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An award-winning classicist turns to Greek tragedies for the wisdom to understand the damage caused by suicide and help those who are contemplating suicide themselves In Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus the Tyrant, a messenger arrives to report that Jocasta, queen of Thebes, has killed herself. To prepare listeners for this terrible news, he announces, "The tragedies that hurt the most are those that sufferers have chosen for themselves." Edith Hall, whose own life and psyche have been shaped by such loss—her mother's grandfather, mother, and first cousin all took their own lives—traces the philosophical arguments on suicide, from Plato and Aristotle to David Hume and Albert Camus. In this deeply personal story, Hall explores the psychological damage that suicide inflicts across generations, relating it to the ancient Greek idea of a family curse. She draws parallels between characters from Greek tragedy and her own relatives, including her great-grandfather, whose life and death bore similar motivations to Sophocles' Ajax: both men were overwhelmed by shame and humiliation. Hall, haunted by her own periodic suicidal urges, shows how plays by Sophocles and other Greek dramatists helped her work through the loss of her grandmother and namesake Edith and understand her relationship with her own mother. The wisdom and solace found in the ancient tragedies, she argues, can help one choose survival over painful adversity and offer comfort to those who are tragically bereaved

"From renowned classicist Edith Hall, ARISTOTLE'S WAY is an examination of one of history's greatest philosophers, showing us how to lead happy, fulfilled, and meaningful lives Aristotle was the first philosopher to inquire into subjective happiness, and he understood its essence better and more clearly than anyone since. According to Aristotle, happiness is not about well-being, but instead a lasting state of contentment, which should be the ultimate goal of human life. We become happy through finding a purpose, realizing our potential, and modifying our behavior to become the best version of ourselves. With these objectives in mind, Aristotle developed a humane program for becoming a happy person, which has stood the test of time, comprising much of what today we associate with the good life: meaning, creativity, and positivity. Most importantly, Aristotle understood happiness as available to the vast majority us, but only, crucially, if we decide to apply ourselves to its creation--and he led by example. As Hall writes, "If you believe that the goal of human life is to maximize happiness, then you are a budding Aristotelian." In expert yet vibrant modern language, Hall lays out the crux of Aristotle's thinking, mixing affecting autobiographical anecdotes with a deep wealth of classical learning. For Hall, whose own life has been greatly improved by her understanding of Aristotle, this is an intensely personal subject. She distills his ancient wisdom into ten practical and universal lessons to help us confront life's difficult and crucial moments, summarizing a lifetime of the most rarefied and brilliant scholarship"--

"Aristotle was an extraordinary thinker, perhaps the greatest in history. Yet he was preoccupied by an ordinary question: how to be happy. His deepest belief was that we can all be happy in a meaningful, sustained way - and he led by example. In this handbook to his timeless teachings, Professor Edith Hall shows how ancient thinking is precisely what we need today, even if you don't know your Odyssey from your Iliad. In ten practical lessons we come to understand more about our own characters and how to make good decisions. We learn how to do well in an interview, how to choose a partner and lifelong friends, and how to face death or bereavement"--Inside front cover

"Originating in a conference organised in 2007 by the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome at Royal Holloway, University of London, and held at the British Library ... this accessible volume offers a pathbreaking study of the role played by the interpreters of ancient Greek and roman texts in the debates over the abolition of slavery. Focusing on Britain, North America, the Caribbean, and South Africa from the late 17th century, the essays examine the arguments of critics and defenders of slavery and legacy of slavery, in later periods." --Book jacket

Die Lehren des griechischen Philosophen Aristoteles sind auch heute noch aktuell und anwendbar. Das zeigt die Philologin Edith Hall in zehn Kapiteln zu verschiedenen Themen wie Entscheidungen, Kommunikation, Liebe oder unserem Verhältnis zum Tod. In allen Lektionen erklärt sie Wege anhand praktischer aktueller sowie historischer Beispiele, die zum Glück führen können. Und laut Aristoteles haben wir jeden Tag die Möglichkeit, uns für die Vernunft und damit für das Glück zu entscheiden. Dieser Titel gibt einen ersten Eindruck über das Leben und die Theorien des Aristoteles, ohne verstaubt daher zu kommen und setzt Impulse zur Reflexion des eigenen Lebens. - Für einen Einstieg in die Ethik und die Philosophie des Glücks. (2)

A People's History of Classics explores the influence of the classical past on the lives of working-class people, whose voices have been almost completely excluded from previous histories of classical scholarship and pedagogy, in Britain and Ireland from the late 17th to the early 20thcentury.

This volume challenges the prevailing scholarly and public assumption that the intimate link between the exclusive intellectual culture of British elites and the study of the ancient Greeks and Romans and their languages meant that working-class culture was a 'Classics-Free Zone'. Making use of diverse sources of information, both published and unpublished, in archives, museums and libraries across the United Kingdom and Ireland, Hall and Stead examine the working-class experience of classical culture from the Bill of Rights in 1689 to the outbreak of World War II. They analyse a huge volume of data, from individuals, groups, regions and activities, in a huge range of sources including memoirs, autobiographies, Trade Union collections, poetry, factory archives, artefacts and documents in regional museums. This allows a deeper understanding not only of the many examples of interaction with the Classics, but also what these cultural interactions signified to the working poor: from the promise of social advancement, to propaganda exploited by the elites, to covert and overt class war.

A People's History of Classics offers a fascinating and insightful exploration of the many and varied engagements with Greece and Rome among the working classes in Britain and Ireland, and is a must-read not only for classicists, but also for students of British and Irish social, intellectual and political history in this period. Further, it brings new historical depth and perspectives to public debates around the future of classical education, and should be read by anyone with an interest in educational policy in Britain today.

Cover page -- Halftitle page -- Series page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication page -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Notes on Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Radicalism and Gradualism Enmeshed -- Education, classical texts and working- class culture -- Autodidacts, mutual education and political consciousness -- Drama and burlesque: on the page and on the stage -- Trade union emblems -- Poetry -- 3 Coleridge's Classicized Politics -- 4 Swinish Classics -- or a Conservative Clash with Cockney Culture -- 5 The Harmless Impudence of a Revolutionary -- Vulgar declamation -- Harmless impudence -- FINALE. MEDEA AND THE CHARACTERS -- 'For alms we humbly sue' -- 6 Making it Really New -- 7 Classics and Social Closure -- Social closure -- Classics and/or sociology -- Class and classics in nineteenth- century England -- 1832 and All Th at -- Closure in classics -- Conclusion -- 8 Hercules as a Symbol of Labour -- The Continental Hercules -- British cultural contexts -- Cultural locations: the Dockers' Banner (Export Branch) -- Whose Hercules, which labour? -- The question of reception -- Aft erword -- 9 Vulcan - a 'Working-class' God? -- 10 Nature versus Nurture -- Causes of decline -- Rejuvenating the urban masses -- 11 The Space of Politics -- A consensus on cities -- Creating communities, constructing cities -- Conclusions: Classics, codes and class -- 12 Classically Educated Women in the Early Independent Labour Party -- 13 The Greeks of the WEA -- What was the WEA? -- Was there classics at the WEA? -- Where was the classics at the WEA? -- The rhetoric of classics at the WEA -- Why were the classicists at the WEA? -- 14 Christopher Caudwell's Greek and Latin Classics -- 15 Staging the Haitian Revolution in London -- 16 Yesterday's Men -- Classical backgrounds and hinterlands.