Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War Begins [Hardcover]

J. E. Lendon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2010

Song of Wrath tells the story of Classical Athens’ victorious Ten Years’ War (431– 421 BC) against grim Sparta—the first decade of the terrible Peloponnesian War that turned the Golden Age of Greece to lead. Historian J.E. Lendon presents a sweeping tale of pitched battles by land and sea, sieges, sacks, raids, and deeds of cruelty and guile—along with courageous acts of mercy, surprising charity, austere restraint, and arrogant resistance. Recounting the rise of democratic Athens to great-power status, and the resulting fury of authoritarian Sparta, Greece’s traditional leader, Lendon portrays the causes and strategy of the war as a duel over national honor, a series of acts of revenge. A story of new pride challenging old, Song of Wrath is the first work of Ancient Greek history for the post-cold-war generation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In an exceptionally well-written account of the first 10 years of the Peloponnesian War (431–421 B.C.E.), University of Virginia historian Lendon (Soldiers and Ghosts) brings the Greek city-states to life. Crediting Thucydides with the humanizing of military history, Lendon emphasizes the extraordinary importance of worth or glory to the typical Greek and casts the long, bloody conflict between Athens and Sparta in the light of the concepts of honor and hubris. Political differences, characterized by the "democracy" of Athens and her sea-borne commercial supremacy in Attica, and by the stern militarism of Sparta, which ensured her dominance in Laconia and the Peloponnesian peninsula, inevitably resulted in war. In dramatic fashion, battles of conquest were waged from Boeotia to the Gulf of Corinth, and to Laconia and Attica themselves. Mutual exhaustion and disillusionment with allies led to a remarkable peace treaty that was soon broken. An excellent story, this account is further strengthened by the frequent use of maps and illustrations. But more information on the social and economic realities of the time would have been helpful. Illus. (Nov.) (c)
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Review

Jeremy Black, author of War: A Short History
“Honor and shaming are key themes in Lendon’s accomplished account of the first ten years of the Peloponnesian War. A major work of history, this well-written study provides important insights on the classical world that Lendon ably extents to contemporary international relations.”

Edward N. Luttwak, author of The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire
“J.E. Lendon must disagree with Thucydides, the greatest of historians, to tell his own dramatic story of the Ten Years’ War while still relying on him for his facts. J.E. Lendon’s learned enthusiasm pulls it off—and many a reader will relish this book.”

Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University

“J.E. Lendon’s polemology of ancient Greece recognizes no bounds—or equals. Honor is a major theme of his new finely researched and inimitably styled analysis of the Ten Years’ War (431-421 BCE) fought between Sparta and Athens and their respective allies, and honor is due to its never less than engaging author.”\

 

Barry Strauss, author of The Spartacus War and Professor of History at Cornell University

“Ancient military history is hot these days. Song of Wrath is the latest book to show the value of a great story, told with skill by a talented historian and gifted writer armed with a powerful idea. It is learned, readable, and passionate.”

Donald Kagan, Sterling Professor of Classics and History at Yale University and author of Thucydides: The Reinvention of History

“J.E. Lendon has written a lively, learned and fascinating account and interpretation of the coming of the Peloponnesian War and the first ten years of the fighting.  In Song of Wrath he explains the course of events as emerging chiefly from the values of the ancient Greeks, who cherished rank, honor and vengeance more than is recognized by modern experts in international relations and war.”

 

Tom Holland, author of Rubicon

“Beautifully written and unfailingly informative: scholarship has rarely conveyed such a sense of visceral excitement.”

 

Adrian Goldsworthy, author of Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra

“Well written and insightful. In Song of Wrath, J.E. Lendon discusses not simply how the Athenians and Spartans fought, but how they thought. This book demonstrates that a good story can also be good history.”

 

Dennis Showalter, Professor of History at Colorado College
“This provocative and persuasive analysis of the Peloponnesian War’s first ten years shifts focus from the ‘realist’ aspects of the conflict’s causes and conduct. Lendon stresses instead the centrality of honor, time, manifested by reciprocal acts of destruction and revenge. Humiliation, not conquest, was the primary war aim—an aim so vague it made expanding the war easier than making peace.”
 

