History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

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Brilliant (but mostly not so _newly_ known)
Archimedes - a mathematical genius centuries ahead of his time

The Works of Archimedes
Archimedes
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486420841

Book Description

Complete works of ancient geometer in highly accessible translation by distinguished scholar. Topics include the famous problems of the ratio of the areas of a cylinder and an inscribed sphere; the measurement of a circle; the properties of conoids, spheroids, and spirals; and the quadrature of the parabola. Informative introduction and 52-page supplement.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant (but mostly not so _newly_ known).......2007-02-10

Again I feel I must post a review to counter misleading
information in an earlier review. The author of the
previous review seems to think these works were _not_
available to scholars during the Renaisance. In fact,
the famous "Archimedes Palimpsest" that resurfaced in
the 1990s is only a small part of the works of Archimedes
found in this book. Moreover, this book is a reprint of
the translation published in 1897 by Thomas L. Heath.
Heath _did_ have access to the Palimpsest (or maybe to
a translation into German or to a copy--of this I am
unsure) and did include a translation in this book in
1897. It is true that after the Palimpsest resurfaced
in the 1990s and began to be examined by modern methods,
some lacunae were filled in. But that's not even most
of the Palimpsest, let alone most of the contents of
this book. Moreover, the newly discovered material is
not in this book (but Heath's translation of the Palimpsest
is). The previous reviewer is _extremely_ confused about
the history.

Now to the contents of the book. The famous Palimpsest
actually is my favorite part. Prepare to be dazzled.
Many 20th-century calculus texts, saying that integral
calculus was anticipated by Archimedes in the 3rd century
BC, are so phrased that they may give their readers
the impression that Archimedes worked with something similar
to Riemann sums, or similar nonsense. The truth is far more
interesting. Archimedes used infinitesimals explicitly.
His proofs were amazingly efficient. If you think that a
brilliant proof by an ancient mathematician having only
relatively primitive methods at his disposal must be longer
and more complicated than a proof by modern methods, think
again. Modern methods are indeed more efficient, but not
because one writes _shorter_ proofs; rather it is because
(at least in the present case) one writes _fewer_ proofs.
Archimedes introduced the concept of center of gravity.
In the Palimpsest, he finds not only areas and volumes,
but centers of gravity (that of a solid hemisphere of
uniform volume is 5/8 of the way from the "north pole" to
the center of the sphere, Archimdes shows in one of his
startlingly efficient proofs--just one example).

It was not only by the use of infinitesimals that Archimedes
solved problems that would now be treated by integral calculus.
For example, one of the methods (just one of them) by which
Archimedes found the area between a parabola and one of its
secant lines involved dividing that area into an infinite
sequence of triangles, the sum of the areas of which is a
geometric series. Many other examples are in these pages.

Archimedes - a mathematical genius centuries ahead of his time.......2006-07-07

The Works of Archimedes is the record of work by one of the world's greatest minds -- the ancient Greek, Archimedes -- a mathematical genius centuries ahead of his time. Hidden for a millennium in a middle eastern library, it has been written over, broken up, painted on, cut up and re-glued. But in the nick of time scientists have saved the precious, fragile documents, and it reveals just how revolutionary Archimedes' ideas were. If it had been available to scholars during the Renaissance, we might have reached the Moon over a hundred years ago. Archimedes was a man who was thousands of years ahead of his time. Not only was Archimedes coming to terms with the profound subject of infinity, he had taken the first crucial steps towards calculus, a branch of mathematics that had to be reinvented after the Renaissance, and which is today used to describe every physical phenomenon from the movement of the planets to the construction of a skyscraper. Who knows what human minds could have achieved if they had only known what Archimedes already knew?

The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity (Hellenistic Culture and Society, 40)

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Book Review Excerpts

The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity (Hellenistic Culture and Society, 40)
Kathy L. Gaca
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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Adam, Eve, and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity

ASIN: 0520235991

Book Description

This provocative work provides a radical reassessment of the emergence and nature of Christian sexual morality, the dominant moral paradigm in Western society since late antiquity. While many scholars, including Michel Foucault, have found the basis of early Christian sexual restrictions in Greek ethics and political philosophy, Kathy L. Gaca demonstrates on compelling new grounds that it is misguided to regard Greek ethics and political theory--with their proposed reforms of eroticism, the family, and civic order--as the foundation of Christian sexual austerity. Rather, in this thoroughly informed and wide-ranging study, Gaca shows that early Christian goals to eradicate fornication were derived from the sexual rules and poetic norms of the Septuagint, or Greek Bible, and that early Christian writers adapted these rules and norms in ways that reveal fascinating insights into the distinctive and largely non-philosophical character of Christian sexual morality.
Writing with an authoritative command of both Greek philosophy and early Christian writings, Gaca investigates Plato, the Stoics, the Pythagoreans, Philo of Alexandria, the apostle Paul, and the patristic Christians Clement of Alexandria, Tatian, and Epiphanes, freshly elucidating their ideas on sexual reform with precision, depth, and originality. Early Christian writers, she demonstrates, transformed all that they borrowed from Greek ethics and political philosophy to launch innovative programs against fornication that were inimical to Greek cultural mores, popular and philosophical alike. The Septuagint's mandate to worship the Lord alone among all gods led to a Christian program to revolutionize Gentile sexual practices, only for early Christians to find this virtually impossible to carry out without going to extremes of sexual renunciation.
Knowledgeable and wide-ranging, this work of intellectual history and ethics cogently demonstrates why early Christian sexual restrictions took such repressive ascetic forms, and casts sobering light on what Christian sexual morality has meant for religious pluralism in Western culture, especially among women as its bearers.

