Bettany Hughes - The Hemlock Cup

1,831 views · Published 21 October 2010 · 4:36 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: Waterstones · 2010 · Entertainment

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We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did. His aphorism 'The unexamined life is not worth living' may have originated twenty-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, as he wrote nothing in his lifetime, he himself is an enigmatic figure. "The Hemlock Cup" gives Socrates the biography he deserves, setting him in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean that was his home, and dealing with him as he himself dealt with the world.

Buy The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life from Waterstones.com: http://bit.ly/bRg29C

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