The Peloponnesian War, which lasted 27 long years, was waged between the Greek city-states of Sparta and Athens. During this time, Greek civilization was engulfed in chaos and disaster. Thucydides, an Athens-born historian, chronicled the events of this famous conflict in his History of the Peloponnesian War (Penguin Classics). Conflicts between the two Greek states over the burgeoning haughtiness of the Athenian state in ancient Greece led to the war that broke out 400 years before the birth of Christ.