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Why do scholars think Thucydides died shortly after 404 BCE?
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Thucydides
Thucydides manuscript, 3rd century bc (Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, P. Hamburg 163).
Scholars believe that the Greek historian Thucydides died shortly after 404 BCE primarily because his History ends abruptly, leaving the final six years of the Peloponnesian War without a connected account.12
While the exact time and manner of his death remain uncertain, this sudden conclusion suggests he did not live long enough to complete his intended narrative. Furthermore, it is considered probable that he may have died by violence during the volatile period that followed the fall of Athens and the peace of 404 BCE.312