Athenian historian Thucydides “The Peloponnesian War” is considered by most scholars as one of the most vital books ever made on the 27 year-old Peloponesian War, a war between Athens and Sparta. This book is considered as his greatest contribution in history.
The book is written in a chronological way, neatly dividing the specific years into chapters and not jumping from one era to another. The book is different compared to other history books written by historians in such a way that it includes speeches in the book, and testimonies from eye witnesses were taken into account. Critics also regard Thucydides as an unbiased historian, because he writes in a neutral point of view even though he is a participant to the conflict. He implores realism in his way.
Thucydides work is also well acclaimed for being specific in his work. The book only focuses on the causes of the war, the war itself and the armaments used during the specific times and not on the art or architecture present on that year. He leaves out all things that are not related to the subject. He leaves out the mention of the gods in his work as he sees them unrelated to the events the he is writing about. He places himself as a recorder of event rather than a person who lives in the present period and tries to disregard all things in that are happening which according to his own judgment is an extra information and which does not have a bearing of the story he is about to record.
Many scholars consider his work as a vital tool in the world of history although because of the complex nature of how he wrote the book created some disagreements with regards to its interpretation among scholars. One flaw that scholars see in his book is the concealing his informants to specific events although they believe that in some cases he was present in specific events.
Thucydides’ way of presenting history is noteworthy when considering Edward Carr’s stand when he say that historians are bias and chooses to write what only the things they want to, not based on the facts. However, it does not completely agree with all the things Carr says regarding history. There is still a chance that Thucydides’ there are important “facts of the past” which have been ignored by him because he deem them unnecessary so he was still the one who chose what history is.
Although Thucydides' work was highly admired because of his "impartial approach to history and his methods of composition", there were also a lot of debates about his work. There are a lot of opposing criticisms about him. One side percieves Thucydides as a "wholly objective and has accurate reorder of facts" while the other side views him as a "politically engaged man who conveys biases of his own age and viewpoint" (Cengage).
Nevertheless, Thucydides’ work of history can’t be considered relativism whom Carr was trying to rebuke in his book What is History but it leans of more on the realism principle of history. It was obvious from his work that he wanted to present “tangible facts” and not “facts” that can have are prone to some subjective connotations. The presence of actual literary pieces from the time adds more to the worth of the book and the detailed description of each event. Although not all scholars agree with his way of presenting history, the fact they historians take time to analyze his work has given added value to it.
Works Cited
Carr, E.H.(1961). What is History? New York: Penguin Books Ltd.
Cengage, Gail. (1996). "Thucydides c. 455/460 B.C.-c. 399 B.C." Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism. Retrieved 27 January 2012 at http://www.enotes.com/thucydides-criticism/thucydides
Korab-Karpowicz. (2010). "Political Realism in International Relations". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 27 June 2012 at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism-intl-relations/
