Empire and politics in Thucydides

This work addresses the concept of empire in Thucydides political thought. Contemporary studies they insist that the term ἀρχή is preferred by Athenian historian to enunciate the idea of empire. However, the existence of others terms in the Greek lexicon used to designate an imperial power, forces to reflect on the terminological election by Thucydides. In that sense, here the thesis is proposed that the mentioned term allows to explain the imperial phenomenon from categories of the polis.