'Thucydides in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries'

This chapter outlines some key trends in twentieth- and twenty-first-century classical scholarship on Thucydides and argues that knowledge of this scholarship is important for all who appeal to Thucydides in other disciplines and public life. It looks at the ways in which Thucydides’ status as “trustworthy” and “scientific” has been challenged and reconfigured. Approaches which originated in other disciplines have shaped classicists’ and ancient historians’ work on Thucydides considerably. When classics and ancient history are in dialogue with other disciplines, fresh perspectives on the History usually emerge for all parties. Cross-disciplinary dialogue even allows Thucydides a continuing, productive role in theoretical controversies concerning the nature, limits, and uses of historical narrative and inquiry.