Customer Reviews:

Book Review Excerpts.......2005-01-23

"Gaca's book makes a valuable contribution to the history of sexual ethics in antiquity and will be indispensable reading for all scholars and students interested in that topic."--Virginia Burrus, Jrnl of Early Christian Stds

"Gaca's ability to navigate confidently across both the Greek philosophical tradition and the Septuagint is as rare as it is valuable. An eye-opener." --Kate Cooper, Times Literary Supplement (TLS), 5 November 2004, p. 14

"Rich. . . .Gaca's detailed analysis of the several traditions, and her incorporation of the Septuagint, NT, and Philo in the argument, mark a significant advance over Foucault's analysis in The History of Sexuality. Indispensable to future research on the subject and should be in every university library."--David Konstan, Religious Studies Review

"With lucidity and a sustained examination of a synthetic Christian ethical concept, Gaca's fine book supplements social histories..."--P.W. Wakefield, Choice: Current Reviews For Academic Libraries

Plato's Symposium: A Translation by Seth Benardete with Commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete

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Plato's Mystery of Desire
RE: best edition available
best edition available
If you think the classics are boring, think again
Excellent Edition of an Important Work

Plato's Symposium: A Translation by Seth Benardete with Commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete
Plato
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226042758

Book Description

Plato, Allan Bloom wrote, is "the most erotic of philosophers," and his Symposium is one of the greatest works on the nature of love ever written. This new edition brings together the English translation of the renowned Plato scholar and translator, Seth Benardete, with two illuminating commentaries on it: Benardete's "On Plato's Symposium" and Allan Bloom's provocative essay, "The Ladder of Love." In the Symposium, Plato recounts a drinking party following an evening meal, where the guests include the poet Aristophanes, the drunken Alcibiades, and, of course, the wise Socrates. The revelers give their views on the timeless topics of love and desire, all the while addressing many of the major themes of Platonic philosophy: the relationship of philosophy and poetry, the good, and the beautiful.

Customer Reviews:

Plato's Mystery of Desire.......2005-04-15

Seth Benardete does a superb service to philosophers and lovers alike with his excellent translation of Plato's Symposium. This masterpiece of theatre and dialogue gives its readers the foundation for the question of desire and Benardete is precisely the kind of careful and precise translator who is capable of bringing out much of what lies hidden in the original Greek language. I recommend this translation for those who love literature as well as philosophy and those who wonder about their own desire.

The commentary by Bloom at the end of the text is informative and stimulating, if not always accurate.

RE: best edition available.......2004-02-09

I agree that Benardete's is the best translation of this dialogue you can buy. But it was already published way back in 1986 in _Dialogues of Plato_ edited by Erich Segal. As far as I can tell, the translation in the present edition is simply a reprint of the one already published.

best edition available.......2003-10-20

This is an elegant and accurate translation (much more readable than Benardete's gnomic renditions of Theaetetus / Sophist / Statesman). Benardete's essay is also a joy (it was previously published, but in a rather obscure German edition). Bloom's commentary is a bit of a slog and very rarely surprising. The reviewer below who remarked that "if you already have Love and Friendship and a copy of the Symposium you might feel gyped [sic]" has missed the mark; the prize here is the translation itself. Now if only Chicago had included Blanckenhagen's "Stage and Actor" as well!

If you think the classics are boring, think again.......2003-09-07

This is such a good work that any attempt to summarize it inevitably falls far short of summarizing what it really is, but here goes: The Symposium is on the surface an attempt to define love. Really it is far more, and deeper. Yet it is also incredibly bawdy and silly, reading like a novel of sorts.

It is far more interesting than the Republic and to my mind, more profound. Just read it; you don't even have to buy it, as every library should have a copy.

On top of that, such sites as Project Gutenberg and even SparkNotes are bound to have online copies, as this work's been in the "public domain" for a good two and a half millenia, give or take.

There now, you have no excuses. So what are you waiting for? Obviously if you are reading this review you are curious. Go satisfy that curiosity!

Excellent Edition of an Important Work.......2002-01-06

Plato's _Symposium_ is essential to understanding, insofar as that is possible, the allure and rewards of philosophy. Benardete's translation is accurate and readable, and his essay is helpful in following the action and bringing out some of the more important features of the dialogue. Bloom's "Ladder of Love" is reprinted within, and helps to situate the _Symposium_ within the broader question of philosophy and philosophy within our world.

The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy

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Throwing Light on the Landscape of the Orthodox
A bit bland
Philosophy before Plato

The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521446678

Book Description

The Western tradition of philosophy began in Greece with a cluster of thinkers often called the Presocratics, whose influence has been incalculable. All these thinkers are discussed in this volume both as individuals and collectively in chapters on rational theology, epistemology, psychology, rhetoric and relativism, justice, and poetics. Assuming no knowledge of Greek or prior knowledge of the subject, this volume provides new readers with the most convenient and accessible guide to early Greek philosophy available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of early Greek thought.

Customer Reviews:

Throwing Light on the Landscape of the Orthodox.......2007-04-14

The orthodox position regarding the early Greek philosophers might be thought of as a view which likes to see Ancient Greece as a self-contained clearly demarcated autochthonous entity, and the Greeks as more or less like us in meaning by 'philosophy' what our orthodox professors such as Long mean by the term.

Over this orthodox landscape the American scholar Thomas McEvilley has arrived like a thunderbolt of Indra with a burst of brilliant light that enables us to see clearly for the first time things that without him we might never have seen.

As a classicist who is competent, not only in Greek and Latin but also in Sanskrit and several other languages, and who is conversant, not merely with the history and primary texts of an isolated and clearly demarcated 'Greece' (which never existed except in the minds of the orthodox), but with the larger Indian-Mesopotamian-Egyptian-Greek complex, he has devoted thirty years research to bringing before us a massive and comprehensive account of the philosophies that burgeoned and grew within that complex.

