The Death of Socrates (Paperback)
Hero, Villain, Chatterbox, Saint: From the New York Times-bestselling author
Buy from
The world-famous translator of Homer investigates the life and afterlife of antiquity's most influential thinker, in an essential re-issued edition
FROM THE INSTANTLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF CROSSING THE WINE-DARK SEA AND THE ODYSSEY
A Blackwell's Book of the Month
'Wilson is unquestionably quite cool, and not just by the supposedly-buttoned up standards of her discipline' FT
To his followers, it was an act of extraordinary folly: the silencing of society's most valuable critic. To his enemies, it was a necessary step to protect Athens' youth from dangerous corruption. The truth is lost to history.
The death of Socrates has inspired freethinkers for millennia and become a touchstone of Western philosophy. Tracing Socrates' long afterlife through antiquity, politics, religion and culture, the renowned classicist and translator Emily Wilson unravels some of the most enduring - and difficult - questions of ancient philosophy: How do democracies deal with dissent? Are there limits to what we can say and think? And what lessons should we take take from Socrates' ultimate act of defiance?
The Death of Socrates (Ebook)
Hero, Villain, Chatterbox, Saint: From the New York Times-bestselling author
Buy from
The world-famous translator of Homer investigates the life and afterlife of antiquity's most influential thinker, in an essential re-issued edition
FROM THE INSTANTLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF CROSSING THE WINE-DARK SEA AND THE ODYSSEY
A Blackwell's Book of the Month
'Wilson is unquestionably quite cool, and not just by the supposedly-buttoned up standards of her discipline' FT
To his followers, it was an act of extraordinary folly: the silencing of society's most valuable critic. To his enemies, it was a necessary step to protect Athens' youth from dangerous corruption. The truth is lost to history.
The death of Socrates has inspired freethinkers for millennia and become a touchstone of Western philosophy. Tracing Socrates' long afterlife through antiquity, politics, religion and culture, the renowned classicist and translator Emily Wilson unravels some of the most enduring - and difficult - questions of ancient philosophy: How do democracies deal with dissent? Are there limits to what we can say and think? And what lessons should we take take from Socrates' ultimate act of defiance?
Reviews for The Death of Socrates
Edith Hall Telegraph
Salman Rushdie
Madeline Miller, author of THE SONG OF ACHILLIES
Nilanjana Roy FT
Peter Stothard, author of HORACE
Emily Wilson
Emily Wilson is Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her translations of The Odyssey and The Iliad were critically acclaimed across the globe, and she is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books, the New York Times, the New Statesman and the Nation.