New Releases by Robin Waterfield

Pocos se atreverían a afirmar que Platón sea el único padre de la filosofía, pero eso es lo que se defiende en este libro, siguiendo la línea del filósofo inglés Alfred North Whitehead cuando afirmó que «la historia de la filosofía occidental no es más que una serie de notas al pie de página de Platón». Pese a todo, se sabe muy poco del hombre que fue Platón, y no se ha escrito ninguna biografía merecedora de tal nombre en los últimos siglos. Robin Waterfield asume el reto de redactar la tan necesaria biografía y traza un vívido retrato que, sin renunciar al rigor académico, nos aclara cuánto se sabe de la acaudalada familia del filósofo, de sus amigos y sus posibles amores, y de sus relaciones políticas en una Atenas en plena guerra del Peloponeso, una ciudad que bullía en ideas y atraía a estudiantes de todo el mundo griego en busca de los conocimientos que regalaban —o vendían— sofistas, pitagóricos y la embrionaria Academia de Platón. Una perfecta introducción al hombre y su tiempo, una biografía que no solo ilumina una nueva perspectiva sobre el filósofo, sino que anima a la lectura de sus obras.

Volgens velen is Plato de belangrijkste filosoof aller tijden. Hij werd geboren in een rijke familie in Athene. Als tiener bezocht hij lezingen van rondtrekkende filosofen en wilde hij dichter worden. Hij besloot om de politiek in te gaan, maar haakte gedesillusioneerd af toen zijn leraar Socrates ter dood werd veroordeeld. Plato werd zelf leraar en stichtte een filosofische school die hij de Akademie noemde. En hij probeerde op Sicilië de tiran van Syracuse een politiek systeem te laten doorvoeren dat grotendeels gebaseerd was op zijn filosofie. Al bij leven had Plato een min of meer goddelijke status. Mede als gevolg daarvan zijn er vele verhalen en mythen rondom hem ontstaan. Maar er zijn weinig betrouwbare bronnen. Plato heeft het in zijn werk nooit over zichzelf. Plato-vertaler en -kenner Robin Waterfield schreef over de man achter het werk, daarbij gebruikmakend van dat werk en van de weinige gegevens die er zijn. Plato’s leven stond in het teken van de filosofie, schrijft Waterfield, en daarom moeten we erover lezen. Want de grote vragen, die bestaan nog steeds.

Zu seinen Lebzeiten und danach galt Platon, einer der bedeutendsten Philosophen aller Zeiten, als nahezu göttliche Figur. Dies führte dazu, dass viele Legenden über ihn erfunden wurden - sowohl von denen, die ihn anbeteten, als auch von seinen Gegnern. In diesem umfassenden Porträt steuert Robin Waterfield einen vernünftigen Kurs zwischen diesen Geschichten, entlarvt einige als Märchen, während er den Kern der Wahrheit in anderen akzeptiert. Platon wurde Ende des fünften Jahrhunderts v. Chr. in einer wohlhabenden Familie im kriegsgeplagten Athen geboren. Als Teenager schärfte er seinen Intellekt, indem er die Vorlesungen der vielen Denker besuchte, die durch Athen reisten. Schließlich beschloss er, in die Politik zu gehen, wurde aber desillusioniert, insbesondere nachdem die Athener seinen Lehrer Sokrates zum Tode verurteilt hatten. Stattdessen wandte sich Platon dem Schreiben und Lehren zu. Später gründete er die Akademie, die erste Forschungs- und Lehreinrichtung für höhere Bildung in der Welt. Der renommierte Klassikexperte Robin Waterfield gibt einen umfassenden Einblick in Leben und Werk des großen Philosophen. Er erklärt, warum Platon lieber Dialoge als Abhandlungen geschrieben hat, und gibt einen Überblick über den Inhalt aller Bücher Platons.

This book, the first ever biography of the father of philosophy, tracks Plato''s life from his childhood in war-torn Athens at the end of the fifth century BCE to his founding of the Academy, adventures in Sicily, death, and immense legacy. Throughout, it sheds light on Plato''s many timeless works of philosophy.

Mark Aurel (121–180 n. Chr.) war der sechzehnte römische Kaiser und einer der mächtigsten, aber auch klügsten Männer seiner Zeit. Seine »Selbstbetrachtungen«, die nie zur Veröffentlichung bestimmt waren, haben sich als unerschöpfliche Quelle der Weisheit und als eines der wichtigsten Werke der stoischen Philosophie erwiesen. In eindrücklicher Sprache verfasst, reichen die Einträge von einzeiligen Aphorismen bis zu Essays, die von Menschenliebe, Besonnenheit, aber auch Melancholie geprägt sind. Diese kommentierte Ausgabe von Robin Waterfield, einem weltbekannten Experten antiker Philosophie, bietet einen neuen Einblick in die Gedankenwelt des Philosophenkaisers des antiken Roms. Sie enthält eine völlig neue Übersetzung seines Klassikers mit ausführlichen Anmerkungen und einer aufschlussreichen Einleitung über Leben und Werk Mark Aurels. Ein Genuss sowohl für Einsteiger als auch für Kenner des Stoizismus.