It was a complex in which an enormous amount of movement took place with innumerable people of various sorts engaged in travel by both land and sea - statesmen, ambassadors, emissaries, couriers, merchants, bankers, financial agents, healers, soldiers, sailors, scholars, students, priests, missionaries, religious mendicants, holy men, wonder workers, tourists, sightseers, etc.

It was also one in which people still retained their natural curiosity about others, their ways of life and beliefs, and would have been eager to listen to the wise and informed no matter what region of the earth they hailed from. This open-mindedness, naturally enough, led to a great deal of cross-fertilization of ideas which McEvilley, a man who happily is similarly open-minded, sets out before us in detail. What he shows us is that, while it is undoubtedly true that Indian thinkers learned certain things from the Greeks, it is equally true that the Greeks learned some very important things from the Indians.

By all means read Long (and Barnes and Guthrie and Kirk and Raven though NOT in Schofield's corrupted revision of the latter) and the rest of the tribe of the Orthodox, but be aware that - imprisoned as they are in the cave of wishful thinking with its ceaseless and seductive whisper - autochthonous ... autochthonous ... autochthonous - they are giving you only an incomplete and distorted picture of what ancient Greek thought was really about. For the bigger and truer picture you will most assuredly need McEvilley's truly magisterial study, a study which throws a dazzling and brilliant light over what has hitherto been the somewhat dim and distorted landscape of the orthodox.

Details of his study are as follows:

Thomas McEvilley, 'The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies.' New York: Allworth Press, 2002. ISBN 1581152035. Hardback, 731 pp. Illustrated with b/w plates, maps, and with a detailed bibliography and index.

A bit bland.......2003-12-09

This mix of the views of modern professors on the first steps into a field which started growing wild explanations when writing was not common, covering some authors who are known mainly for what Aristotle and Plato thought of them, though Diogenes Laertius was the source of 65 passages also considered, now available in English with little need for study of the original language in which a love of wisdom seemed to be a high ideal proper for those who would like to teach, attempts to locate the major ideas which started growing in this field up to and beyond the time of Socrates without trying to define the meaning of philosophy for that particular individual. The scholarly division of labor makes it easy to suppose that knowledge in this field is sufficiently broad and diffuse enough to allow any student who specializes to become more of an expert than his teachers on some particular questions. The Index of Passages on pages 399-413 includes a range of authors, in addition to the listings for Plato and Aristotle which were so numerous I didn't count them. Undoubtedly this information will be helpful to students who are primarily concerned with learning what the professors of philosophy generally think about the Greek aspect of the roots of this tradition. Those who are more interested in lively questions about the nature of Socrates as an individual devoted to a more public practice of philosophy might be disappointed in the slight treatment he receives, compared to the more scholarly Greeks considered in this book.

The summary section, Lives and Writings of the Early Greek Philosophers on pages xvii-xxviii includes twenty major names, but not Aristotle, Plato, or Socrates. The twenty have life timelines on the Chronology on page xxix, but ten others, not all of whom were as late as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, are shown on page xxx. The reason for the split between those now considered truly great and the topics considered in this book was made explicit in the first chapter:

"Given the sources at our disposal and Socrates' remarkable afterlife, it would be irresponsible to treat him simply as one among other thinkers of the fifth century B.C. He must be viewed in association with Plato, and hence he is scarcely discussed in this book (but see Chapters 14-15)." (p. 6).

Just to acknowledge that some major figures are included in this book, the chapter titles mention the Pythagorean tradition, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno, Empedocles, and the atomists. Professors from a number of countries have contributed to this book, but each seemed to be preoccupied with searching for explanations that might seem valid. Evidence that we have now learned a bit more about chaos than Aristotle could admit in his time is provided in the observation, "Aristotle (Phys. II.8) criticizes Empedocles for assigning too great a role to chance in the production of natural kinds, but in this Empedocles is closer to modern science than is Aristotle." (p. 161).

There is not much emphasis in this book on individual character of a kind that make Heraclitus, Socrates, Nietzsche, and Freud such monumental thinkers among Germans who wanted to attempt something great in poetry or philosophy. Perhaps the most psychological point is a note on Empedocles' claim that he has been treated like a god as "the claim so bizarre that he feels driven to assume that Empedocles is ironically criticizing those who adulate him excessively." (p. 361, n. 30, citing `Hermes' III (1983) pp. 170-79, with a title that appears to be in German.) Since thousands of years have passed, "To what extent Empedocles' claim that he is honoured as a god is realistic, to what extent wishful thinking, we may never know (though the former is likely to have been larger than some modern readers might expect); in any case, there is a lack of embarrassment in his acknowledgment of his divinity which no parallel hitherto cited from epic or mystery cults makes less remarkable. Not only does Empedocles tell us he is a god but he also explains elsewhere why he has been temporarily exiled from the gods so that he might come to speak to us . . ." (p. 355). A fragment designated DK 31 B112 in the Diels/Kranz numbering system used in the book, which was the beginning of the poem "Purifications" by Empedocles, clearly claims, "They follow me in their thousands, asking where lies the road to profit, some desiring prophecies, while others ask to hear the word of healing for every kind of illness, long transfixed by harsh pains." (p. 355).

As inspiring as some of the things in this book are, much seems odd. Those who believed in atoms were quick to argue, "for instance that the number of atomic shapes must be infinite, because there is no more reason for an atom to have one shape than another (Simplicius, In phys. 28.9-10)." (p. 183). Soon enough, philosophy produced "the distinction that Sextus immediately attributes to Democritus between `bastard' knowledge provided by the senses and the `genuine' knowledge provided by the intellect (B11)." (pp. 191-192). "As a result, if the senses are altogether unreliable, there are no reliable data on which to base the theory, so, as the senses say to the mind in B125, `Our overthrow is a fall for you.'" (p. 192). The attempt by Aristotle to sort out claims by Democritus "that either nothing is true, or it is unclear to us" (p. 194) is called "a very puzzling passage, for a number of reasons." (p. 194). Perhaps people with a higher level of expertise than mine can maintain an interest in these problems indefinitely.

