The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Political Thought

by Edited by Stephen Salkever

• ISBN13: 9780521687126
• ISBN10: 0521687128
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-27
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Cambridge Companion to Greek Political Thought offers a guide to understanding the central texts and problems in ancient Greek political thought, from Homer through the Stoics and Epicureans. Composed of essays specially commissioned for this volume and written by leading scholars of classics, political science, and philosophy, the Companion brings these texts to life by analyzing what they have to tell us about the problems of political life. Focusing on texts by Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle, among others, they examine perennial issues, including rights and virtues, democracy and the rule of law, community formation and maintenance, and the ways in which theorizing of several genres can and cannot assist political practice.

Author Biography

Stephen Salkever is Katharine Woodworth Professor of Political Science at Bryn Mawr College. His is the author of Finding the Mean: Theory and Practice in Aristotelian Political Philosophy (1990), as well as numerous articles and chapters on ancient and modern political philosophy. His research has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Humanities Center, and he has received teaching awards from Bryn Mawr and from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Homer and Political Thought	p. 15
Foundings vs. Constitutions: Ancient Tragedy and the Origins of Political Community	p. 42
Most Favored Status in Herodotus and Thucydides: Recasting the Athenian Tyrannicides through Solon and Pericles	p. 65
Thucydides and Political Thought	p. 96
"This Way of Life, This Contest": Rethinking Socratic Citizenship	p. 126
The Political Drama of Plato's Republic	p. 156
Practical Plato	p. 178
Reading Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Politics as a Single Course of Lectures: Rhetoric, Politics, and Philosophy	p. 209
Lived Excellence in Aristotle's Constitution of Athens: Why the Encomium of Theramenes Matters	p. 243
The Virtue Politics of Democratic Athens	p. 271
Origins of Rights in Ancient Political Thought	p. 301
The Emergence of Natural Law and the Cosmopolis	p. 331
Select Bibliography	p. 365
Index	p. 367
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