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Review
"The Hemlock Cup is another vibrant and atmospheric work from this well-known promoter of the ancient world." --BBC History Magazine
"Here is a work of dazzling erudition which remains hugely readable - what more can one ask" --John Julius Norwich
"After over thirty years of reading philosophical books and articles on Socrates (and even writing some of them!) it is very refreshing to see him approached from the perspective of his material and cultural environment. It anchors and illuminates the nature of his mission and achievements and really brings the period alive."--Angie Hobbs, Senior Fellow in the Public Understanding of Philosophy, University of Warwick
"No one before Bettany Hughes has thought to weave Socrates’ examined life into so rich a tapestry of democratic Athens's teeming high-cultural and mundane experience. Lucky readers will be drawn by Ms Hughes's beguiling prose into exploring the highways and byways of Athens's urban topography, the devices and desires of the world's first democratic regime, and a Mediterranean world of sex, violence, sympotic carousing and great man-made beauty."--Professor Paul Cartledge, A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, University of Cambridge
"Terrific and passionate writing about a philosopher whose heroism is unquestionable; and as lively and learned an introduction to classical Athens as you could want."--The Telegraph
"She does a very good job of re-creating the material world in which Socrates lived, presenting ancient Athens as a much gaudier, dirtier, smellier and in some respects more industrial place than we often imagine."--The Sunday Times
"Bettany Hughes breathes life into Socrates... Hughes’ expert attempts to make him flesh and blood, to fill in the gap… teach us about the value of the real as well as the philosophical."--The Scotsman
"Hughes cleverly extracts the man from the dramatic scene-setting in the Platonic dialogues and puts him in his life and times by reconstructing ancient Athens and putting the same questions to us that he puts to adherents and fellow citizens. Hughes credits two editors for saving her from ‘extreme colloquialism’ but enough survives to give this intelligent, bright-eyed, vigorous book a life as vibrant as that lived by its subject."--The Times
"Here is a work of dazzling erudition which remains hugely readable - what more can one ask" --John Julius Norwich
"After over thirty years of reading philosophical books and articles on Socrates (and even writing some of them!) it is very refreshing to see him approached from the perspective of his material and cultural environment. It anchors and illuminates the nature of his mission and achievements and really brings the period alive."--Angie Hobbs, Senior Fellow in the Public Understanding of Philosophy, University of Warwick
"No one before Bettany Hughes has thought to weave Socrates’ examined life into so rich a tapestry of democratic Athens's teeming high-cultural and mundane experience. Lucky readers will be drawn by Ms Hughes's beguiling prose into exploring the highways and byways of Athens's urban topography, the devices and desires of the world's first democratic regime, and a Mediterranean world of sex, violence, sympotic carousing and great man-made beauty."--Professor Paul Cartledge, A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, University of Cambridge
"Terrific and passionate writing about a philosopher whose heroism is unquestionable; and as lively and learned an introduction to classical Athens as you could want."--The Telegraph
"She does a very good job of re-creating the material world in which Socrates lived, presenting ancient Athens as a much gaudier, dirtier, smellier and in some respects more industrial place than we often imagine."--The Sunday Times
"Bettany Hughes breathes life into Socrates... Hughes’ expert attempts to make him flesh and blood, to fill in the gap… teach us about the value of the real as well as the philosophical."--The Scotsman
"Hughes cleverly extracts the man from the dramatic scene-setting in the Platonic dialogues and puts him in his life and times by reconstructing ancient Athens and putting the same questions to us that he puts to adherents and fellow citizens. Hughes credits two editors for saving her from ‘extreme colloquialism’ but enough survives to give this intelligent, bright-eyed, vigorous book a life as vibrant as that lived by its subject."--The Times
Book Description
A riveting, lively and brilliantly researched biography of Socrates by the author of the acclaimed bestseller Helen of Troy
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
At last!,
By
This review is from: The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life (Hardcover)
This is a highly readable and thoroughly researched book whose subject matter might best be described as "the Life and Times of Socrates".Anyone who has already studied Socrates will know that we have very little biographical information regarding this self-appointed gadfly, this stinger of the conscience of the Athenians. Some would even argue he never really existed, but was a type of Robin Hood or King Arthur figure from literary legend. Bettany Hughes has exhaustively mined the extant archives. The usual suspects of Plato, Xenophon and Aristophanes naturally feature prominently, as do Aristotle and Diogenes Laertius, as well as numerous other Greek and Roman authors whose writings are either directly or indirectly relevant. We are given an exquisitely atmospheric rendering of Athenian life at the time of Socrates, and a most useful potted history of contemporary events - most notably the Peloponnesian War and its aftermath. Athenian attitudes towards love, religion, politics and philosophy are examined with some eye-opening or eye-watering descriptions. For the more academically inclined, there are more than adequate footnotes, references and bibliographical citations, pp 388 to 472 (hardback copy). And of Socrates himself? Don't expect to be informed of his innermost secrets or his most intimate life story. Unfortunately the extant contemporary writings simply do not contain these details. Although, who knows that one day, some dusty scroll in a classical collection may shed some more light? This book has instilled in me a feeling of deeper admiration for Socrates. I admit that I have been strongly inspired by his approach to knowledge for some time, and may therefore be somewhat biased. However, this book is one of those rareties - an enjoyable and re-readable work of non-fiction. For Socrates fans it is one to keep you awake all night poring over its pages. For historians and classicists, it is rewarding and inspiring. And for the general reader, it is fascinating and atmospheric.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but frustrating biography of the great philosopher,
By
This review is from: The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life (Paperback)
The ancient city state of Athens in Socrates' day is undoubtedly a really fascinating subject. And in her biography of the philosopher, Bettany Hughes, aims to place her subject firmly as a product of this time and place, when democracy was born, for some citizens at least.It gives some fascinating insights into the workings of the city; how it came to be so dominant in the ancient world; and then how it lost its grip on power, never again to be the influential and all conquering powerhouse that it once was. But one of the problems I have with the book is that, although it reveals some interesting facts about Socrates along the way, the reader never really gets under the skin of the man whose biography it purports to be. It talks around the subject of Socrates rather than being a true biography. Possibly this is because some of the only sources of real knowledge about the man come either via an Aristophanes play or the works of Plato. And of course he intriguingly never wrote down a single word of his own thoughts for posterity. I just found it a bit frustrating to end up with a vague picture of Socrates and his pursuit of rational thought, rather than a rounded picture that is normal to gain from a biography. The other problem I have with the work is that I wanted to be transported to the world of ancient Greece, and not be constantly pulled back to modern day Athens with its dirty motorways and back streets by Hughes' own modern travels. These vignettes do not add anything to the story of Socrates, and if anything positively detract from it, by adding a layer of irrelevance that does not help Hughes' cause. The story of how Socrates fought for, but also rebelled against his state, and paid the ultimate price for doing so is a great one. But truly accomplished biographers, like Claire Tomalin for example, get to the heart of their subject; readily signpost moments of educated conjecture on their part rather than fact; and are above all clear and meticulously researchers. By labelling this interesting historical book as a biography, it is bound to suffer by comparison.
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bettany is the best!,
This review is from: The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life (Hardcover)
Bettany Hughes is one of the best British historians of the classical world. Socrates is the founder of western thought and philosophy- Bettany Hughes more than does him justice here.The book is scholarly but the narrative flows easily and the analysis is first class.I particularly liked the way Bettany Hughes built the description of recent archaeological discoveries into the text to better illustrate the society of classical Athens from which Socrates came.Your money will not be wasted if you buy this excellent book!
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