The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta was one of the most momentous episodes in ancient history. It raged for 27 years from 431 to 404 BC, involving states from Byzantiumn in the north to Crete in the south, and from Asia Minor in the east to Sicily in the west. This war is the subject of one of the greatest classic works, that of Thucydides.
J.F. Lazenby raises the fundamental questions of the war - often neglected in the detailed historiography of the period - and discusses its place in the history of warfare. The Peloponnesian War concentrates on the fighting that took place on land and sea, and the way in which strategy and tactics developed as the conflict spread.