Studies in Fifth Century Thought and Literature (Yale Classical Studies (No. 22))

This volume covers a wide range of topics in Athenian intellectual history, drawing on the methods of various other disciplines to provoke a reconsideration of outstanding problems and controversies in classical studies. The papers have been organised by the editor around three natural groupings. The first five chapters will be of interest to those who have no specialist knowledge of Greek. There is a fresh look at Socrates' doctrine of the soul, a twentieth-century reappraisal of Protagoras' relativism and an examination of the primary function of myths. A second group analyses more specific problems, considering the two burials of the Antigone, the stylistic characterisation in the speeches in Thucydides and the Socratic paradox as it seems to be stated in the Hippolytus. The final papers critically examine controversial passages from Iphigenta in Aulide and the Trachiniae. The papers, by distinguished scholars, will be important reading for all who are interested in the thought and literature of fifth-century Athens.