Peter Jones

Ancient & modern – 22 November 2003

A classicist draws on ancient wisdom to illuminate contemporary follies

issue 22 November 2003

As WMDs fail to surface in Iraq, it looks more and more likely that we went to war on false pretences. This is no new phenomenon. According to the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 490-425 bc), the first war of Western literature was fought on equally illusory grounds — though that did not stop Herodotus justifying it.

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