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How long was Thucydides exiled from Athens?
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Thucydides
Thucydides manuscript, 3rd century bc (Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, P. Hamburg 163).
Thucydides was exiled from Athens for a period of 20 years.1
He was sentenced to exile following his failure to prevent the Spartan general Brasidas from capturing the city of Amphipolis in 424 BCE, while Thucydides was serving as a stratēgos. This exile lasted until the fall of Athens and the subsequent peace in 404 BCE. Thucydides noted that this period of absence provided him with the opportunity to conduct research for his History and to engage with individuals on the Peloponnesian side of the conflict.1