Thucydides's account of the 27-year war between Athens and Sparta — the founding text of political realism and historical methodology — which includes the Melian Dialogue (the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must), Pericles's Funeral Oration, and the narrative of Athenian hubris and self-destruction.
Establishes political realism as the analytic framework for international relations — power and interest rather than justice determine outcomes — while making this a tragedy: Athens's greatness and its self-destruction are inseparable, and the lesson is not cynical acceptance of power but its tragic costs.
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