Philosophy before Plato.......2001-07-19

In common with so many of the other superb volumes in the Cambridge University "Companion" series, the latest addition to the line up contains scholarly information about philosophy before Plato that is both engaging and thorough. The editor has selected contributors whose names are well known within the field about which they write. Their articles neither patronize the neophyte, nor disappoint those whose learning is more advanced. After a survey of the field, discussions why the term "pre-Socratics" most often used with reference to the thinkers covered by this book is misleading and distorting, and a review of the sources of the writings (none of the original writings of these folk have survived the 2500 years that have intervened between their activity and the present) the book reviews the major fields of inquiry for the writers, and the writers themselves. Each of the articles brings new slants on old knowledge from which all but global experts will gain valuable information. There is also a superb listing of most of the literature about the period and about the scholarship on which our present understandings are based. There is no uniformity here: even at the beginning, perhaps especially at the beginning of the new endeavor that became philosophy there is a sense of excitement and discovery which the writers in this book enhance. Any student of Greek philosophy,even the most elementary survey course, will gain a lot of important knowledge from this book....

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out of stock
Talks About Rhetoric Versus Philosophy
A great translation
A great introduction to Plato's philosophy
Excellent introduction to moral philosophy

Gorgias (Penguin Classics)
Plato
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
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ASIN: 0140449043
Release Date: 2004-06-29

Book Description

Taking the form of a dialogue among Socrates, Gorgias, Polus, and Callicles, the Gorgias debates crucial questions about the nature of government. While the aspiring politician Callicles propounds the view that might is right, and the rhetorician Gorgias argues that oratory and the power to persuade represent “the greatest good,” Socrates insists on the duty of politicians to consider the welfare of their citizens—a duty he believed had been dishonored in the Athens of his time. The dialogue offers fascinating insights into how classical Athens was governed and creates a theoretical framework that has been highly influential on subsequent political debate.

Customer Reviews:

out of stock.......2007-08-31

I did not receive the item because they were out of stock, so I really can not rate the service. This is the first time that I have bought from this particular company, so I have no comment. However, if i was to rate this particular occasion, i would give it a 1 because I could not get what i wanted.

Talks About Rhetoric Versus Philosophy.......2006-11-12

I've been reading some of Plato's diologues to find out more about Plato himself.

I consider these books to be light reading. They have a certain charm and you can relate to the various speakers of which Socrates is the main one for the dialogues I have read so far.

The main point here is comparing rhetoric or the art of verbal persuasion to philosophy.

Socrates' two great loves were beautiful boys and philosophy so you can guess which side Socrates was on.

He considers rhetoric to be a form of deception really which only superficially informs people for the sake of pursuasion for selfish motives.

Philosophy on the other hand is the real truth.

It talks about how if Socrates was ever pulled into court his lack of skills with rhetoric would make him easy prey for his accusers.

Since Socrates was executed perhaps this is what really happened I don't know.

I find these books interesting because Plato and those others believed in the mythological gods.

The explantory notes indicate that the three brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Pluto divided up this earthly domain.

Zeus took the realm of the sky, Poseidon took the surface of the earth which includes the sea, and Pluto took the underworld.

Plato apparently didn't think too much of cooks. He calls cooking a knack and compares it to medicine which is a skill he says.

Plato gets carried away sometimes with his analogies.

Undoubtedly Plato's thoughts evolved throughout his life.

All of his many writings are I guess a snapshot of his thought processes at a particular time.

After I finish a few more of these dialogues I'll read 'The Laws' which I think was one of Plato's last works.

The next one on my list is 'Symposium'.

Jeff Marzano

A great translation.......2002-10-12

Nichols' translation of Gorgias is indeed impressive. I have heard and read other translations of Gorgias- but the word choice of those other translation is too unadmirable(like "knack"-a word that is not fitted with Platonic dialogues). Nichols keeps consistent and easily understandable words. He doesn't go about saying "smart" words- unlike others who seem to try and exhaust their vocab. before they finish the work.

A great introduction to Plato's philosophy.......2002-07-19

This is one of my favorite Socratic dialogues. The evidence suggests that Plato wrote it soon after the execution of Socrates, and while I would not say there is a bitter edge to this Gorgias dialogue, I can definitely say that the exchanges do get a little lively at times. At one point, I could almost hear the voices of Socrates and Polus being raised as they argued. Another positive aspect of this dialogue is the fact that it is comparatively easy to understand. Socrates does not start spouting ideas about true Forms or using geometry to prove his points; the more esoteric, more advanced Platonic ideas are to be found in Plato's later writings. In many ways, this dialogue also serves as an introduction to Plato's masterpiece The Republic. Socrates' ideas on some things seem nascent at this point, and he actually contradicts some points he would later make, but the heart of Socratic thought lies within easy grasp in the pages of this dialogue.

The dialogue begins as a discussion about the true nature of oratory. The famed orator Gorgias is in town, and Socrates is most anxious to have a discussion with him. At first, Gorgias' younger friend Polus desires to speak for Gorgias, but he proves little match for Socrates. When Gorgias enters the discussion, Socrates treats him very well, as a respectable man with whom he disagrees, and Gorgias for his part is never flustered by Socrates' description of his art as a knack and as a form of pandering. Later, Callicles bravely jumps into the mix, and things really get interesting. Socrates seemingly admires Callicles' courage to state what he means without shame, yet he winds up getting Callicles to agree with his points in the end. What is it all about? The main points that Socrates makes are that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong, and that it is better for a man to be punished for his wrongs than to escape punishment. Implicit in his argument is the belief that all wrongdoing is the result of ignorance; following up on this idea, he declares that dictators and politicians who hold vast powers are the most miserable men of all. He goes so far as to describe Athenian heroes such as Pericles as bad men because the state was less healthy when they left office than when they took office, the proof being that such men eventually lost power and were even ostracized.

