The Peloponnesian War: A History of Athens

The plague that came to Athens in 430 BCE killed a third of the city's hoplites. Citizens and soldiers alike were carted into mass graves. The Spartans didn't import their grain from the Nile, they used their own grain from the vast fields of the Peloponnes. Pericles had been the son of a politician and noblewoman. His death meant that Athens had lost one of the greatest leaders and administrators in human history.