From the Greek victory over Persian forces on the field of Plataea to the Athenian blockade of the rebel city of Potidaea--key events in the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, respectively--the half-century of Greek history known as the pentecontaetia is an era for which sources are few and interpretation is controversial. Historian E. Badian brings together six essays--one new and five revised for this edition--that shed new light on this key period.