An ancient conflict brought vividly to life by its greatest historian For those familiar with contemporary works of military history there may be something disconcerting about a book written over 2,000 years ago. The Athenian Thucydides was however an historian very much in the modern mould, who wrote without making reference to "the Gods" and who relied upon the verification of facts to assemble his narrative. So contemporary readers might be surprised-and delighted even-to discover here a very readable text full of vital and immediate detail. The Peloponnesian War, fought in the fifth century B. C between the city-states of Greece, lasted twenty seven years. The warring factions were the the dominant Greek city-state Athens, supported by its imperial allies, and Sparta which led the Peloponnesian League. The war comprised three phases, the first of which, the "Archidamian War" involved sustained land attacks on Attica by the Spartans whilst Athens raided the enemy coastline...