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The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life, by Bettany Hughes
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Review
“Fascinating. . . . What Bettany Hughes provides is something vital: a life and times of Socrates that is so richly textured, flavorful and atmospheric that it makes human this most enigmatic of all philosophers. By the end of her book, we can almost see and smell the man, with all of his quirks and foibles and questioning brilliance.” —Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review“Bettany Hughes’ biography is far more than just that: this tour de force is a vivid political and social history of Athens in the 5th century BC. Hughes evokes a city steeped in change, looking past the Golden Age of democracy, new wealth and power to the reality of a century tempered by war and infighting. With the plan of his life as a backbone, the book covers the whole experience of 5th-century Athenians, yet paints a picture of Socrates as a marvellous eccentric, paddling the streets barefoot, conversing with strangers and refusing to conform . . . this approach produces an extremely exciting narrative. Descriptions of Athens’ legal system aren’t dry but dripping with colour; the city itself is dirty, smelly, defiantly alive. And what other historian has spared a thought for the buttock pain of ancient jurors sat on hard stone seats in court? This is not a study of Socrates’ philosophy but his world. As thought-provoking as it is thrilling, the book is a beacon for the relevance and interest of classics today.” —The Times (London) “Bettany Hughes’s terrifically readable life of Socrates is more than just a life; it is also an evocation and explanation of the world that created him, and over which he would come to have such influence. . . . The Hemlock Cup makes a vivid and persuasive case for the study of Socrates as a valuable means to understanding how our way of thinking about our own world came to be, and a guide to how we might understand it better.” —The Independent on Sunday (UK) “A beguiling book. . . . Hughes triumphs again. This is history, and historical reconstruction, exactly as it should be written. . . . The Socrates Hughes creates is ultimately a towering yet intensely human figure. He lives and speaks again in these pages: It’s a singular accomplishment.” —The Washington Post “Delightful . . . Hughes presents a high-octane account of Socrates and his age. . . . Do read this book, both because of its marvelous storytelling and because it will stimulate a desire to learn more about the ancient world.” —The Wall Street Journal “Bettany Hughes has done it again; she brings to life not only Socrates himself but the whole of Periclean Athens. Here is a work of dazzling erudition which remains hugely readable—what more can one ask?” —John Julius Norwich, author of Byzantium “No one before Bettany Hughes, a highly accomplished communicator, has thought to weave Socrates’s examined life into quite so rich and dense a tapestry of democratic Athens’s teeming high-cultural and mundane experience. . . . Hughes’s enormous energy and enthusiasm are infectious.” —Paul Cartledge, The Independent (UK) “An invigorating, tremendous work of scholarship. . . . A smart and entertaining ‘biography’ of Socrates as shaped against the great experiment of democracy in 5th-century BCE Athens. . . . Hughes thrillingly navigates the life stages of her subject.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)“A compelling study of an exceptional man’s relationship with the one community that had a hope of understanding and accepting him. There’s some 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 Daily Telegraph (UK)“This is a lucid, erudite, and compelling work that brings Socrates and his city to life, offering a fresh and illuminating perspective on their times . . . A fruitful melding of informed and nuanced historical narrative and personal observation that succeeds marvelously in realizing its bold ambition.” —Weekly Standard “The brilliant cultural historian Hughes has again produced an intriguing and entertaining biohistory of one of the most important individuals in the ancient world. . . . She brings to life the social, political, economic, literary, and military realities of Socrates’ society, in particular the centrality of the agora, [and] aptly conveys the continuing urgency of Socrates’ devotion to the inquiring mind.” —Publishers Weekly (starred) “There are certain historical figures whose lives merit perpetual reexamination because their impact continues to reverberate century after century. . . . Not only a lively and eminently readable biography of Socrates the man, but also a vivid evocation of Athens, the city-state on the cusp of originating many of the greatest precepts of modern Western civilization.” —Booklist “One can plunge enthusiastically into the seething world inhabited by Socrates that Hughes recreates for us. . . . This is the grand sweep of Athenian history during its most politically inventive and culturally exciting period. . . . Irresistible.” —Literary Review (UK) “The life of Socrates becomes a peg from which to hang a vivid depiction of Athens in its golden age, from the pinnacle of its greatness to the abyss of its ultimate defeat. . . . Hughes’s prose is the literary equivalent of CGI, re-creating for the reader a sense of the clamour and dazzle of the classical city that has rarely been bettered. . . . Hers is an ancient Greece that is authentically cutting-edge.” —The Observer (UK)
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About the Author
Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster. Her first book, Helen of Troy, has been translated into ten languages. She has written and presented numerous documentaries for the BBC, PBS, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel and National Geographic, which have been seen by more than 100 million viewers worldwide. She received her degrees in ancient and medieval history from Oxford University and holds a Research Fellowship at King’s College, London. She was awarded the 2012 Norton Medlicott Medal for Services to History by the Historical Association. She lives in the United Kingdom and abroad with her husband and their two daughters.
