The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Hughes, Bettany / Hughes, PUBLISHER: Jonathan Cape, A riveting, lively and brilliantly researched biography of Socrates by the author of the acclaimed bestseller Helen of Troy. ong>Weong> think the way ong>weong> do because Socrates thought the way he did. His aphorism 'The unexamined life is not worth living' may have originated tong>weong>nty-five centuries ago, but it is a founding principle of modern life. Socrates lived and contributed to a city that nurtured key ingredients of contemporary civilisation -- democracy, liberty, science, drama, rational thought -- yet, ong>asong> he wrote nothing in his lifetime, he ong>himong>self is an enigmatic figure. The Hemlock Cup gives Socrates the biography he deserves, setting ong>himong> in the context of the Eong>asong>tern Mediterranean that wong>asong> his home, and dealing with ong>himong> ong>asong> he ong>himong>self dealt with the world. Socrates wong>asong> a soldier, a lover, a man of the people. He philosophised neither in grand educational establishments nor the courts of kings but in the squares and public arenong>asong> of Golden Age Athens. He lived through an age of extraordinary materialism, in which a democratic culture turned to the glorification of its own city; when war wong>asong> declared under the banner of democracy; and when tolerance turned into intimidation on streets once populated by the likes of Euripides, Sophocles and Pericles. For seventy years he wong>asong> a vigorous citizen of one of the greatest capitals on earth, but then his beloved Athens turned on ong>himong>, condemning ong>himong> to death by poison. Socrates' pursuit of personal liberty is a vibrant story that Athens did not want us to hear, but which must be told. Bettany Hughes hong>asong> painstakingly pieced together Socrates' life, following in his footsteps across Greece and ong>Asong>ia Minor, and examining the new archaeological discoveries that shed light on his world. In The Hemlock Cup she reveals the human heart of the man, and relates a story that is ong>asong> relevant now ong>asong> it hong>asong> ever been. "From the Trade Paperback edition."