"Our volume tells the story of Macedon''s complex relations with Greece, Egypt, and the Near East in the "middle period" of the post-Alexander era. It opens about forty years after Alexander died, when the massive wars of the Successors were winding to a close and the next generation of kings continued the squabble over the Macedonian Empire and its relations with Greece. Waterfield has used his deep understanding of Greek history to construct the story of life and war and politics in a complicated, splintered empire. He highlights the singular accomplishments of the Macedonian king Antigonus Gonatas, who has never received his due until now. What Waterfield shows is that Antigonus was an exceptional politician and an artful strategist who protected Macedon and its Greek territories against aggressors coming from every direction: the Gauls storming the northern border, Ptolemy meddling in the Peloponnese, and Antiochus stirring mischief in the Near East. It was Antigonus who stabilized Macedonian fortunes after years of chaos fomented by the death of Alexander"--

A fascinating, accessible, and up-to-date history of the Ancient Greeks. Covering the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, and centred around the disunity of the Greeks, their underlying cultural unity, and their eventual political unification.

In the northwestern corner of the great peninsula of the Peloponnese, close to the meeting point of the Cladeus and Alpheus rivers, lies a peaceful river valley overlooked by the steep-sided Hill of Cronus. Here, between the eighth century BCE and the fourth century CE, rival athletes competed for glory in the ancient Olympic Games. Every four years, and from every corner of the Mediterranean world - from Samos to Syracuse and from Sparta to Smyrna - they descended on this quiet corner of southern Greece sacred to Zeus, seeking to excel in disciplines as diverse as sprinting, boxing, wrestling, trumpet blowing and chariot and mulecart racing. The victors of these ancient games may have been awarded crowns of olive leaves in recognition of their achievements, but these original Olympics were no idealistic celebration of the classical aesthetic of grace and beauty shared by all of the participating Greek city-states, but often a bitterly contested struggle between political rivals. Robin Waterfield paints a vivid picture of the reality of the ancient Olympic Games; describes the events in which competitors took part; explores their purpose, rituals and politics; and charts the vicissitudes of their remarkable thousand-year history.

Addressing a marginalized era of Greek and Roman history, Taken at the Flood offers a compelling narrative of Rome''s conquest of Greece.

A highly readable and beautifully illustrated re-telling of the most famous stories from Greek mythology. The Greek Myths contains some of the most thrilling, romantic, and unforgettable stories in all human history. From Achilles rampant on the fields of Troy, to the gods at sport on Mount Olympus; from Icarus flying too close to the sun, to the superhuman feats of Heracles, Theseus, and the wily Odysseus, these timeless tales exert an eternal fascination and inspiration that have endured for millennia and influenced cultures from ancient to modern. Beginning at the dawn of human civilization, when the Titan Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and offered mankind hope, the reader is immediately immersed in the majestic, magical, and mythical world of the Greek gods and heroes. As the tales unfold, renowned classicist Robin Waterfield, joined by his wife, writer Kathryn Waterfield, creates a sweeping panorama of the romance, intrigues, heroism, humour, sensuality, and brutality of the Greek myths and legends. The terrible curse that plagued the royal houses of Mycenae and Thebes, Jason and the golden fleece, Perseus and the dread Gorgon, the wooden horse and the sack of Troy--these amazing stories have influenced art and literature from the Iron Age to the present day. And far from being just a treasure trove of amazing tales, The Greek Myths is a catalogue of Greek myth in art through the ages, and a notable work of literature in its own right.

Alexander the Great conquered an enormous empire--stretching from Greece to the Indian subcontinent--and his death triggered forty bloody years of world-changing events. These were years filled with high adventure, intrigue, passion, assassinations, dynastic marriages, treachery, shifting alliances, and mass slaughter on battlefield after battlefield. And while the men fought on the field, the women, such as Alexander''s mother Olympias, schemed from their palaces and pavilions. Dividing the Spoils serves up a fast-paced narrative that captures this turbulent time as it revives the memory of the Successors of Alexander and their great contest for his empire. The Successors, Robin Waterfield shows, were no mere plunderers. Indeed, Alexander left things in great disarray at the time of his death, with no guaranteed succession, no administration in place suitable for such a large realm, and huge untamed areas both bordering and within his empire. It was the Successors--battle-tested companions of Alexander such as Ptolemy, Perdiccas, Seleucus, and Antigonus the One-Eyed--who consolidated Alexander''s gains. Their competing ambitions, however, eventually led to the break-up of the empire. To tell their story in full, Waterfield draws upon a wide range of historical materials, providing the first account that makes complete sense of this highly complex period. Astonishingly, this period of brutal, cynical warfare was also characterized by brilliant cultural achievements, especially in the fields of philosophy, literature, and art. A new world emerged from the dust and haze of battle, and, in addition to chronicling political and military events, Waterfield provides ample discussion of the amazing cultural flowering of the early Hellenistic Age.

