Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ancient Greek Philosophy but didn’t Know Who to Ask Edited by Patricia F. O’Grady MEET THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE Dedicated to the memory of Panagiotis, a humble man, who found pleasure when reading about the philosophers of Ancient Greece Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything you always wanted to know about Ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask Edited by PATRICIA F. O’GRADY Flinders University of South Australia © Patricia F. O’Grady 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Patricia F. O’Grady has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identi.ed as the editor of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, GU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 England USA Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask 1. Philosophy, Ancient 2. Philosophers – Greece 3. Greece – Intellectual life – To 146 B.C. I. O’Grady, Patricia F. 180 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask / Patricia F. O’Grady, editor. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7546-5131-2 (hardcover: alk. paper) – ISBN 0-7546-5132-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Philosophy, Ancient. I. O’Grady, Patricia F. B171.M44 2005 18D—dc22 2004021055 ISBN 0 7546 5131 2 (hb) ISBN 0 7546 5132 0 (ppk) V ISBN 978 1 4094 2320 1 (ebk) Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall Contents List of Contributors xi Acknowledgements xv Foreword xvii List of Maps and Photographs xix List of Figures xxi PART I: INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS 1 Introduction 3 Alan Chalmers 2 What is Philosophy? 7 Trevor Curnow 3 What Greek Philosophy Means to Us Today 9 Ian Hunt PART II: THE PRECURSORS OF PHILOSOPHY 4 Homer 15 Seamus Sweeney 5 Hesiod 21 Aude Engel 6 Aesop 25 Leo Groarke PART III: THE PRE-socraticS AND socraticS 7 Thales of Miletus 29 Patricia F. O’Grady 8 Anaximander of Miletus 33 Dirk L. Couprie and Heleen J. Pott vi Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece 9 Sappho of Lesbos 39 Christina A. Clark 10 Pythagoras 43 Thomas Kiefer 11 Xenophanes 49 Hye-Kyung Kim 12 Aeschylus 53 Seamus Sweeney 13 Anaxagoras of Clazomenae 59 Patricia F. O’Grady 14 Heraclitus 63 G.S. Bowe 15 Parmenides 67 Allan F. Randall 16 Empedocles 71 James M. Magrini 17 Protagoras of Abdera and Plato’s Protagoras 77 Jonathan Lavery 18 The Sophists 81 Jonathan Lavery 19 Zeno of Elea 85 Doukas Kapantaïs 20 Sophocles 89 James M. Magrini 21 Euripides 93 Seamus Sweeney 22 Herodotus 97 Christine Farmer 23 Diotima of Mantineia 101 Melanie B. Mineo Contents vii 24 Hippocrates of Cos 105 Andrew Gregory 25 Socrates 109 Hope May 26 Thucydides 113 Matthew Usher 27 Democritus 117 Alan Chalmers PART IV: THE CLASSICAL PERIOD 28 Aristophanes 123 Robert Phiddian 29 Plato 127 Gerasimos Santas 30 Plato’s Symposium 133 Steven R. Robinson 31 The Anonymous Iamblichi 137 Louis Groarke 32 Diogenes of Sinope 139 Marjolein Oele 33 Eudoxus of Cnidus 143 Andrew Gregory 34 Aristotle 151 Hope May PART V: THE HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHERS 35 Theophrastus of Eresus 159 Irene Svitzou 36 Pyrrho 163 Leo Groarke viii Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece 37 Epicurus 167 Dirk Baltzly 38 Zeno of Citium 171 Maria Protopapas-Mameli 39 Archimedes 175 Suzanne Roux 40 Aristarchus of Samos 179 Andrew Gregory 41 Cameades 185 G.S. Bowe 42 Lucretius 189 Tim O’Keefe 43 Seneca the Younger 193 Kartika Panwar 44 Apollonius of Tyana 197 Gabriele Cornelli PART VI: THE ROMAN PERIOD 45 Epictetus 203 Keith Seddon 46 Apuleius of Madauros 207 Bruce J. MacLennan 47 Marcus Aurelius 211 William O. Stephens 48 Plotinus 215 David J. Yount 49 Sextus Empiricus 219 Sabatino DiBernardo 50 Iamblichus of Chalcis 223 Bruce J. MacLennan Contents ix 51 Anthony of Egypt and The Desert Fathers 227 Louis Groarke 52 Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea 231 Linos G. Benakis 53 Hypatia of Alexandria 235 Virginia Haddad 54 Proclus 239 Dirk Baltzly 55 John Philoponus 243 Antonia Kakavelaki 56 The Closure of the Academy of Athens 247 George Arabatzis PART VII: ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES 57 The Athenian Acropolis 253 Evanthia Speliotis 58 The Athenian Agora 257 Kevin Glowacki 59 Corinth 261 G.S. Bowe 60 Delphi 265 Deborah Nash Peterson 61 Didyma 269 Peter Sommer 62 Eleusis 273 Anne Farrell 63 Epidaurus 277 Glenn Rawson 64 Marathon 281 Trevor Curnow x Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece 