P. J. Rhodes was the resident specialist in Greek history at Durham University's Department of Classics and Ancient History for 40 years. Since his retirement in 2005 he has been Honorary and Emeritus Professor. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, where he was vice-chairman of the Classical Antiquity Section 1999-2002 and chairman 2002-5, and is a Foreign Member of the Royal Danish Academy. He written many previous works on classical history, including translations of Thucydides (books II, III and IV-V.24). He lives in Durham.