Cities of the Gods: Communist Utopias in Greek Thought

by Doyne Dawson

Overview

Modern studies of classical utopian thought are usually restricted to the Republic and Laws of Plato, producing the impression that Greek speculation about ideal states was invariably authoritarian and hierarchical. This book, however, sets Plato in the context of the whole ancient tradition of philosophical utopia. It distinguishes two types of Greek utopia, relating both to the social and the political background of Greece between the fifth and third centuries B.C. There was a lower utopianism, meant for literal implementation, which arose from the Greek colonizing movement, and a higher theoretical form which arose from the practical utopias. Dawson focuses on the higher utopianism, whose main theme was total communism in property and family. He attempts to reconstruct the lost utopian works of the Stoics, arguing that their ideal state was universal and egalitarian, in deliberate contrast to the hierarchical and militaristic utopia of Plato; and that both theories were intended to bring about long-range social reform, though neither was meant for direct implementation. Dawson offers an explanation for the disappearance of the utopian tradition in the later Hellenistic age. A final chapter traces the survival of communistic ideas in early Christianity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195361506
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/09/1992
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	598 KB

About the Author

High Point University

Table of Contents

	Introduction	3
1.	The Birth of Utopia	13
	The Time of Cronus	13
	The Pythagorean Life	14
	The Sexual Communism of the Barbarians	18
	The Low Utopias and Sparta	21
	The Ecclesiazusae of Aristophanes	37
	Household and City: The Social and Political Background of Greek Utopiamism	40
2.	The Platonic Utopia: A City Without the Household	53
	The Paradox of Socrates	53
	The Paradox of Plato	62
	The Method of Plato	71
	High Utopia and Low Utopia	77
	The Academy in Politics	92
	Aristotle	93
	The Social and Political of Platonic-Aristotelian Utopianism	99
3.	The Cynic Way: A Life Without the Household	111
	The Problem of Cynic Political Thought: A Contradiction in Terms?	111
	The Search for the Historical Diogenes	113
	A Definition of Early Cynicism: An Activist Ascetic Elite	120
	The Social Teachings of the Cynics	130
	The Republic of Diogenes	146
4.	The Stoic Utopia: A World Without Households	160
	Cynic and Stoic	160
	The Sources	166
	The Outlines of the Stoic Ideal World	175
	The Stoics and Society	187
	The Stoics and Politics	195
	Comments	206
5.	The End of Utopia	223
	The Decline of the Stoic Utopian Tradition	223
	The Survival of the Old Stoic and Cynic Traditions	243
6.	The Ghosts of Utopia	258
	Primitive Christianity	258
	Gnostic Christianity	264
	Patristic Christianity	276
	Bibliography	291
	Index	301

Editorial Reviews

"I tried this book out on a group of students. Not only were they very appreciative of the clarity and cogency of Dawson's writing, and the stimulating ideas the book contains, they also went on to write excellent essays. What more needs to be said? This is a first class book taking a fresh look at an important and interesting subject."—Greece and Rome

"Learned, exhaustive, and cogently argued....Brilliantly carried out."—Choice

"[Dawson's] arguments will be of interest. The breadth of the book is impressive; it should be useful to a wide scholarly audience."—Religious Studies Review

"The scholar of Greek political thought will regard [Cities of the Gods] an indispensable tool of research."—Ex Libris: The Classical Bulletin

"Dawson's dense and exhaustively argued study is full of challenging assertions and provocative conclusions."—merican Historical Review

From the Publisher