Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists

This edition of early Greek writings on social and political issues includes works by more than thirty authors. There is a particular emphasis on the sophists, with the inclusion of all of their significant surviving texts, and the works of Alcidamas, Antisthenes and the ‘Old Oligarch’ are also represented. In addition there are excerpts from early poets such as Homer, Hesiod and Solon, the three great tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the historians Herodotus and Thucydides, medical writers and presocratic philosophers. Besides political theory, areas represented include early anthropology, sociology, ethics and rhetoric, and the wide range of issues discussed includes human nature, the origin of human society, the origin of law, the nature of justice, the forms of good government, the distribution of wealth, and the distribution of power among genders and social classes.

Preface; Introduction; Principal dates; Bibliographical note; Glossary; Table of equivalents; Part I. Early Poetry: 1; Homer; 2. Hesiod; 3. Archilochus; 4. Tyrtaeus; 5. Solon; 6. Theognis; 7. Hymn to Hephaestus; 8. Simonides; 9. Xenophanes; 10. Pindar; Part II. Tragedy: 11. Aeschylus; 12. Sophocles; 13. Euripides; 14. Other tragic fragments; Part III. History and Folklore: 15. Herodotus; 16. Thucydides; 17. The old Oligarch; 18. Aesop; Part IV. Philosophy and Science: 19. Heraclitus; 20. Democritus; 21. Medical writers from the Hippocratic corpus; 22. Antisthenes; Part V. Sophists; 23. Protagoras; 24. Gorgias; 25. Prodicus; 26. Hippias; 27. Antiphon; 28. Thrasymachus; 29. Evenus; 30. Critias; 31. Lycophron; 32. Alcidamas; 33. Anonymus Iamblichi; 34. Dissoi Logoi; 35. From unknown authors; Index.