Publishers Weekly
“In an exceptionally well-written account of the first 10 years of the Peloponnesian War (431–421 B.C.E.), University of Virginia historian Lendon brings the Greek city-states to life. Crediting Thucydides with the humanizing of military history, Lendon emphasizes the extraordinary importance of worth or glory to the typical Greek and casts the long, bloody conflict between Athens and Sparta in the light of the concepts of honor and hubris.”

 

Library Journal
“Weaving together cultural and military history, Lendon details the events of the Peloponnesian War’s first decade (431-421 B.C.E.) with language that is (as was his intention) more evocative of Herodotus’s epic-poetical style than the dryer intellectual approach of Thucydides.”

 

The Greek Star
“A fast-paced military history that places readers in the heart of battle, Song of Wrath is essential reading for anyone interested in one of the momentous wars in world history.”

 

The Hellenic Voice

“Historian J.E. Lendon presents a tale of pitched battles by land and sea, sieges, sacks, raids, and deeds of cruelty and guile – along with courageous acts of mercy, surprising charity, austere restraint, and arrogant resistance. Recounting the rise of democratic Athens to great-power status, and the resulting fury of authoritarian Sparta, Greece’s traditional leader, Lendon portrays the causes and strategy of the war as a duel over national honor, a series of acts of revenge.”

 

TucsonCitizen.com

“This is a panoramic narrative that spans the epoch from the Persian Wars in 479 BC to the resolution of the Ten Years War in 421 BC. The diplomatic maneuvers, big-picture strategies, and even the bloodshed on the battlefield itself are all revealed to bring into focus this blood chapter in Greek history.”

Choice
“Lendon’s rejection of Thucydides’ assumptions and ‘logic’ and his analysis of ‘face’ and ‘standing’ in this indecisive war on Hellenic hegemony challenge current scholarly consensus. Everyone can profit from Lendon’s polemical but thoroughly documented contrarian thesis exploring Thucydides, classical diplomacy, and peculiar protocols of ancient warfare…. Highly recommended.”

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 16 and up
  
• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (November 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465015069
• ISBN-13: 978-0465015061
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #437,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Ancient Greek

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Illumination, December 6, 2010

By 

michael mcgreevy - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War Begins (Hardcover)

What? Another book on the history of the Peloponnesian War? Yes, but I recommend that you consider this one, and delve once more into the story by Thucydides of this epic war.

The "Song of Wrath" provides an additional illumination of the original work of Thucydides and provides a distinct point of view for the casus belli and the manner in which it was initially executed.

Professor Lendon asserts that the cause of the war as told by Thucydides was the common practice of Ancient Greek city-states, specifically Sparta and Athens in this case, to continually assess their relative worth and rank amongst themselves. (Athens started the war to demonstrate its equality of rank with Sparta.) Further he states that assessment was a key component of its genesis and its initial conduct. Through Professor Lendon's analytical lens we are able to see that before and at the onset of the war in matters of relationships amongst the city-states that the values of worth (and its opposite, shame), honor, rank and reciprocity (i.e., honor values) appear to rank higher than those more common human values of economic gain, wealth, influence and power (i.e., power values) to the Ancient Greeks.

Throughout the three hundred and eighty five pages of this book he makes his case that these factors and the focus on humiliating the enemy rather than conquering him per se are the driving forces behind the story of the war's beginning and its execution in the first ten years.

The author's clear writing style, occasional wit, and frequent insight make for a comfortable and an educated reading. Adequate antique-style (not my favorite style) maps, glossaries and a comprehensive chronology of events of the first ten years of the war are also included.

A first order question for a prospective reader would probably be on why the coverage is limited to only the first ten years of a twenty seven year war? In a somewhat obscure explanation at the Inroduction (which only comes clearer in the Epilogue), Professor Lendon states that the primary reason is that this period is, "the best place...to study the relationship between foreign affairs and military strategy." (p. 15)

My view is that these initial years more aptly support Lendon's perspective of the importance of the honor values as stated by Thucydides. The subsequent seventeen years marshall to the forefront the more familiar human values and vices of personal advancement, economic wealth, deceit and bare power. Perhaps the arrival of the Sophists sparked this transition from one of a tradition based on myth and belief to rational relativism, exploited by opportunists such as Alcibiades. Those years include the disastrous invasion of Sicily by Athens (power), the opportunistic (deceit) and inscrutable (dishonorable) behavior of Alcibiades, the drawing of Persia (money) into the conflict, the revolt of the Athenian allies ("colonies"), and the final victory by Sparta and her allies over a humiliated and devastated Athens. I suspect that the values of honor, respect, shame and reciprocity took a back seat in the last two-thirds of the war; this would obviously muddy Lendon's perspective and story. After the initial ten years, the Athenians apparently won the war of rank; after seventeen more years, it lay devastated in a heap. So much for the advocates of starting a war for rank and honor.


