THoukydidis

Thucydides was born between 460 and 454 BC in the Athenian deme of Alimounta (modern-day Alimos). He came from an aristocratic lineage and is said to have had royal Thracian ancestry on his father's side. As a descendant of Athens during its golden age, he had the opportunity to associate with prominent figures of his time, such as Pericles, Euripides, Gorgias, Phidias, and Hippocrates. Tradition holds that he was a student of Anaxagoras and the orator Antiphon. He was elected as a general in 424 BC. Accused of losing Amphipolis, he went into (self-)exile on his estates in Scapte Hyle, Thrace, where he devoted himself entirely to writing the history of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). To gather information, he visited battle sites and cities in Greece, Macedonia, and possibly Sicily. He returned to Athens after the war ended in 404 BC, but did not stay long. He did not manage to complete his History, which ends in 411 BC, the 20th year of the war. There is some uncertainty about his sudden death, but it is most likely that he died of illness. From his private life, we know he had a son, Timotheus, and a daughter, to whom some attribute the authorship of Book VIII of his History.