Greek Political Thought

Abstract Beginning with Homeric poetry, continuing through the remarkable flourishing of theater, history, and philosophy in the fifth and fourth centuriesbce, and ending with the Hellenistic period, Greek political thought spans several hundred years and a number of genres. For the ancient Greeks, the “political” included a tremendous assortment of concerns, with few if any boundaries marking off the political from the nonpolitical. Indeed, it spans just about everything related to the polis, or city, from which the word “political” is derived. Thus, ancient political thought includes discussions of fate, virtue, family, and education (to name just a few topics), in addition to such customary political questions as the nature of authority, the relationship between the individual and state, the role of leadership, or the universality of law. Because of this, a broad view of the source material allows a much richer understanding of how the ancient Greeks thought about politics than we might achieve if we were to stick only to the canonical political philosophers of the period. Thus, this examination of Greek political thought includes texts from a wide variety of genres, all of which offer critical and abstract commentary on the nature of politics and the capacities of citizens.