书名：The History of the Peloponnesian War伯罗奔尼撒战争史
作者：Thucydides
出版社名称：Penguin Books
出版时间：2000
语种：英文
ISBN：9780140440393
商品尺寸：12.8 x 2.8 x 19.6 cm
包装：平装
页数：648
“新兴强国”与“老牌霸主”之间，战争是否真的不可避免？
战争爆发的动机是政体的差异？抑或是人性的共通——对权力和财富的贪婪与狂热？

The History of the Peloponnesian War《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》按照编年体记事，详细记录了以雅典为首的提洛同盟与以斯巴达为首的伯罗奔尼撒联盟之间的一场战争，并且分析了这场战争的原因和背景，体现了严谨的治学态度和缜密的史学方法，代表了希腊古典史学的水平。这是一本史学经典著作，可谓了解和研究世界历史（特别是古代史）的大师著作，而且有着广泛的社会受众面。

A first-hand account of the war between Sparta and Athens from a man dubbed the 'father of scientific history', Thucydides History of The Peloponnesian War is translated from the Greek by Rex Warner with an introduction and notes by M.I. Finley in Penguin Classics.
'My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last for ever'
Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Athens) stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its author's ambitious claim. Thucydides himself 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.

公元前431-前404年，数百个城邦卷入了规模空前的“希腊世界大战”，战火几乎波及当时整个地中海文明世界。以斯巴达为首的伯罗奔尼撒同盟和雅典帝国这两大军事集团，一方在陆上称雄，一方在海上称霸，双方巧施权谋，展开长期的拉锯战。正当双方两败俱伤、财尽兵竭之时，虎视眈眈的波斯人借机干涉，帮助斯巴达人击败雅典人，摧毁了盛极一时的雅典海上帝国。这场战争对希腊诸邦政治造成巨大的冲击和震荡，对于社会经济无异于一场浩劫，对于其后希腊人的思想文化、对于地中海世界的国际局势都产生重大而深远的影响。

亲历这场大战的历史学家修昔底德，以其客观冷静的态度，生动豪放的史笔，简洁流畅的文字，不仅全面地记载了战争的主要史实（迄前411年），展示了陆战海战的恢宏场面，党派斗争的严酷惨烈，还恰如其分地描述了其间人们心理心态的微妙变化。此著是希腊古典文明鼎盛时期的文化精品。千百年来一直吸引着无数读者去欣赏、玩味、思考……
修昔底德（Thucydides，约公元前460—前400/396年），出身于雅典富有的显贵之家，自幼接受良好的教育，而立之年已具有深厚的学术素养和史才。公元前424年当选为雅典将军，主持色雷斯一带战事，他在战争之初即开始搜集史料，倾其毕生精力完成千古名著《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》。他全面发展了人本史观，运用朴素唯物论的方法，综合地探讨历史因果关系，探索人事规律，创立了比较科学的治史原则，被誉为“求真的人”。

THUCYDIDESwas born probably about 460BC. He took a small part in the Peloponnesian War when it broke out in 431BC. 'The Peoloponnesian War' is the only surviving source for much of the period that he describes. Some of the chronological inconsistencies have been the cause of controversy among scholars for centuries.
It appears, for example, that the country now called Hellas had no settled population in ancient times; instead there was a series of migrations, as the various tribes, being under the constant pressure of invaders who were stronger than they were, were always prepared to abandon their own territory. There was no commerce, and no safe communication either by land or sea; the use they made of their land was limited to the production of necessities; they had no surplus left over for capital, and no regular system of agriculture, since they lacked the protection of fortifications and at any moment an invader might appear and take their land away from them, Thus, in the belief that the day-to-day necessities of life could be secured just as well in one place as in another, they showed no reluctance in moving from their homes, and therefore built no cities of any size or strength, nor acquired any important resources. Where the soil was most fertile there were the most frequent changes of population, as in what is now called Thessaly, in Boeotia, in most of the Peloponnese (except Arcadia), and in others of the richest parts of Hellas. For in these fertile districts it was easier for individuals to secure greater powers than their neighbours: this led to disunity, which often caused the collapse of these states, which in any case were more likely than others to attract the attention of foreign invaders.
It is Interesting to observe that Attica, which, because of the poverty of her soil, was remarkably free from political disunity, has always been inhabited by the same race of people. Indeed, this is an important example of my theory that it was because of migrations that there was uneven development elsewhere; for when people were driven out from other parts of Greece by war or by disturbances, the most powerful of them took refuge in Athens, as being a stable society; then they became citizens, and soon made the city even more populous than It had been before, with the result that later Attica became too small for her Inhabitants and colonies were sent out to Ionia.