A concise selection from the standard philosophical works written after the death of Aristotle to the close of the third century, which includes the writings of seminal figures from early Christian thought. Eminent scholar Jason Saunders shows how philosophers from the Hellenistic Age greatly influenced early Christian teachings.

This concise anthology of primary sources designed for use in an ancient philosophy survey ranges from the Presocratics to Plato, Aristotle, the Hellenistic philosophers, and the Neoplatonists. The Second Edition features an amplified selection of Presocratic fragments in newly revised translations by Richard D. McKirahan. Also included is an expansion of the Hellenistic unit, featuring new selections from Lucretius and Sextus Empiricus as well as a new translation, by Peter J. Anderson, of most of Seneca’s De Providentia. The selections from Plotinus have also been expanded.

The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy is a wide-ranging 2003 introduction to the study of philosophy in the ancient world. A team of leading specialists surveys the developments of the period and evaluates a comprehensive series of major thinkers, ranging from Pythagoras to Epicurus. There are also separate chapters on how philosophy in the ancient world interacted with religion, literature and science, and a final chapter traces the seminal influence of Greek and Roman philosophy down to the seventeenth century. Practical elements such as tables, illustrations, a glossary, and extensive advice on further reading make it an ideal book to accompany survey courses on the history of ancient philosophy. It will be an invaluable guide for all who are interested in the philosophical thought of this rich and formative period.

This book explores how politeia (constitution) structures both political and extra-political relations throughout the entire range of Greek and Roman thought. Topics include the vocabulary of politics, the practice of politics, the politics of value, and the extension of constitutional order to relations with animals, gods and the cosmos.

An accessible overview of how the principles of thought which dominate our civilization came to be, from philosophy’s Ionian beginnings to Neo-Platonism. The history of philosophy reveals what was said at the beginning. From the start, man wanted to know, “why?” On the shores of Asia Minor, men like Heraclitus or Parmenides found a wealth of mental material which language at the time could not convey. This thought developed into the mighty teachings of Plato and Aristotle, and furthered its advance under the Stoics. Then the noble character of Plotinus dominated the scene and this developed into Neo-Platonism, where Greek philosophy struggled to unify itself. Thales, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle . . . To see each thinker in his true perspective, it is necessary to study the philosophical background against which he worked. The progress of philosophy is nonlinear and difficult to trace. A History of Greek and Roman Philosophy seeks to reveal the interdependence of one school of thought upon another, and in their own particular historical settings. Then, to be able to recognize a philosopher’s point of departure from the material upon which he had been educated. The purpose of this book is to widen and inform the scope of the general reader, to offer a greater understanding of the effort humanity made to grasp the Truth. In an educational environment that introduces students to great soldiers, sailors, statesmen, and politicians, space must be made for learning about history’s greatest thinkers.

A definitive reference work on Greek and Roman political thought from the age of Homer to late antiquity, first published in 2000.