Plato and Hesiod

Download or read book Plato and Hesiod written by G. R. Boys-Stones and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-12-10 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It hardly needs repeating that Plato defined philosophy partly by contrast with the work of the poets. What is extraordinary is how little systematic exploration there has been of his relationship with specific poets other than Homer. This neglect extends even to Hesiod, though Hesiod is of central importance for the didactic tradition quite generally, and is a major source of imagery at crucial moments of Plato's thought. This volume, which presents fifteen articles by specialists on the area, will be the first ever book-length study dedicated to the subject. It covers a wide variety of thematic angles, brings new and sometimes surprising light to a large range of Platonic dialogues, and represents a major contribution to the study of the reception of archaic poetry in Athens.