Disclosure : This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life

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. For seventy years Socrates was a vigorous citizen of Golden Age Athens, philosophising in the squares and public arenas rather than in the courts of kings, before his beloved city turned on him, condemning him to death by poison.Socrates lived in and contributed to a city that nurtured key ingredients of contemporary civilisation – democracy, liberty, science, drama, rational thought – yet, as he wrote almost nothing down, he himself is an enigmatic figure. In The Hemlock Cup, acclaimed historian Bettany Hughes gives Socrates the biography he deserves, painstakingly piecing together Socrates` life and using fresh evidence to get closer to the man who asked `how should we live?` – a question as relevant now as it has ever been.

Related Products:

The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers Doctor Socrates: Footballer, Philosopher, Legend 24 Hours in Ancient Athens: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There Goldilocks and the Water Bears: The Search for Life in the Universe Eureka!: The Birth of Science Lords of the Sea: The Triumph and Tragedy of Ancient Athens The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today`s America A Little History of Philosophy Cosmos: The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life Athens: The Acropolis. All You Need to Know About the Gods, Myths and Legends of This Sacred Site Wallpaper* City Guide Athens Every Third Thought: On Life, Death, and the Endgame Default ThumbnailLife Science Through Infographics Stanley – The Impossible Life of Africa`s Greatest Explorer Nocturne – A journey In Search Of Moonlight Imperial Life in the Emerald City – Inside Baghdad`s Green Zone The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens` London Pessoa: An Experimental Life Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas de Quincey Darwin: A Life in Poems Classical Athens Default ThumbnailA Traveller`s History of Athens Ask an Astronaut: My Guide to Life in Space (Official Tim Peake Book) Stranger in the Shogun`s City: A Woman`s Life in Nineteenth-Century Japan Life Loves You: 7 Spiritual Practices to Heal Your Life In Search of Time – Journeys along a Curious Dimension The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World Athens: The Monocle Travel Guide Series Norman Mailer: A Double Life Mr Darley`s Arabian: High Life, Low Life, Sporting Life: A History of Racing in 25 Horses Pompeii The Life Of A Roman Town Brian Blessed Absolute Pandemonium: My Larger than Life Story Workin` It!: Rupaul`s Guide to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Style The Merchant of Prato: Daily Life in a Medieval Italian City The Secret Life of Snow: The Science and the Stories Behind Nature`s Greatest Wnder In Search of Mycotopia: Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms The Madeleine Project: Uncovering A Parisian a Life The Story of Life in 101/2 Chapters