Ancient Greek Rhetoric and Philosophy at the CHS


Publications and Resources

New in the Hellenic Studies Series

Tarik coverTarik Wareh
The Theory and Practice of Life: Isocrates and the Philosophers (print via HUP)

The Theory and Practice of Life is a study of the literary culture within which the works, schools, and careers of Plato, Aristotle, and contemporary Greek intellectuals took shape. It focuses on the important role played by their rival Isocrates and the rhetorical education offered in his school. Tarik Wareh shows that when Aristotle illustrates his ethical theory by reference to the practical arts, this is no simple appeal to a homespun commonsense analogy, but a sign of dependence on the traditions and concepts of rhetorical and empirical methodology. Likewise, when Plato in the Phaedrus constructs the possibility of a truly philosophical rhetoric on the model of “Hippocratic” medicine, his uncomfortable consciousness of rhetorical theory’s relevance, prestige, and power is revealed. The second half of the book brings together the fragmentary evidence for the participation of “Isocrateans” in the philosophical polemics, princely didactics, and literary competition of the fourth century, shedding new light on the “lost years” of intellectual and literary history that lie before the dawn of the Hellenistic period.

Available in Online Publications

Homer Multitext Project

The Homer Multitext project, the first of its kind in Homeric studies, presents the textual transmission of the Iliad and Odyssey in a historical framework. It offers free access to a library of texts and images, a machine-interface to that library and its indices, and tools to allow readers to discover and engage with the Homeric tradition. To view the texts use the Manuscript Browser. (We suggest using Firefox or Safari, both freely available.)
In August 2011 HMT Co-Editor Mary Ebbott and Associate Editor Leonard Muellner joined scholars in many humanistic disciplines at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland for a conference called “From Ancient Manuscripts to the Digital Era: Readings and Literacies.” The proceedings from that conference, including “Multitextual Reading in Manuscripts of the Iliad and the Future of the Homer Multitext” by Ebbott and Muellner, has now been published in Lire Demain / Reading Tomorrow.

Heroes Course

As part of its educational mission, CHS offers free access to a distance learning course taught by Center Director Gregory Nagy. Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization provides an engaging introduction to the major themes of ancient Greek myth, cult, and poetics. All readings are in translation and include the epics of Homer, seven tragedies, two Platonic dialogues, and the dialogue On Heroes by Philostratus. We invite you to learn more about this course and our current theme by exploring the selected resources below. Then access all the content from 2010 via our recent blog post on kleos@CHS.
Dialogue 21: Plato (High Res Video| Low Res Video)
Dialogue 23: Plato (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Reading: Plato, Apology and Phaedo (SB2)
(Please note: High resolution video is better for downloading, lower resolution video is optimized for viewing in browser window.)

plato word cloud
Image: Word cloud from Jowett’s translation of Plato’s Republic, with stop words removed. (created with Voyant: https://voyant-tools.org/)