eBook

Money and the Early Greek Mind

Seaford, Richard

2004,2009

Overview

How were the Greeks of the sixth century BC able to invent philosophy and tragedy? In this book Richard Seaford argues that a large part of the answer can be found in another momentous development, the invention and rapid spread of coinage which produced the first ever thoroughly monetised society. By transforming social relations, monetisation contributed to the ideas of the universe as an impersonal system (presocratic philosophy) and of the individual alienated from his own kin and from the gods (in tragedy). Seaford argues that an important precondition for this monetisation was the Greek practice of animal sacrifice, as represented in Homeric Epic, which describes a premonetary world on the point of producing money. This book combines social history, economic anthropology, numismatics and the close reading of literary, inscriptional, and philosophical texts. Questioning the origins and shaping force of Greek philosophy, this is a major book with wide appeal.

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Subject: Economic conditions / Economic history / Economics / Economics and literature / Economics and literature -- Greece / Economics in literature / Epic / Epic poetry, Greek / Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism / Greece / Greece -- Economic conditions -- To 146 B.C / Greek drama (Tragedy) / Greek drama (Tragedy) -- History and criticism / Greek literature / Greek literature -- History and criticism / History and criticism / Homer / Homer -- Knowledge -- Economics / Knowledge / Literature / Money / Money -- Greece / Money in literature / Philosophy / Philosophy, Ancient / Poetry / Social norms / Social values / To 146 B.C
• ISBN: 0521539927, 0521832284, 9780521832281, 9780521539920