This week we'll be looking at the military developments over the half-century or so between the end of the Persian wars and the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, and we'll look at the causes and opening chapters of that later conflict. We'll spend the next couple of weeks on the Peloponnesian war, during the course of which we'll be reading nearly all of Thucydides' history, so feel free to read ahead if you have the time.

Required readings:

For Monday: please read Thuc. 1.126-138: this passage occurs in the context of Spartan demands on Athens in 432, but in giving the background gives us information on the post-Persian war careers of Pausanias and Themistocles, which we'll continue to discuss. Also read pp, 11-13 of the course reader, on the Battle at the Eurymedon and the Peace of Callias.

For the rest of the week: please finish what you haven't read of Thuc. book 1 (1.24-88, 1.118-125, and 1.138-146, reviewing the sections you've already read), and read all of book 2, paying special attention to 2.1-17, 2.55-65, and 2.71-94. As you read, think about the causes Thucydides alleges for the outbreak of the war, and to the strategies Sparta and Athens plan to adopt to win the war. Familiarize yourself with the maps on pp. 15-18 of the course reader, and get an idea of the extent of the alliances of the opposing sides in the Peloponnesian war.

Read Sage, pp. 107-134.

Read Hanson, pp. 89-116.

Recommended Readings:

Burn, pp. 238-257.