Abstract

This is a book of prodigous proportions. It is intended as nothing less than a fully comprehensive treatment of every important discussion of its two principal topics in ancient Greek texts from the works of Homer until the closing of the philosophical schools in the sixth century A.D. Moreover, Hankinson’s sources are not limited just to philosophical writers; he also deftly extracts definite positive views on these subjects from the ancient medical literature as well as from the quasi-legal discourses of the fifth century B. C. sophistical movement. But this is no pedestrian lock-step survey governed mechanically by chronological order. To the contrary, various subthemes are constantly interwoven throughout, as issues raised in earlier chapters reappear to be developed and augmented in later ones, which gives the progression of the book as a whole a rich and nuanced character.