The Peloponnesian War

By: Kenneth W. Harl, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Kenneth W. Harl

Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

The Peloponnesian War pitted Athens and its allies against a league of city-states headed by Sparta. The ancient Greek historian Thucydides captured this drama with matchless insight in his classic eyewitness account of what was arguably the greatest war in the history of the world up to that time.

These 36 half-hour lectures draw on Thucydides' classic account as well as other ancient sources to give you a full picture of the Greek world in uneasy peace and then all-out war in the late 5th century B.C. Professor Harl plunges you into the thick of politics, military strategy, economics, and technology.

You will feel the ancient Greek world come alive as you explore the war debates at Athens and Sparta, the devastating plagues that swept through Athens, the Revolt of Mytilene, the Battle of Pylos, the disastrous Athenian and Spartan expedition to Sicily against Spartan allies. You'll experience the thick of action and consider lively scholarly debates that continue to this day.

Unlike earlier great wars, the Peloponnesian War was not a conflict between kings, but between citizens from different city-states who shared the same language, gods, and festivals. Citizen assemblies decided questions of war - voting on their own fates, since they were the ones who had to do the fighting.

One of the most remarkable aspects of this era is that culture flourished side-by-side with the politics of war - that, even as Athenian citizens were honoring Aristophanes' mocking antiwar play, The Acharnians, by giving it first prize in a drama competition, they were debating with equal ardor whether to continue the war, and deciding overwhelmingly to do so.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2007 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2007 The Great Courses

So many lessons, so engaging

the story in and of itself is a page turner. But it's really the background and context that makes it engaging. It makes it so much more useful and applicable to today. Can't recommend it enough, hope he does more Great Courses.

very informative and in depth, well read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this course and learned a ton. Dr. harl has an immense amount of knowledge. my one criticism would be that he moves thematically and not chronologically which was sometimes confusing. I would totally recommend this course.

Great series from Great Courses

This series sums up exactly why I love The Great Courses. I can't recommend it enough.

Great entertaining interesting set of lectures

History at its best by a great great lecturer. It’s as if We are there behind the scenes

So good!

Excellent performance and very instructive. Love how excited the lecturer is about the topic, it was impressive not to be hooked. The maps and glossary of names in the handout were invaluable for keeping the myriad of similar names and places straight.

An excellent choice

Kenneth W. Harl is truly exceptional. Probably the best performance in my experience with the great lectures series, and I own a dozen. Buy it, listen to it, enjoy it, you can't go wrong with this guy.

A epic rendition of he Peloponnesian War

Kenneth Harl hits it out of the ballpark with this one. He brilliantly weaves the various narratives together into an emotional powerful story.

History by Historians

The professor shows a remarkable understanding of the people and circumstances of the time.

Alliance, Tradition, and War

This course demonstrates the consequences of when military powers, built on intricate alliance networks, come to blows. It shows how a network of states can have competing interests, how those interests manifest themselves on the battle field, and what kind of consequences may ensue. Professor Harl does a fine job of recounting the numerous facets of the war. However there are a large number of names and places interacting with one and other throughout the conflict, and making a list of all of these different factions was a necessity. Over all the course was great and provided valuable insights on the perils of what changes erupt from a state during periods of intense warfare.

Prof Harl is fantastic

This is the third great course I’ve listened to by professor Harl. All three are outstanding. Well worth the time.