For Socrates, happiness comes from being virtuous and self-disciplined. The orator can make a great speech and convince his peers that he is right, but he does this by inculcating belief rather than knowledge in the minds of his audience; he requires no knowledge to win such a debate, and as a result he tells the people what he knows they want to hear rather than what is truly best for them. Right and wrong are immaterial to the orator, Socrates charges. Callicles urges Socrates to give up his immature fixation on philosophy and become a public speaker; were he to be brought to court and charged with a wrong, Callicles tells him that he would be unable to defend himself. Much of the concluding pages consist of a wonderful defense by Socrates of his way of life. He agrees that a court could rather easily try and execute him, but if that were to happen, only his accusers would suffer for it. His thoughts are for the next world, and he has no fear of death because he believes a man with a clean, healthy soul such as his will be given immediate access to the isles of the blessed. The execution of Socrates was clearly on Plato's mind as he wrote this particular discourse.

I would recommend this dialogue to individuals seeking an introduction to Plato's philosophy. The entire discussion is clear throughout and easily comprehensible, and it proves interesting to see how some of Plato's thoughts changed between the years separating this dialogue and The Republic.

Excellent introduction to moral philosophy.......2000-11-19

Plato's Gorgias is one of the masterpieces not just of the Western, but of any Canon, and Waterfield's translation for Oxford World's Classics adds an informative introduction and many helpful explanatory notes. I have used this text for years in my ethics classes, and every time I read it I come away with something new. Plato pits Socrates, the defender of moral realism, against three opponents who represent varying degrees of moral relativism: Gorgias, the Elder Statesman of Sophistry, Polus, a young turk who is quickly trapped by Socrates, and Callicles, one of the greatest characters in all of philosophical literature, who presents a case not unlike that of Nietzsche's Uebermensch. Though it is difficult to say whether Socrates is fully successful in refuting his interlocutors, watching him try is both exciting and informative, and can serve as an excellent introduction to moral philosophy.

Conversations of Socrates (Penguin Classics)

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Oligarch
Against the government-clique of President Perikles ...
Against the government-clique of President Perikles ...
A Revelation
Underrated

Conversations of Socrates (Penguin Classics)
Xenophon
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 014044517X

Customer Reviews:

Oligarch.......2007-09-04

Nearly all those who studied Greek in high school were given a much distorted image of the Athenian (and certainly of the pedophilic Spartan) society. Who told us that the wealth of Athens was based on silver mines (the university city of Ioanina is still one of the world's biggest centers of the silver industry)? And who told us why Socrates was forced to commit suicide?
One can find the answers on many questions about Greek society in Xenophon's works, the clever writer of `Hellenika' (`All Persians are educated to become a slave, except one').
In his works about Socrates, Xenophon brushes a lively picture of the `real' Socrates and explains clearly his political views: 'Where offices were filled by men who satisfied the legal requirements, he considered the constitution to be an aristocracy; where they were filled in accordance with a property qualification, a plutocracy; where they were filled by anybody, a democracy.'
Socrates was an anti-democrat and defended oligarchy is his teachings.
What oligarchy really meant for the majority of the Athenians, one can also read in `Hellenika'. Describing the reign of the Thirty (comprising two uncles of Plato), Xenophon states: `The oligarchs went on a killing spree murdering all democratic opponents, more Athenians than all the Peloponnesians did in ten years of war ... when people could vote, it was in full view.'
Xenophon explains one of the main reasons for oligarchic rule in his rhetoric question: `if people uses its superior power to enact measures against the propertied classes, will that be violence rather than law?'
Socrates was a moderate anti-democrat, not as his pupil Plato who fulminated relentlessly against the democratic beast (Gerard Koolschijn). He respected the law: `He disobeyed the illegal orders of the Thirty on the ground that what he was ordered to do was illegal.'
He also was a moderate in his personal life (`to need nothing is divine').

Xenophon's works are key texts for understanding the ancient Greek society (daily life, morals, social issues, drink-parties, sex, politics). They are a must read for all those interested in human history and for all lovers of classical texts.

Against the government-clique of President Perikles ..........2005-07-26

Perikles pushed Athens into risky power politics, those led into the Peloponnesi war (431-404 before Chr.). The second woman of Perikles, Aspasia, participated in the philosophical discussions of Socrates and became highly estimated by him. She was accused like Sokrates of being not as religious as they should be. Of course the boring-questioner Socrates became a feedback not only ironically (e.g. by the comedy poet Aristophanes) but also others with heavy rage: started by the government clique around President Perikles. To awaken the people from their sleep of propaganda-smeared opinions, - this had to provoke counter actions. In his defense speech at court Socrates didn't own much time. The limit was set by a pot of water, having a whole. The moment, all the water had run out, that was the very moment he had to stop his speech. The jury of 500 Athenians didn't like to listen at all - and they were happy, to bring that thing quickly to an end. The three prosecutors of Socrates by the way had been lynched a few weeks later. Probably the thoughts become accepted to which Socrates had wanted to inflame: "... perhaps you might possibly be offended, like the sleeping who are awakened, striking me, you might easily kill, then the rest of your lives you might continue sleeping..." - Socrates maintained his integrity as hero until the end. His radical critique of the Athenians fundamental values is the starting point of western philosophy, of the modern debate over civil disobedience (compare Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King Jr., Jane Fonda and so on...). Today it's still amusing to follow the way, how the master shredded the weaknesses in faulty arguments. Socrates had tried to make publicly, what later should be named as "try-and-error procedures of thinking". And he didn't allow the mighty ones to intimidate him. There are cultural fluctuations with regard to the allowance to think opposite. Jesus or Spartacus (or the American Socrates-scientist Vlastos, notified by the FBI and threatened with deportation to Canada because he didn't agree to the VietNam-war), Angela Davis, Sinead o'Connor or Michael Moore - they had their special versions of trouble. Today we don't need a death-sentence, there are smaller and more effective tricks, to produce a YES to nearly everything. So we still need such a hero of dissidence like Socrates - or should we stop thinking self-confidently? Nearly 500 years before Christ this Socrates gave an unforgettable sign of a solid character. He didn't beg the judge committee, to stop the death penalty, he didn't agree to accept exile - in the contrary he made a request for the highest honor in Athens at that time: the daily free meal-supply in the city hall. He was an ironic man and he knew, this request had been a little too much for the nervous jury ...

