His history of his ancient world, persian-greek wars, etc. is divided in nine (9) books called gre: 'MOYΣAI' (eng: muses). His narration is flowing and delightful, includes many stories, myths and customs of many nations.
History of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 a.e.v.) between Sparta and Athens. Describes causes of historical events, gives excellent political analysis and presents the famous 'demegories', the speeches of great politicians. Thucydides wrote about the years up to 411 a.e.v. The remaining war-years are described by Xenophon. Famous parts of his history are: the introduction where he sets the goals of a historian, his 'archaeology', his recording of the plague, Pericles' Epitaph for the casualties of the first year, the 'pathology of civil war', the debates over the killing of the men in Lesbos, the debates over the killing of the men in Melos.
His works include the Hellenica that describes events of the Peloponnesian War from where Thucydides stopped, other historical works, and accounts of the teachings of the philosopher Socrates.
Philosophical thought appears for the first time around the 6th century a.e.v. in China and in Greece. See: Laozi (chinese) and presocratic philosophers (greek).
General philosophy links
Start from Thales (624-546 a.e.v.) gre:[θa`lis]. You can find a concise list of many important philosophers by group at wikipedia. Their works do not survive, apart from some fragments, small jewels of pure thought. Check Heraclitus (535-475 a.e.v.) mod.gre:[i`raklitos], Democritus (460-370 a.e.v.) mod.gre:[δi`mokritos].
Brilliant thinker. His philosopy is presented mostly in dialogue form. He tought at Academia, a sacred place in Athens (not far away from today's Academia street).
Student of Plato, he remained in the Academy until he founded his own school: LYKEION (lyceum). His writings about almost everything and his logic-system called ORGANON (organum) dominated for long, too long, over european thought.
Greeks love theatre. During summers all the country's ancient theatres are packed with thousands of spectators. An average Epidaurus-event is attended by c.15 thousand people. Ancient drama is not attended only by scholars! Not at all!!! People relate to it very naturally. The old villagers of the nearby village Lygourio, who were traditionally allowed to watch dress rehearsals since the 50s are the toughest critics! The Epidaurus Festival was established in 1954, following earlier attempts for the revival of ancient drama by the poet Sikelianos at Delphi.
Documentary: Lygourio and the Ancient Theater / Yorgos Antoniou Λυγουριό και αρχαίο θέατρο / Γιώργος Αντωνίου
To watch a drama, the perfect place is Epidaurus. A very distant second best would be the Herodion of Athens.
If you cannot come to greece, look for the filmed production of the 1962: Electra by Sophocles, director: Dimitris Rontiris, Electra: Aspasia Papathanasiou, production: BBC. •videosample.swf-chorus at www.ancientgreekdrama.gr •videosample.swf-Electra: Ekectra mourning at www.ancientgreekdrama.gr The famous monologue with Aspasia Papathanasiou
Probably the videosamples seem a bit out of context, but I assure you that when watching the whole performance, the sensation is sublime.