As Woodruff notes in his introductory remarks, most of what’s known about Thucydides comes from his own work. His father was a wealthy Athenian called Olorus who owned gold mines in Thrace. From funerary evidence, he appears to have been related to Athenian general Cimon, who achieved success and acclaim during the Persian wars. Since officials had to be at least 30 years old to rise to the role of general, and Thucydides was elected for the role in 424, it’s surmised that he was born between 460 and 455 BC. He’s believed to have died in 404, shortly after the Peloponnesian war ended and Athens lost its empire, its navy, and its protective long walls.

During the Peloponnesian war, Thucydides led troops in northern Greece. He was sent to protect Amphipolis in 424 but arrived too late to affect the outcome. Exiled because of the loss, he spent the duration of the war in Thrace. The events that led to his exile may have heightened Thucydides’s awareness of the vagaries of fortune and the difficulty of predicting positive or negative outcomes. Because he spent his prolonged exile in Thrace (where his family owned gold mines), Thucydides was able to study the war from all sides.