Where do our ideas about politics come from? What can we learn from the Greeks and Romans? How should we exercise power? Melissa Lane teaches politics at Princeton University, and previously taught political thought at the University of Cambridge, where she was a Fellow of King's College. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship in the field of classics, and the historian Richard Tuck called her book Eco-Republic 'a virtuoso performance by one of our best scholars of ancient philosophy.'
A COMPANION TO GREEK AND ROMAN POLITICAL THOUGHT Justice, virtue, and citizenship were at the center of political life in ancient Greece and Rome and were frequently discussed by classical poets, historians, and philosophers. This Companion illuminates Greek and Roman political thought in all its range, diversity, and depth. Thirty-four essays from leading scholars in history, classics, philosophy, and political science provide stimulating discussions of classical political thought, ranging from the Archaic Greek epics to the final days of the Roman Empire and beyond. These essays strike a judicious yet thought-provoking balance between theoretical and historical perspectives. A Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought is an authoritative guide to the ancient Greek and Roman political questions that continue to shape and challenge the modern world.
This volume is the first general and comprehensive treatment of the political thought of ancient Greece and Rome ever to be published in English. It covers Plato and Aristotle at length, but also a host of other major and minor thinkers, from Thucydides and the Greek dramatists to Cicero and early Christian writers. It attempts both historical and philosophical assessment of the writers discussed and quotes them generously in translation. It will take its place as a standard work essential for scholars and students of classics, history, philosophy and theology.
"First published in the United Kingdom as: Greek and Roman political ideas: a Pelican introduction, by the Penquin Group, Penguin Books ... London"--T.p. verso.
What is politics? What are the origins of political philosophy? What can we learn from the Greeks and Romans? In Greek and Roman Political Ideas, acclaimed classics scholar Melissa Lane introduces the reader to the foundations of Western political thought, from the Greeks, who invented democracy, to the Romans, who created a republic and then transformed it into an empire. Tracing the origins of political philosophy from Socrates to Cicero to Plutarch, Lane reminds us that the birth of politics was as much a story of individuals as ideas.
Comprises 34 essays from leading scholars in history, classics, philosophy, and political science to illuminate Greek and Roman political thought in all its diversity and depth. Offers a broad survey of ancient political thought from Archaic Greece through Late Antiquity Approaches ancient political philosophy from both a normative and historical focus Examines Greek and Roman political thought within historical context and contemporary debate Explores the role of ancient political thought in a range of philosophies, such as the individual and community, human rights, religion, and cosmopolitanism
A Companion to Greek Democracy and the Roman Republic offers a comparative approach to examining ancient Greek and Roman participatory communities. Explores various aspects of participatory communities through pairs of chapters—one Greek, one Roman—to highlight comparisons between cultures Examines the types of relationships that sustained participatory communities, the challenges they faced, and how they responded Sheds new light on participatory contexts using diverse methodological approaches Brings an international array of scholars into dialogue with each other
Links modern political theorists with the Romans who inspired them Roman contributions to political theory have been acknowledged primarily in the province of law and administration. Even with a growing interest among classicists in Roman political thought, most political theorists view it as merely derivative of Greek philosophy. Focusing on the works of key Roman thinkers, Dean Hammer recasts the legacy of their political thought, examining their imaginative vision of a vulnerable political world and the relationship of the individual to this realm. By bringing modern political theorists into conversation with the Romans who inspired them—Arendt with Cicero, Machiavelli with Livy, Montesquieu with Tacitus, Foucault with Seneca—the author shows how both ancient Roman and modern European thinkers seek to recover an attachment to the political world that we actually inhabit, rather than to a utopia—a “perfect nowhere” outside of the existing order. Brimming with fresh interpretations of both ancient and modern theorists, this book offers provocative reading for classicists, political scientists, and anyone interested in political theory and philosophy. It is also a timely meditation on the hidden ways in which democracy can give way to despotism when the animating spirit of politics succumbs to resignation, cynicism, and fear.
This volume presents an essential but underestimated role that Dionysus played in Greek and Roman political thought. Written by an interdisciplinary team of scholars, the volume covers the period from archaic Greece to the late Roman Empire. The reader can observe how ideas and political themes rooted in Greek classical thought were continued, adapted and developed over the course of history. The authors (including four leading experts in the field: Cornelia Isler-Kerényi, Richard Seaford, Richard Stoneman and Jean-Marie Pailler) reconstruct the political significance of Dionysus by examining different types of evidence: historiography, poetry, coins, epigraphy, art and philosophy. They discuss the place of the god in Greek city-state politics, explore the long tradition of imitating Dionysus that ancient leaders, from Alexander the Great to the Roman emperors, manifested in various ways, and show how the political role of Dionysus was reflected in Orphism and Neoplatonist philosophy. Dionysus and Politics provides an excellent introduction to a fundamental feature of ancient political thought which until now has been largely neglected by mainstream academia. The book will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars interested in ancient politics and religion.
This book explores how politeia (constitution) structures both political and extra-political relations throughout the entire range of Greek and Roman thought. Topics include the vocabulary of politics, the practice of politics, the politics of value, and the extension of constitutional order to relations with animals, gods and the cosmos.
Roman Political Thought is the first comprehensive treatment of the political thought of the Romans. Dean Hammer argues that the Romans were engaged in a wide-ranging and penetrating reflection on politics. The Romans did not create utopias. Instead, their thinking was relentlessly shaped by their own experiences of violence, the enormity and frailty of power, and an overwhelming sense of loss of the traditions that oriented them to their responsibilities as social, political, and moral beings. However much the Romans are known for their often complex legal and institutional arrangements, the power of their political thought lies in their exploration of the extra-institutional, affective foundations of political life. The book includes chapters on Cicero, Lucretius, Sallust, Virgil, Livy, Seneca, Tacitus, Marcus Aurelius, and Augustine and discussions of Polybius, the Stoics, Epicurus, and Epictetus.
