Fifth Century Athens

Authors

Bernard M.W. Knox

Abstract

For the last few days you have been reading one man's unfinished account of a war in which he himself fought over 2,300 years ago. You may at times have doubted the wisdom of the higher authorities who gave you this assignment, and yet you could not fail to be impressed by the intellectual power of Thucydides, the clarity of his exposition, the depth of his political analysis; above all, by the fact that here, in an ancient text, political and military events are described and analyzed with a detachment, a freedom from prejudice and preconceptions, which seems to belong rather to the mind of a modern scientist than of a fifth-century Greek.

Recommended Citation

Knox, Bernard M.W. (1973) "Fifth Century Athens," Naval War College Review: Vol. 26: No. 5, Article 4.
Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol26/iss5/4