Against the government-clique of President Perikles ..........2005-07-26

A Revelation.......2004-06-28

Very few extant works remain on the life of Socrates: mainly the works of Xenophon and Plato. In "Conversations of Socrates" Xenophon writes extensively on the philosophical thought of the master in a forthright and simple manner. Xenophon has not always been praised for his writing style but he covers the Socratic principles thoroughly. The subjects aren't organized particularly well with examples of Socrates' views on certain virtues scattered throughout the text. Nevertheless, since Socrates didn't write his own thoughts we are very fortunate that we have these works.

Xenophon divided his works into four books: Socrates' Defense; Memoirs of Socrates; the Dinner-Party; and the Estate-Manager. Xenophon writes in the second and third person so that we "hear" the Socratic Method throughout the text. We see how Socrates used questions of his followers to teach them to think. His method thoroughly flushed out the truth and often revealed the flaws in the arguments his opponents and followers made.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Xenophon. One could almost imagine being right there with the master as he shredded the weaknesses in faulty arguments and uncovered hidden truths. His opinions on virtues may be dated to Twentieth Century people but one must remember that it was largely his teachings that had such a great influence on Western thought and ideas.

Underrated.......2004-06-25

While not as competent a writer as Plato, Xenophon's 'Socrates' is the historically more accurate (I refer to the chapter of Memoirs in this book.)The Dinner-Party was my favorite dialogue, there are also several brilliant vignettes throughout the memoir chapter. This is not to say that it doesn't 'drag' in parts, it does. The Estate-Manager, which is the last dialogue, terribly weighs down this volume; there Socrates is more a bystander than participant.

But I give this 5 stars, as its an indespensible volume for the Socratic enthusiast.

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Throwing Light on the Landscape of the Orthodox

The wonder of what is that it is

Not that great.

A good companion, but not the place to start

Solid introduction to the subject, but needs context

Early Greek Philosophy (Penguin Classics)
Various
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists (Oxford World's Classics)

The Essential Plotinus: Representative Treatises from the Enneads

Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings

What Is Ancient Philosophy?

The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts

ASIN: 0140448152
Release Date: 2002-11-26

Book Description

This anthology presents the early sages of Western philosophy and science who paved the way for Plato and Aristotle and their successors. Democritus's atomic theory of matter, Zeno's dazzling "proofs" that motion is impossible, Pythagorean insights into mathematics, Heraclitus's haunting and enigmatic epigrams-all form part of a revolution in human thought that relied on reasoning, forged the first scientific vocabulary, and laid the foundations of Western philosophy. Jonathan Barnes has painstakingly brought together the surviving Presocratic fragments in their original contexts, utilizing the latest research and a newly discovered major papyrus of Empedocles.

This anthology presents the early sages of Western philosophy and science who paved the way for Plato and Aristotle and their successors. Democritus's atomic theory of matter, Zeno's dazzling "proofs" that motion is impossible, Pythagorean insights into mathematics, Heraclitus's haunting and enigmatic epigrams-all form part of a revolution in human thought that relied on reasoning, forged the first scientific vocabulary, and laid the foundations of Western philosophy. Jonathan Barnes has painstakingly brought together the surviving Presocratic fragments in their original contexts, utilizing the latest research and a newly discovered major papyrus of Empedocles.

Customer Reviews:

Throwing Light on the Landscape of the Orthodox.......2007-04-14

The orthodox position regarding the early Greek philosophers might be thought of as a view which likes to see Ancient Greece as a self-contained clearly demarcated autochthonous entity, and the Greeks as more or less like us in meaning by 'philosophy' what our orthodox professors such as Barnes mean by the term.

Over this orthodox landscape the American scholar Thomas McEvilley has arrived like a thunderbolt of Indra with a burst of brilliant light that enables us to see clearly for the first time things that without him we might never have seen.

As a classicist who is competent, not only in Greek and Latin but also in Sanskrit and several other languages, and who is conversant, not merely with the history and primary texts of an isolated and clearly demarcated 'Greece' (which never existed except in the minds of the orthodox), but with the larger Indian-Mesopotamian-Egyptian-Greek complex, he has devoted thirty years research to bringing before us a massive and comprehensive account of the philosophies that burgeoned and grew within that complex.

It was a complex in which an enormous amount of movement took place with innumerable people of various sorts engaged in travel by both land and sea - statesmen, ambassadors, emissaries, couriers, merchants, bankers, financial agents, healers, soldiers, sailors, scholars, students, priests, missionaries, religious mendicants, holy men, wonder workers, tourists, sightseers, etc.

It was also one in which people still retained their natural curiosity about others, their ways of life and beliefs, and would have been eager to listen to the wise and informed no matter what region of the earth they hailed from. This open-mindedness, naturally enough, led to a great deal of cross-fertilization of ideas which McEvilley, a man who happily is similarly open-minded, sets out before us in detail. What he shows us is that, while it is undoubtedly true that Indian thinkers learned certain things from the Greeks, it is equally true that the Greeks learned some very important things from the Indians.

