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Amazons and giants, snakes and gorgons, centaurs and gryphons: monsters abounded in the ancient world. They raise enduring philosophical questions: about chaos and order; about divinity and perversion; about meaning and purpose; about the hierarchy of nature or its absence. Del Lucchese grapples with the concept of monstrosity, showing how ancient philosophers explored metaphysics, ontology, theology and politics to respond to the challenge of radical otherness in nature and in thought.

A new, critical introduction to Machiavelli's thought for students of politics and philosophy. All students of Western political thought encounter NiccolÃø Machiavelli's work. Nevertheless, his writing continues to puzzle scholars and readers who are uncertain how to deal with the seeming paradoxes they encounter. The Political Philosophy of NiccolÃø Machiavelli is a clear account of Machiavelli's thought, major theories and central ideas. It critically engages with his work in a new way, one not based on the problematic Cambridge-school approach. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Machiavelli's ideas, it is the ideal companion to the study of this influential and challenging philosopher. Key Features. Introduces Machiavelli's life and the historical and theoretical context within which he developed his ideas Detailed examinations Machiavelli's most commonly encountered texts, including The Prince, The Discourses, The Florentine Histories and The Art of War Critically analyses Machiavelli's most important concepts and shows how they continue to reverberate within Western political philosophyPays particular attention to Machiavelli's language and central themes such as Virtue, Fortune, Conflict, History and Religion

In this article, I explore the meaning and function of Lycurgus in Machiavelli's thought. While the exemplarity of the mythical Spartan legislator progressively fades in Machiavelli's thought in favour of the Roman model, Lycurgus' reforms are central in Machiavelli's works on two issues of primary importance: wealth and land distribution. First, I analyse Machiavelli's use of the ancient sources on both Lycurgus and other Spartan legislators to show how the former builds a selective and strategically balanced reading of the ancient sources to build an image of the latter as a pro-popular ruler and of the subsequent Spartan reformers as followers not only of the mythical legislator generally, but also of his most controversial and popularly oriented attempts to reform property ownership in ancient Sparta. Lycurgus reveals how Machiavelli, far from seeing mixed government as the best form of government, promotes a strongly anti-aristocratic model. Second, I show that in Machiavelli's thought the Spartan question can largely be seen as a background for his reading of Roman history, particularly its most crucial, conflictual and controversial period – that in which the Gracchi brothers' attempted to achieve agrarian reform.

We introduce here the Ethics and Politics Focus on the presence, role and function of ancient lawmakers in modern thought. We explain the theoretical and historiographical issues explored by the articles, describe their content and summarize the results reached by the authors. We also propose some bibliographic references to recent and less recent texts of historiography that prepare, in our opinion, the reflection on this important topic.

In this article, I analyse the presence and the role played by the mythical legislator Lycurgus in Machiavelli's economic and political thought. I focus in particular on the issue of the redistribution of land in Sparta and the anti-aristocratic character that this measure takes on in Machiavelli. I assign central importance to the sources used by Machiavelli implicitly and explicitly. My thesis is that not only do the examples of Sparta and Rome not have to be opposed, but that one sheds light on and helps to understand the other, particularly through the extension of Spartan themes into the actions of the Gracchi in the Agrarian Reform.

Amazons and giants, snakes and gorgons, centaurs and gryphons: monsters abounded in the ancient world. They raise enduring philosophical questions: about chaos and order; about divinity and perversion; about meaning and purpose; about the hierarchy of nature or its absence. Del Lucchese grapples with the concept of monstrosity, showing how ancient philosophers explored metaphysics, ontology, theology and politics to respond to the challenge of radical otherness in nature and in thought.