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Product details
Paperback: 544 pages
Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (February 14, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9781400076017
ISBN-13: 978-1400076017
ASIN: 1400076013
Product Dimensions:
5.3 x 1.2 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.2 out of 5 stars
61 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#486,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The trial and death of Socrates stands alongside that of Jesus of Nazareth as a milestone in our civilization. What these deaths signify is far from clear. Neither man wrote memoirs about what he taught. Both were killed by political authorities intent on doing what politicians always do - keeping order. And both deaths have spawned passionate debate and interest thousands of years after each man breathed his last. Why we do care about these deaths?Bettany Hughes' The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life provides an answer of a sort. "Home sapiens," she writes, "craves the anonymity of the herd. All of civilization's darkest hours have been bayed on by men who want scapegoats, who want the finger of blame to turn in any direction, as long as it is away from their own face. Loose, jealous tongues are the bane of history." That, at least, is a compelling reason for why Socrates was condemned to death in 399 B.C.E. (The vote among the 500 jurors sitting in his case was close as to guilt regarding the crimes charged, neglecting the Athens gods and corrupting its youth - 280-220; the vote in favor of death as a penalty was 340 to 160.)Athens lost the Peloponnesian War to Sparta, its population was decimated by disease and war attrition, and the imperial tribute that fed the leisure of its citizenry had dwindled to a trickle. And Socrates was the friend of Alcibiades, a sometime friend, sometime enemy of the city. Surely a scapegoat was needed. Socrates, the infamous Socrates of Plato and Xenophon, was just too different. The Delphic Oracle had reportedly declared no man to be wiser; yet the philosopher proclaimed that he knew no truth. He wandered the streets shoeless, debating endlessly and offending with delight. Socrates, implacable Socrates, philosophized while Athens burned. "We strive for answers, for closure; but all Socrates does is ask questions."Hughes brings ancient Athens to life, weaving the setting for Socrates' life out of historic records and recent archeological evidence. The tone of the book is not the sort of ponderous scholarship often encountered in serious works on ancient Greece. It is rather playful; she is a wit at work and at play, trying to make sense of the life and death of philosophy's founding father. The book caught me off guard, her breezy and almost playful tone put me off at first, but I could not put the book down, even though I profess not to like the writing. How like Socrates this book must be: not altogether pleasing in form, but irresistible.In recent years, I've struggled with the question presented by the historical Jesus. What can we know about this man? Can we know anything? There is so much more written about Socrates by contemporaries, and Plato's dialogues, whether fictive in whole or in part, at least have the ring of truth: he was a witness to what he wrote about. We have no eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus, only Gospels written decades after his death and by men who never broke bread with the man -- nothing admissible, as we lawyers like to say. Why the great need to know about a man who cannot be known, and the easy acceptance of something less than knowledge as to Socrates?One claimed that he was the truth and that to know him was to be set free. He was killed by Roman overlords. Socrates claimed to know nothing save that the unexamined life was not worth living. He was killed by fellow citizens. Perhaps the deaths have little in common. Yet they remain two of the most profound political executions in the history of the West. Hughes has nothing to say about this, of course. Her focus is the Athenian. I will shelve the book this afternoon, but I will miss it a great deal. She's also written a volume on Helen of Troy. I suspect I will soon be in Hughes' hands again. Can she be persuaded to take a try at the death of Jesus?
A wonderfully written life of the most important philosopher of all time. The author provides in depth details of Socrates' life and a thorough description of life in ancient Athens at the height of it's power and it's decline. She provides a detailed description of the profound weaknesses faced by all democratic societies and how they historically lead to tyranny.
How better for what it purports to be. The characters I have studied for so long came alive and became immediate familiars.. The mix of the past and present locales, sites and activities raises the book from mere historical fiction to a felt reality. I certainly felt many times that I could walk out my door and be a citizen of Socrates' Athens. In fact I was concerned with how I would choose to vote at his trial. Not as easy as you might think if you are there then. Wish I had read this before all the others. Would have changed my understanding and perceptions of them. Thank you Bettany Hughs!
Just on the last few days of a month travelling around Greece, reading this book and walking in the footsteps of Socrates. The author has done a great job of bringing the times of 5 th century BC alive for me. Also interesting with current time of Greek Financial Crisis due to hold referendum tomorrow. We have loved Greece and the Greek people, so hospitable and family orientated. We are seeing the plebiscite in action in the land where this approach first started, but also where Socrates in the book is reported to have stated that the most valuable thing is in life is time for " leisure". I highly recommend the book and also a holiday to Greece to help them in these difficult times.
A wonderful compilation of historical sources, archaeology, and expert sources which bring Athens and Socrates back to life. Enjoying the book.
As expected.
Much more of a history on Athens during the mess that was the peloponesian war than about Socrates himself but this is because there isn't much known about the man. Like she says in the intro, writing about him is like a donut, lots of heavy caloric filling matter with a hole in the middle where the main character should be. That being said , I learned a lot about Athens and Greek history / thought , and got an idea of what an amazing man Socrates must have been to have lived through things like the war expeditions, the terrible plague, the besiegement by Sparta, and the tyrants that followed when her walls were torn down. He says that he just kept on living the way that he always had when the people were starving in the city as the Spartans surrounded Athens. He refused to condem innocent men to death on 2 occassions despite the huge risk to his own life for doing so. Anyway great book , gave 4 stars cause the little archaeology descriptions about these modern day locations weren't really of much interest.
This book is a must read for anyone who enjoys learning about the Bronze Age or reading historical fiction about that era. Socrates was such a prominent figure. His legacy has survived, resonating soundly into the present. This book makes his impact understandable. It contains delightful descriptions and scenes of this one man's life in all of its aspects; the soldier, lover, husband and philosopher. Bettany Hughes writes powerfully about the role of women and slaves in democratic Athens. Her attention to detail is spot on. I especially enjoyed her infrequent ramblings about geology and volcanism when describing the islands of Melos and Delos. I will read this book again someday.
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