019 Poets and Wise Rulers
The History of Ancient Greece
00:00
Theognedia: Aristocratic Thoughts on the Age of Tyranny
Theognes was a nobleman who was forced out of Megara during political strife. He waxed nostalgically for a return back to its former hereditary based oligarchic government. The collection reads like a moral handbook for nobles, praising the values of the well-born Agathoy and vilifying the baseborn Kakoy. While his maxims were eloquent representations of the non-elites in Greece, other poets painted a far more colorful representation of thenon-elite perspective.
Transcript
Play full episode
