on Greek religion (in...

The Alexandra attributed to Lykophron is a minor poetic masterpiece. At 1474 lines, it is one of the most important and notoriously difficult Greek poems dating from the Hellenistic period (most likely the early second century BC).

Most of the poem purports to be a prophecy by the mythical Trojan princess, Kassandra, the most beautiful of the daughters of King Priam, and her prophecy ranges from the Trojan War to the Roman defeat of Macedon in 197 BC, which took place in the poet's own time. The poem's importance arises from the light which it sheds on Greek religion (in...