By all means read Barnes and Guthrie and Kirk and Raven (though not in Schofield's corrupted version of the latter) and the rest of the tribe of the Orthodox, but be aware that - imprisoned as they are in the cave of wishful thinking with its ceaseless and seductive whisper - autochthonous ... autochthonous ... autochthonous - they are giving you only an incomplete and distorted picture of what ancient Greek thought was really about. For the bigger and truer picture you will most assuredly need McEvilley's truly magisterial study, a study which throws a dazzling and brilliant light over what has hitherto been the somewhat dim and distorted landscape of the orthodox.

Details of his study are as follows:

Thomas McEvilley, 'The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies.' New York: Allworth Press, 2002. ISBN 1581152035. Hardback, 731 pp. Illustrated with b/w plates, maps, and with a detailed bibliography and index.

The wonder of what is that it is .......2005-11-03

Philosophy begins in wonder ' at what is that it is'. The Pre-Socratics at the very beginning of the historical enterprise of philosophy( love of wisdom) contradict each other in presenting total visions of the world. For Parmenides all is one unchanging, and the Real is this Eternal Stasis. For Heraclitus " we step and do not step into the same river, we are and are not" All is change. In this way in these contradictions these philosophers set the stage for the questionings of Socrates and the synthesis of Plato and the explorations of Aristotle.

Not that great........2002-01-11

Let the publisher be your guide.

It's by Penguin Press -- it's for someone who's browses a half-price book store and gets the idea that some familiarity with pre-socratic philsophy is something they want to add to their lives.

It lacks the critical richness of other works (I enjoy Patricia Curd et. al's ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY) -- so if you want depth, you won't find it here.

I read this book as part of an ancient greek philosophy class and I hated virtually everything on the reading list. This book was part of said curs-ed list.

A good companion, but not the place to start.......2001-06-17

Our present knowledge of the Presocratic philosophers is all second-hand: it consists of attributions made in later classical literature by a wide variety of authors, from pagans, like Aristotle and Iamblichus, to Christians, like Clement and Hippolytus. This book gives the reader who has been tantalized by these fragmentary citations a chance to view these quotes surrounded by the contexts in which they are preserved. That is both the strength and the bane of this volume. For instance, it is interesting to note how often Heraclitus is referred to as "obscure", but then, how much of what is attributed to him was actually said by him, how much does the citation represent the quoter's bias or training, and in what context or order were the sayings originally delivered? We will never know. So, if you have a passing acquaintance with the sayings of Zeno, Pythagoras, Empedocles et al., this may be the book to draw you deeper into the mysteries. The beginner may be merely mystified by the Presocratic palimpsest.

Solid introduction to the subject, but needs context.......2000-06-27

I don't profess to be an expert in ancient Greek philosophy (or any other kind, for that matter), but I have wondered what roots Plato, via his Socrates, had drawn upon for his splendid work in a wide variety of subjects. This book is a solid introduction to those roots and cheap at the price.

The Pre-Socratics are important because they provide the first tenuous link in a great shift from explanation via religious belief to explanation via rational inquiry. These men, scattered throughout the Greek world and across several centuries, looked at the world around them and tried to construct the "first principles" that would explain how that world came to be and what it was made of. Democritus, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, Parmenides and the many other authors presented here aren't household names, but they are the foundation of our view of the world both as physical object and mental representation.

It is striking how much of this thought will sound very familiar to anyone with exposure to current physics or, say, Heideggerian philosophy. The Pre-Socratics have much to say to our culture in particular despite the vast differences in intellectual frame of reference between the two.

That said, this is a good starting point for studying the Pre-Socratics. Johnathan Barnes has worked scrupulously to overcome a seemingly insurmountable historigraphic roadblock -- the fact that most of these philosophers are known to us only third-hand by quotation in works produced centuries after their deaths by Roman and medieval scholars. His documentation of the textual sources of the material is very helpful, although its arrangment on the page is often confusing and we're not sure whether we're listening to Barnes or one of the intermediary scholars.

This book needs more historical context and more intellectual context that will help neophytes like myself understand the impact these philosophers have had on Western thought. Penguin usually does a good job of supplying just such an essay with each book. Barnes does have a short introduction, but it's not enough.

Customer Reviews:

Introduction is about as long as the treatise!.......2007-02-10

No joke - the introduction written by a modern scholar is more or less neck to neck with Aristotle's 'essay' on storytelling (Poetics) as far as length is concerned. This is good because, quite honestly, the average person will have a hard time understanding the concept Aristotle is trying to get across with his archaic (no insult intended) analysis.

But first, my "credentials" as a reviewer:

I started reading Plato because I watched some movies (Truman Show, The Matrix) and some Anime (The Big O) in which the screenwriters heavily borrowed from Republic and other Platonic dialogues when shaping their plots. At first, I read just so I can understand the plot of these works of visual art a little better. After a couple of dialogues (I especially liked Phaedo and Theatetus - I still haven't finished Republic), however, I began appreciating Greek philosophy in and of itself. Having read a bit of Plato (Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Cratylus, Theatetus, and part of Republic) I decided, hey, why not go in for some of Aristotle? Supposedly this 'common sensical' philosopher was the foil of the more heavenly inclined Plato - so why not compare and contrast?

That said, Poetics has been my first exposure to Aristotle.

Quite different from Plato too! For starters, Aristotle views poets, dramatists, "novelists" and fiction writers in general much more sympathetically than his 'teacher' - he sees them as humans with a talent who can put it to good purpose (as opposed to Plato's perception of them being the scum of the earth).