When it was originally published this book broke new ground in presenting one continuous narrative of the history of Christians in Persia from the second century A.D to the 1970s. The material gathered here was previously only to be found in obscure books, manuscripts and foreign periodicals. Christians in Persia shows the intricate history of the period concerned; the personalities of the rulers and the ruled; the difficult task of the missionaries; their successes and failures and the consequences of their efforts. All this is related to the wider history of the country and to the expansion of Christianity in the East.

A revisionist account of the most famous trial and execution in Western civilization — one with great resonance for modern society In the spring of 399 BCE, the elderly philosopher Socrates stood trial in his native Athens. The court was packed, and after being found guilty by his peers, Socrates died by drinking a cup of poison hemlock, his execution a defining moment in ancient civilization. Yet time has transmuted the facts into a fable. Aware of these myths, Robin Waterfield has examined the actual Greek sources, presenting a new Socrates, not an atheist or guru of a weird sect, but a deeply moral thinker, whose convictions stood in stark relief to those of his former disciple, Alcibiades, the hawkish and self-serving military leader. Refusing to surrender his beliefs even in the face of death, Socrates, as Waterfield reveals, was determined to save a morally decayed country that was tearing itself apart. Why Socrates Died is then not only a powerful revisionist book, but a work whose insights translate clearly from ancient Athens to the present day.

Robin Waterfield presents Socrates as a deeply moral thinker whose convictions stood in stark relief to those of his former disciple, Alcibiades, the hawkish and self-serving military leader. Refusing to surrender his beliefs even in the face of death, Socrates was determined to save his native Athens even as the city-state was tearing itself apart and falling into moral decline.

"With this first masterpiece of Western military history forming the backbone of his book, Robin Waterfield explores what remains unsaid and assumed in Xenophon''s account - much about the gruesome nature of ancient battle and logistics, the lives of Greek and Persian soldiers, and questions of historical, political, and personal context, motivation, and conflicting agendas. The result is a rounded version of the story of Cyrus''s ill-fated march and the Greeks'' perilous retreat - a nuanced and dramatic perspective on a critical moment in history that may tell us as much about our present-day adventures in the Middle East, site of Cyrus''s debacle and the last act of the Golden Age, as it does about the great powers of antiquity in a volatile period of transition."--BOOK JACKET.

When Ellen enters service as a young housemaid at Markham Thorpe, she realises that the relationship between masters and servants is not quite as it should be - and that it is her cousin, the housekeeper Mrs Rundell, who''s responsible.

Reni Guinon (1886-1951) is undoubtedly one of the luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of recent philosophies. His oeuvre of 26 volumes is providential for the modern seeker: pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese, the Hellenic and Judaic, the Christian and Islamic, and including also Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other esoteric currents, at the same time it directs the reader to the deepest level of religious praxis, emphasizing the need for affiliation with a revealed tradition even while acknowledging the final identity of all spiritual paths as they approach the summit of spiritual realization. This is the only biographical introduction to Guinon currently available in English. Sophia Perennis will soon publish another biography, The Simple Life of Reni Guinon, written shortly after Guinon''s death by his close friend and publisher PaulChacornac. After a lonely childhood, often interrupted by ill health, Guinon navigated the seductive half-truths of occultism toward a deeper, unified vision offering a way out from the confusion and fragmentation of our time. Against the seemingly inexorable process of dissolution the twentieth century experienced, Guinon pointed to the transcendent unity of all religious faiths and the abiding Truth that contains them all.

This history of Athens centres mainly on the classical period, but also tells the city''s story up to the 21st century.

This history of hypnosis dispels the myths about this long misunderstood topic--thought provoking and engagingly written.

In this engaging narrative, noted classicist Waterfield traces the life and history of Athens, a city whose idealized past continues to inspire the present.

Une biographie fouillée de l''un des poètes les plus lus et les plus méconnus à la fois.

This definitive biography traces the life of Kahlil Gibran, one of the world''s most popular writers and author of the celebrated and hugely successful work, The Prophet. ''More than just a literary biography, the book contains a wealth of social history, vividly evoking the atmosphere of Gibran''s time... By way of objective scholarship, combined with a compellingly accessible prose style, Waterfield presents a truthful, detailed account of the life of a best-selling phenomenon and important historical figure.'' Mike Bradley, The Times ''Frank and authoritative.'' Philip Horne, Guardian

Penguin Readers is a series of simplified novels, film novelizations and original titles that introduce students at all levels to the pleasures of reading in English. Originally designed for teaching English as a foreign language, the series'' combination of high interest level and low reading age makes it suitable for both English-speaking teenagers with limited reading skills and students of English as a second language. Many titles in the series also provide access to the pre-20th century literature strands of the National Curriculum English Orders.