Blackwell Reference Online

Beginning already in the Homeric poems and Hesiod, Greek and later Roman poets and philosophers reflected constantly on ideas about justice, government and the rule of law. This tradition reached its zenith in the great works of 4th century Athens, Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics, but also includes the historical works of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Tacitus; the political oratory of Demosthenes and Cicero; the essays of Plutarch and Seneca; and the theory implicit in the workings of the Athenian democracy, the Spartan state, the Roman republic and empire.

This Companion provides a broad overview of ancient political thought with both a normative and a historical focus. It helps students to understand the great works of ancient political philosophy on their own terms, while also identifying the contemporary conversations in which they are involved.