This stimulating new study provides a narrative of the monumental conflict of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and examines the realities of the war and its effects on the average Athenian. The book offers an original interpretation of how and why the war began, and challenges the approach of Thucydides in his account of the war.

This stimulating new study provides a narrative of the monumental conflict of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and examines the realities of the war and its effects on the average Athenian.

• A penetrating new study of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta by an established scholar
• Offers an original interpretation of how and why the war began
• Weaves in the contemporary evidence of Aristophanes in order to give readers a new sense of how the war affected the individual
• Discusses the practicalities and realities of the war
• Examines the blossoming of culture and intellectual achievement in Athens despite the war
• Challenges the approach of Thucydides in his account of the war