The Discourse of Kingship in Classical Greece

This book examines how ancient authors explored ideas of kingship as a political role fundamental to the construction of civic unity, the use of kingship stories to explain the past and present unity of the polis, and the distinctive function or status attributed to kings in such accounts.

Carol Atack is a postdoctoral Research Associate on the Anachronism and Antiquity project and a Junior Research Fellow at St Hugh's College, University of Oxford, UK. She is an Associate Editor of Polis: the Journal for Ancient Greek Political Thought, and has published several articles and chapters on aspects of Greek political thought.

Introduction 1. King and Cosmos in Herodotus 2. Monarchy on the Democratic Stage 3. The Discourse of Kingship in Classical Athenian Thought 4. Kingship and Socratic Thought 5. Virtue and Monarchy 6. Kingship in Plato's Later Political Thought 7. 'Total Kingship' and the Rule of Law 8. Conclusion: the Imaginary King and the Metaphysics of Political Unity