ABSTRACT
AMONG POLITICAL scientists, the ancient Greek historian Thucydides has long had a reputation as the first great proponent of "realism" in foreign policy. He is customarily read as such in courses in international relations, 1 and scholars in that field frequently use him as a touchstone in determining whether a given theory of world politics can accurately be categorized as "realist" or not. 2 Classicists and historians tend to see him in much the same way.
