Everyman's library. Classical -- [no. 455]

Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Athens and Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its author's ambitious claim. Thucydides himself (c.460-400 BC) was an Athenian and achieved the rank of general in the earlier stages of the war. He applied thereafter a passion for accuracy and a contempt for myth and romance in compiling this factual record of a disastrous conflict.

A history of the war between Athens and Sparta, along with both of their allies and colonies. The author was an Athenian citizen who tried not to take sides in his recording of events and avoided second hand stories as well as attributions of events to divine providence or fate. His writing is sometimes considered dry and dense compared to other ancient Greek historians of his time, and he has been called "the first modern historian" in contrast to historians such as Herodotus who came before him but were less factually rigorous.