Why to Read Thucydides in the Post-Cold War Era

In view of many moderns,Thucydides' History of Peloponnesian War,which merely records a series of affairs on very small scales among ancient Greek city-states,is not qualified to be a practical guide to contemporary world.With end of Cold War,Thucydides has been less chosen as an image for ideological propaganda.However,this just provides modern reader an opportunity to rediscover real value of Thucydides.This paper attempts to approach problem from Thucydides' definition of the greatest war and argues that reading of Thucydides actually leads reader to a better understanding of various probable sufferings in human condition and an instructive lesson from his thoughts on relationship between sufferings and greatness.