Post script recommendations: If you are unfamiliar with the Thucydides account, I recommend that you first read a definitive translation and editing of the original work. For this purpose, I recommend that you read the "Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to The Peloponnesian War" edited by Robert B. Strassler. It is simply the best there is. It provides a complete and comprehensive guide to the entire war.

With that as your base, then read Lendon for his singular insights on the role of cultural values at the beginning of the war. From both of these you may come away with a richer understanding of the Ancient Greeks, their culture, and this "honorable" war.

I also recommend the works of Donald Kagan ("The Peloponnesian War") and Victor Hanson ("A War Like No Other"). Both are excellent in their own way. You cannot go wrong with any of these four. With the "Landmark Thucydides" as your base, Lendon, Kagan and Hanson will make you an Ancient Greek. I will leave it up to you to decide whether you are a Spartan or an Athenian. You may surprise yourself (as I surprised myself) on which side you choose.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In a word, superb., December 6, 2010

By 

Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War Begins (Hardcover)

Once in a while you encounter an extraordinary book that truly affects the way you look at the world. J.E. Lendon's "Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War Begins" is such a book.

Before reading "Song of Wrath" I thought I knew a fair amount about the Peloponnesian War. Kagan's tremendous four-volume history, Hanson's "A War Like No Other", and "The Landmark Thucydides" all have permanent places on my too-crowded bookshelves. But Lendon's new volume has revolutionized my understanding of events. He argues strongly and persuasively that the war had its origins in a very Greek competition for status, the perceived ranking of city-states against one another. And that most of the campaigns of that war, particularly those of the "Archidamian War" - the first ten years of the Peloponnesian War - were primarily dictated by the desire to impact status rather than directly erode the enemy's power to wage war effectively. Suddenly, events are illuminated in an intensely revealing light, a light not without relevance to world events long after the age of the hoplites.

Moreover, Lendon presents his detailed analysis in a witty narrative, not infrequently with a wryly cocked eyebrow. And he has a gift for vivid imagery to really drive home his points. "Song of Wrath" is far from the stereotypical dry academic study one might expect from a Professor of History. Kudos both to Dr. Lendon and to his editor who understood the value of such writing.

If anyone has any interest at all in the Peloponnesian War, then "Song of Wrath" must be read. Whether or not the reader comes away wholly convinced of Lendon's arguments, understanding of what happened back in the fifth century BC cannot help being enhanced.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing, November 19, 2010

By 

K. Kehler (B.C., Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War Begins (Hardcover)

I've read the author's other books, and if anything this one is more interesting and engrossing than the previous two. Lendon's thesis is that psycho-social -- for lack of a better expression -- factors like "worth", ranking, honour, status, "face" and esteem, etc., played a more central role in motivating agents to act in the classical Greek (and Roman) world than we typically acknowledge. Moreover, he holds that even today, these factors motivate agents and states, as well as "aggrieved" non-state actors, more than we frequently care to realize. Thucydides' treatment of the opening chapter of the great Athenian-Spartan wars is tackled well by Lendon who argues that Thucydides' infamous argument that the Spartans went to war because they feared the dynamic Athenians' power is wrong or at least incomplete. Rather, to understand the origins of the conflict, we must look at such "simple" -- and, incidentally, favoured in antiquity -- explanations as revenge, competition for honour-based esteem, martial primacy, and jockeying over rank. In the course of treating this material, Lendon gives the reader a terrific tour of ancient Greek culture and cultural practices, as well as an exciting overview of the 5th century.

He writes exceptionally clearly and deftly, explaining nicely along the way such key Greek concepts as hubris, tim' (honour) and metis, The book is most entertaining to amateur/armchair historians like myself. Whole swatches of Greek history become clearer, now that some of the motivations of Greek agents are explained. Greek history -- particularly warfare and military history -- comes to resemble Greek tragedy, in that "bloody" and "bloody-minded" motives are central, rather than just calculative or bloodless ones. Very highly recommended.