Herodotus and the Presocratics
Herodotus and the Presocratics
$110.00
USDHerodotus' Histories was composed well before the genre of Greek historiography emerged as a distinct narrative enterprise. This book explores it within its fifth-century context alongside the extant fragments of Presocratic treatises as well as philosophizing tragedy and comedy. It argues for the Histories' competitive engagement with contemporary intellectual culture and demonstrates its ambition as an experimental prose work, tracing its responses to key debates on relativism, human nature, and epistemology. In addition to expanding the intellectual milieu of which the Histories is a part and restoring its place in Presocratic thought, K. Scarlett Kingsley elucidates fourth-century philosophy's subsequent engagement with the work. In doing so, she contributes to a revision of the sharp separation between the ancient genres of philosophy and history. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.
- Provides a new paradigm for contextualizing the rise of Greek historiography in the shared intellectual milieu of early historical writing and Presocratic philosophy
- Analyses key debates on relativism, human nature, and epistemology in Herodotus' Histories and Presocratic philosophers
- Offers an innovative approach to interpreting generic interaction
Reviews & endorsements
‘Kingsley’s insightful analysis of the Histories’ laboratory makes Herodotus and the Presocratics a must-read for Herodotean scholars, as well as for anyone interested in classical Greek intellectual history.’ Davide Napoli, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
‘Kingsley's work is recommended to anyone who seeks a deeper, literary understanding of Herodotus and is interested in intertextuality in the 5th century ante.’ Gregor Kirilov, H-Soz-Kult
‘Kingsley’s work is an important and necessary contribution to understanding Herodotus. … this erudite, thorough and thoughtful account is a welcome addition to Herodotus scholarship, and it persuasively and substantively makes its major claim: that Herodotus, the father of history, is a philosophic thinker in his own right.’ Lindsay Mahon Rathnam, The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought
Product details
March 2024Hardback
9781009338547
272 pages
235 × 158 × 20 mm
0.54kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction: transtextual histories: history, philosophy, and intellectual culture
- 2. Relativism, king of all
- 3. The pull of tradition: egoism and Persian revolution
- 4. History peri physeos
- 5. Physis on the battlefield
- 6. Historical inquiry and presocratic epistemology
- 7. Herodotean philosophy.
