-460 – -400
Thucydides (c. 460–400 BCE) was an Athenian historian and general who authored the History of the Peloponnesian War, documenting the conflict between Athens and Sparta from 431 to 411 BCE. He is regarded as the father of scientific historiography for his rigorous insistence on eyewitness accounts, critical evaluation of sources, and rejection of mythological or providential causation. His analysis of power, human nature, and political decision-making laid the foundations of political realism.
Authored the History of the Peloponnesian War, the foundational text of critical historiography
Pioneered empirical historical method based on eyewitness testimony and rational source evaluation
Developed political realism through the Melian Dialogue and analysis of the Athenian empire
Introduced the concept of human nature (to anthropinon) as a stable constant underlying political behavior
Rejected mythological and divine causation in favor of structural and psychological explanations of events