The work of Thucydides on the Peloponnesian War has not only decisively influenced our notion of history up until the present day; the complexity of his account also constitutes a particular challenge to philological and historical interpretations alike. Besides focussing on the political and military aspects, by virtue of its unpretentious, downright scientific perspective on historical events and their driving forces, this work set standards that have hardly been surpassed since. In the light of the remarkable sobriety with which Thucydides presents historical reality as a natural realm of existence beyond all theological, ethical or ideological embellishments, the history of thought and the hermeneutical implications behind this model of history are equally fascinating.This volume endeavours to explore the nature of the relation between historical reality and literary portrayal in Thucydides' historical work. New insights are provided from different perspectives on the question how the contemporary 5th-century and the present-day reader is directed by the author as a "violent teacher".