65 Miletus 285 Patricia F. O’Grady 66 Ancient Olympia: Athletic Games and Intellectual Contests 289 Glenn Rawson 67 Piraeus 295 Daniel Silvermintz 68 Samos 297 Tim O’Keefe and Patricia F. O’Grady 69 Syracuse 301 Phillip Meade 70 Troy and Heinrich Schliemann 305 Patricia F. O’Grady Glossary 309 Glenn Rawson Time Line of ancient authors 314 Andrew Gregory List of Contributors Gabriele Cornelli, PhD Dr George Arabatzis Ancient Philosophy Professor Research Centre for Greek Methodist University of Philosophy São Paulo, Brazil of the Academy of Athens, [email protected] Anagnostopoulou 14 106 73 Athens-Greece Dr Dirk L. Couprie [email protected] Independent Researcher Maastricht, the Netherlands Dr Dirk Baltzly [email protected] Monash University Melbourne, Australia Dr Trevor Curnow Senior Lecturer Professor Linos G. Benakis, Division of Religion and Philosophy PhD, PhD hc. St Martin’s College, Lancaster Research Fellow of the Academy of England. Athens [email protected] Former Director of the Research Centre of Greek Philosophy Sabatino DiBernardo, PhD Sina Str. 58, GR – 106 72 Athens Instructor of Religion, Philosophy [email protected] and Humanities University of Central Florida- Dr G.S. Bowe Brevard Program in Cultures Civilizations [email protected] and Ideas phone: (321) 632-111 ext. 65508 And Department of Philosophy Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey Aude Engel, PhD geoff. [email protected] University of Toulouse Le Mirail, France Alan Chalmers Senior Research Fellow Dr Christine Farmer Flinders University of Freelance lecturer and writer South Australia Birmingham, UK [email protected] Christina Clark, PhD Anne Farrell, PhD Assistant Professor Visiting Instructor Classical and Near Eastern Studies Georgia State University Creighton University afarrell @gsu.edu [email protected] xii Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Kevin T. Glowacki, PhD Dr Doukas Kapantaïs Assistant Professor of Classical Research Centre for Greek Studies Philosophy Indiana University-Bloomington, At the Academy of Athens USA Anagnostopoulou 14 [email protected] 106 73 Athens-Greece [email protected] Dr Andrew Gregory Senior Lecturer in History of Thomas Kiefer Science University of Nebraska University College London [email protected] [email protected] Hye- K yung Kim, PhD Leo Groarke Assistant Professor of Philosophy Dean of the Brantford Campus Department of Philosophy Wilfrid Laurier University University of Wisconsin-Green Bay [email protected] Green Bay, Wisconsin 54311 USA [email protected] Dr Louis Groarke Philosophy Department Dr Jonathan Lavery York University Wilfrid Laurier University-Brantford Antigonish, Nova Scotia 73 George St Canada B2G 2W5 Brantford, ON [email protected] N3T 2Y3 Canada [email protected] Virginia Haddad, MA Adjunct Professor of Humanities Bruce J. MacLennan, PhD Imperial Valley College, California Associate Professor [email protected] University of Tennessee Knoxville Dr Ian Hunt [email protected] Associate Professor of Philosophy Head, Dept of Philosophy James M. Magrini School of Humanities, Graduate Philosophy Student Director, Centre for Applied DePaul University, Chicago Philosophy, Flinders University of South Dr Hope May Australia. Assistant Professor of Philosophy [email protected] Central Michigan University. [email protected] Antonia Kakavelaki PhD student Phillip Meade Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Freelance writer Paris Fenton, Michigan [email protected] List of Contributors xiii Dr Maria Protopapas- Marneli Melanie B. Mineo Research Centre for Greek Dowling College Philosophy Oakdale, New York At the Academy of Athens [email protected] Anagnostopoulou 14 106 73 Athens-Greece Marjolein Oele [email protected] Department of Philosophy Loyola University Chicago Allan F. Randall Chicago, IL, USA Dept. of Philosophy [email protected] York University Toronto, Ontario, Canada Dr Patricia F. O’Grady [email protected] Adjunct Research Associate Flinders University of South Glenn Rawson Australia Visiting Scholar in Classics [email protected] Brown University Providence, Rhode Island Tim O’Keefe Assistant Professor of Philosophy Dr Steven R. Robinson Georgia State University Associate Professor [email protected] Brandon University Manitoba, Canada Kartika Panwar [email protected] Freelance Writer Canberra, Australia Suzanne Roux, MA kartika_pan [email protected] Flinders University of South Australia Deborah Nash Peterson, MA Phil [email protected] Department of Philosophy Marquette University Gerasimos Santas Milwaukee,