Skip to main content

Primary sourceBook5th century BCE

History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides · 5th century BCE

Thucydides' contemporary account of the war with Sparta, including his record of Pericles' strategy, speeches and death.

Thucydides' history is the key contemporary source for Pericles' speeches, strategy and death.

Ask Pericles about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Facsimile page of Greek manuscript handwriting in minuscule script, nine lines of dark ink on white, headed 'Facsimile No. 57', with a transcription and caption 'Thucydides.—Tenth Century' below.
Tenth-century manuscript of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut.69.2.

About this source

What it is

This is a history of the Peloponnesian War written by Thucydides, an Athenian who served as a general during the conflict. It is unfinished, ending mid-sentence, and survives through later manuscripts such as a tenth-century copy.

Why it matters

Thucydides gives the fullest contemporary account of Pericles' leadership, including his famous funeral oration and his judgment that Athens was, in practice, ruled by one leading citizen rather than purely by the people. Scholars debate how objective Thucydides really was, since he was an Athenian and a participant, but his work remains central to how we understand Pericles and Athenian democracy.

Look closer

  • Why might an eyewitness historian still have biases?
  • What does Thucydides' claim that Athens was 'in fact rule by the first citizen' suggest about Pericles' power?
  • How does the work being unfinished affect what we know about the war's end?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Pericles on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Pericles sources

Meet the AI Pericles →
Manuscript page in Greek handwriting with a decorative heading at top, showing the text of a speech in dense lines of script on aged parchment with marginal notes at left and right edges.Speech

Secondary source

Pericles' Funeral Oration

Thucydides · 431/430 BCE

Photograph of the Parthenon temple on the Athenian Acropolis, seen from the front-left under a deep blue sky. White marble Doric columns and a partly damaged pediment stand on a stepped base, with scattered marble blocks and ruins in the foreground.Artifact

Primary source

Parthenon

447-432 BCE

Marble bust of a bearded man wearing a tall Corinthian-style helmet with a raised crest and cheek guards. Curly hair and beard are carved in detail. The bust rests on a tan stone pedestal against a grey wall.Sculpture

Secondary source

Pericles with the Corinthian Helmet

Kresilas · Roman copy, from a Greek original near Pericles' lifetime

Book

Secondary source

Life of Pericles

Plutarch

A long gallery with dim lighting and a grid ceiling. Carved marble relief panels line the left wall and are displayed along the right wall; a visitor walks toward a distant display of marble heads and sculptures. A dark bench sits in the foreground.Sculpture

Primary source

Parthenon Frieze

Phidias · c. 443-437 BCE

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Pericles now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions