Thucydides' account of the war between Athens and Sparta is the first great work of political history and still a fundamental text for political science and international relations today; it is also a compelling story, full of vivid characters and tragic miscalculations. This collection of essays is designed to accompany, instruct, and stimulate readers of Thucydides by making accessible some classic and influential studies that are frequently cited but not always easy to access. (One-third of the essays appear here in English for the first time.) All Greek is translated, and an introductory chapter surveys the chronology and thematic controversies among Thucydides' readings from antiquity to the present.

The author known (if he is known at all) as Dionysius Scytobrachion is hardly a topic of general interest, and since scholars of the rank of Eduard Schwartz and Erich Bethe devoted dissertations to him in the last century it may with justice be asked why the 20th century must see yet another one. This time, however, the subject chose hirns elf. My study of an unpublished papyrus (ehapter iii below) revealed that it contained a reference to Dionysius' Argonauts, a work already known in outline from Diodorus and the seholia to Apollonius of Rhodes; further searehing among published papyri turned up two other unnotieed fragments as well (chapters i-ii below), of which one-from an ancient manuscript of the work itself-was at least a century older than Diony sius is currently thought to have lived. Editions of these three papyri and a new examination of the evidence for Dionysius' life and works formed a dissertation ("The Argonauts of Dionysius Scytobrachion") submitted to Harvard University in 1979; out of this, with the addition of a general description of Dionysius' major works (chapters vii-viii below) and a new fragment collection, the present book has grown. At every stage of my work I have turned to others for help, and have always reeeived a generous response. Among those to whom I owe thanks for various assistanee are W. Clausen, L. Daly, H. Erbse, L. Koe nen, B. Kramer, H. Lloyd-Jones, R. Merkelbaeh, P. J. Parsons, R."

Thucydides' account of the war between Athens and Sparta is the first great work of political history and still a fundamental text for political science and international relations today; it is also a compelling story, full of vivid characters and tragic miscalculations. This collection of essays is designed to accompany, instruct, and stimulate readers of Thucydides by making accessible some classic and influential studies that are frequently cited but not always easy to access. (One-third of the essays appear here in English for the first time.) All Greek is translated, and an introductory chapter surveys the chronology and thematic controversies among Thucydides' readings from antiquity to the present.

The second book of Thucydides' history is of particular literary interest, containing as it does such important sections as the funeral oration, the account of the plague at Athens and the obituary of Pericles. Professor Rusten's commentary aims to assist the students to learn to read Thucydides. It scrutinises not only the standard historical context but also the literary and philosophical one, and devotes special attention to the exceptionally complex structures and techniques of language which make Thucydides the most difficult as well as most profound of ancient historians. The introduction surveys biographical interpretations of the text, suggests a new approach to fictive elements in the speeches, and sketches the chief features of Thucydidean style. This edition is intended primarily as a textbook for undergraduates and students in the upper forms of schools (both introduction and commentary are meant to be accessible even to less advanced students of Greek), but any Greek scholar will find it rewarding.