Reciprocity in Ancient Greece - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198149972 ISBN 13: 9780198149972

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 1998

Synopsis

Reciprocity in Ancient Greece A collection of essays exploring the significance of reciprocity in ancient Greek culture. Reciprocity has been seen as an important notion for anthropologists studying economic and social relations, and this volume examines it in connection with Greek culture from Homer to the Hellenistic period.

About this title

Synopsis:

In this collection of new essays, an international group of experts explores the significance of reciprocity (the principle and practice of voluntary requital, of benefit for benefit or harm for harm) in ancient Greek culture. Reciprocity has been seen as an important notion for anthropologists studying economic and social relations. A key question has been whether reciprocity constitutes an alternative pattern to the commercial, political, and ethical relationships characteristic of modern Western society. This volume takes the question forward in connection with Greek culture from Homer to the Hellenistic period. Building on previous research on this topic (especially on Homeric society), it provides a wide-ranging examination of reciprocity inGreek epic and drama, historiography, oratory, religion, and ethical philosophy. It asks fundamental questions about the importance of reciprocity in different phases of Greek history, the interplay between reciprocity and the ideology of Athenian democracy, and between reciprocity and altruism in ethical thought.

Clear and non-technical, with all Greek translated, this volume will make debate on this important subject available to a wide circle of readers in classical, literary, anthropological, and historical studies.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0198149972
• ISBN 13: 9780198149972
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384
• Editor: Gill Christopher, Postlethwaite Norman, Seaford Richard