A point I would like to bring up - some people say 'Poetics' is universal, applicable to any time in history for any fiction writer or storyteller. Quite a few successful screenwriters have taken this position. The scholar who wrote up the introduction to this edition, however, disagrees - as do I. Most of the stuff Aristotle's mentions as being for making a story has already crossed my mind at one or time or another - in less stuffy, more conceptualized form, certainly, but the ideas have occured to me. Not only that, but his somewhat rigid formula, although he himself acknowledges that it isn't absolute, is very restrictive in 'what's good, what's bad'.

That said, Poetics contributes to literary theory. Plus, it can reinforce some writer's ideas about how their craft should work. More significantly, however, it is the thought of Aristotle, a highly influential philosopher, accessible through word that really captivates the reader - what he thinks about is important, but the way he thinks is what really makes him 'timeless'. His views on storytelling, however, are visibly from an era that no longer strongly coincides with our own.

Note - yes, yes, I've read some books on Greek history and know it is the Cradle of Western Civilization, spread by Rome and a major influence on history (including democracy) - but Greek academia is largely alien.

Any student of literature should read this........2007-01-24

Poetics is an illuminating analysis of poetry and its origins. Aristotle analyzes the writing of famous ancient Greek poets such as Homer, Aeschylus and Sophacles and outlines the difference in construction between poems that are tragedies and poems that are Comedy. This book is really only for those who are true Greek poetry lovers, or at least serious students of literature. I found it hard slugging indeed. But if you want to complete your education on ancient Greek philosophers, Aristotle must be read. His presentation of argument and topics for disucussion cannot be beat.

The Original Story Analyst.......2006-09-13

The principles in what was probably a compilation of Aristotle's "lectures notes" are timeless, and have influenced story analysis for the past 2400 years. His understanding of story as a contrived mechanism aimed to MOVE audiences should be a relief to every writer who takes it to heart: the elements required for drama and dramatic fiction and nonfiction are not infinite but a handful. But that handful must be dealt with properly or the assembly will have no effect on audiences. He tells us Homer's greatness was that "he himself is nowhere to be found in his works, his characters everywhere"; that Homer began "in the middle of things" (Latin rhetoricians called it, "in medias res"; and that every great story needs a discovery that leads to a turning point in the protagonist's progress toward comedy or tragedy. Don't leave home without it!

Penguin Classics: Aristotle's Poetics.......2006-02-18

I teach a course on Ethics and Aesthetics in Aristotle to graduate students. This translation and its introduction are the best for my purpose. Both are clear, crisp, and readable. The translation is reliable and the endnotes are very helpful. I would highly rcommend this edition to anyone who has a serious interest in either Aristotle or aesthetics that does not rise to a level that requires a reading knowledge of the Greek text.

The earliest textbook for dramatists.......2002-06-01

The "Poetics" contains Aristotle's observations on what elements and characteristics comprised the best tragedies based on the ones he'd presumably seen or read. He divides "poetry," which could be defined as imitations of human experience, into tragedy, comedy, and epic, and explains the differences between these forms, although comedy is not covered in detail and tragedy gets the most treatment. For one thing, tragedy, he states, seeks to imitate the matters of superior people, while comedy seeks to imitate the matters of inferior people.

To Aristotle, the most important constituent of tragedy is plot, and successful plots require that the sequence of events be necessary (required to happen to advance the story logically and rationally) and probable (likely to happen given the circumstances). Any plot that does not feature such a necessary and probable sequence of events is deemed faulty. Reversals and recognitions are plot devices by which tragedy sways emotions, particularly those that induce "pity and fear," as is astonishment, which is the effect produced when the unexpected happens. He discusses the best kinds of tragic plots, the kinds of characters that are required, and how their fortunes should change over the course of the plot for optimum tragic effect.

With regard to poetic language or "diction," he emphasizes the importance of figurative language (metaphor, analogy) in poetry and the importance of balancing figurative with literal language. It is his opinion that metaphoric invention is a natural ability and not something that can be taught. Of all the poets Aristotle mentions who exemplify the ideals proposed in the "Poetics," Homer draws the most praise.

Book Description

The revised edition of this popular textbook features revised vocabulary and grammatical notes that now appear on the same page as the text, sentence diagrams, principal parts of verbs listed both by Stephanus page and alphabetically, word frequency list for words occurring more than twice, and complete vocabulary.

Customer Reviews:

The Purple Plato.......2002-10-15

The main body of this book is organized similarly Pharr's justly famous "Purple Vergil": each two page spread has 12-25 lines of Greek in the upper left, with the rest of the spread full of line-by-line notes covering difficult constructions, slang, vocabulary and context. This makes Plato wonderfully accessible with a minimum of flipping pages back and forth.

The book's three appendices are (I) a series of sentence diagrams useful for understanding difficult sentences in the text and also as models for learning, (II) an alphabetical chart of verb principal parts and (III) a list of words appearing in the Apology by frequence of their appearance. Finally, a vocabulary of all words appearing at list twice fills in the back of the book (the vocabulary, incidentally, is keyed to the _Athenaze_ textbooks, which I suppose would be a useful feature if you used those books).

Easy and Effective.......2000-11-16

I "learned" Greek on a text that used much of the same vocabulary that shows up in Plato's Apology of Socrates (the JACT text), and frankly, it was a nightmare.

However, if one learns Attic greek using 'fake' Greek (as it should be done) and then turns to Plato as the first "real" Greek--get THIS text. The commentary is fantastic, the lexicon great, the notes very helpful. Between this text and a translation, in fact, I would think most intermediate Greek students would be able to read it without any outside help.

Great commentary.

An Excellent Manual for Reading Plato's Original Text.......2000-07-11

This book was wonderfully organized for those who would like to read ancient Greek texts. We can read Plato's Apology without looking up the Greek dictionary. In the appendices, some Sentence Diagrams,table of the tense of the verbs of the Principal Parts, Word Frequency List, and the Vocabulary List were provided.

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