Peloponnesian

Stop and chat with Paul, in other words, and you may walk away bruised of ego, wrinkled of nose and renewed in your determination to know as little as possible about the Peloponnesian War.

It was based on the ancient historian’s observation that the real cause of the Peloponnesian War “was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta.”

The Greek historian Thucydides described how this cycle of hatred convulsed city after city during the Peloponnesian War.

Students learn about the Peloponnesian wars but are less likely to study the Sino-Japanese war or Mongol conquests.

“Set on the coastal waters of the Peloponnesian Peninsula, it melds Greek myth and a little World War II history into a tour de force novel,” Clark wrote.