The Historic Model of Plato's Stateman in Politikos

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Historic Model of Plato's Stateman in Politikos

AU - Hansen, Mogens Hermann

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - In Politikos Plato draws a picture of the true statesman, a picture that hasbaffled several of the scholars who have analysed the dialogue, because it appears tobe very abstract and remote from what we know about the development of the politicalorganization of the poleis in the Archaic and Classical periods. In this article I arguethat there is a clear historical background to the person whom Plato calls a statesman,viz., the famous legislators of the Archaic period, in particular Lykourgos, Charondas,Zaleukos and Solon. My argument proceeds in two parts: first a survey of Plato's generaldescription of the statesman and second a sketch of the historical prototype ofPlato's statesman.

AB - In Politikos Plato draws a picture of the true statesman, a picture that hasbaffled several of the scholars who have analysed the dialogue, because it appears tobe very abstract and remote from what we know about the development of the politicalorganization of the poleis in the Archaic and Classical periods. In this article I arguethat there is a clear historical background to the person whom Plato calls a statesman,viz., the famous legislators of the Archaic period, in particular Lykourgos, Charondas,Zaleukos and Solon. My argument proceeds in two parts: first a survey of Plato's generaldescription of the statesman and second a sketch of the historical prototype ofPlato's statesman.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Plato

KW - Politikos

KW - Stateman

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0142-257X

VL - 28

SP - 126

EP - 131

JO - Polis

JF - Polis

ER -