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Thucydides was born around the year 400 BCE. Ironically, the information about his own life is fragmentary and often unreliable. Thucydides was born in the city of Athens, and his father, Olorus, was likely a member of the Athenian elite. Based on his father’s name, he may have been descended from Thracian royalty. This view is likely because when he got older he owned both a gold mine and quite a bit of land in the region.<ref> Connor, W. Robert, Thucydides (Princeton: Princeton University Press 1984), p. 117</ref>
Thucydides was a skeptic and adopted a relativist approach to justice and morality, in his work and it appears that he was apparently greatly influenced by the philosophers known as the Sophists. His philosophical position is that human beings are motivated by power and their needs. In 431 BC, [[What were the causes of the Peloponnesian War ?|the Peloponnesian War]] broke out between Sparta and Athens. The Peloponnesian War was a brutal conflict for dominance of the Greek world (431-404 BC). In 421 BC, Thucydides was elected a strategos or general by the Athenian popular Assembly. This appointment suggests that he was already an experienced military commander and was a well-known public figure. It is clear based on the reading of his later work that he was an admirer of the Athenian politician Pericles and was possibly associated with the popular party in the city.
He was sent to Thrace possibly because of his connections with the region and he had considerable influence with the Thracians. In the winter of 423 BC, the Spartans attacked the strategic city of Amphipolis, which was not far from where Thucydides and an Athenian force were based. The Athenian commander at Amphipolis sent a message for help. The Spartan commander, Brasidas was aware that Thucydides was nearby, and he offered the citizens of Amphipolis, generous terms. This clever strategy meant the Spartans were able to take the city before Thucydides arrived.
