MYTH AND PHILOSOPHY FROM THE PRESOCRATICS TO PLATO This book explores the dynamic interpenetration of myth and philosophy in the Presocratics, the sophists, and in Plato – an interpenetration which is found to be more extensive and programmatic than has previously been recognised The story of philosophy’s relationship with myth is that of its relationship with literary and social convention The intellectuals studied here wanted to reformulate popular ideas about cultural authority, and they achieve this goal by manipulating myth Their self-conscious use of myth creates a self-reflective philosophical sensibility and draws attention to problems inherent in different modes of linguistic representation Much of the reception of Greek philosophy stigmatises myth as ‘irrational’ Such an approach ignores the important role played by myth in Greek philosophy, not just as a foil but as a mode of philosophical thought The case studies in this book reveal myth deployed as result of methodological reflection, and as a manifestation of philosophical concerns is an Associate Professor of Classics in the University of California at Los Angeles XXXXXX MYTH AND PHILO SOPHY F R O M TH E PRESOCRATICS TO PLATO K AT H RY N A M OR G AN University of California at Los Angeles The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org © Kathryn A Morgan 2004 First published in printed format 2000 ISBN 0-511-01767-7 eBook (netLibrary) ISBN 0-521-62180-1 hardback Contents Acknowledgements page vii Introduction Theoretical issues Textualisation and the rise of philosophy From mythos to logos? Some theoretical implications Some Presocratics Introduction The exclusionary gesture: Xenophanes, Herakleitos, and Empedokles Allegory and rationalisation Parmenides Conclusion The sophists and their contemporaries Introduction Philology and exegesis Mythological displays Conclusion The Protagoras: Platonic myth in the making Introduction Protagoras’ ‘Great Speech’ Why mythos? Structure and assumptions Sokrates and Prometheus Conclusion: Sophistic versus Platonic myth v Contents vi The range of Platonic myth Problems of vocabulary, problems of selection Categories of Platonic myth Exhortation, play, and childishness Myth and the limits of language Plato: myth and the soul The Gorgias The Phaedo The Republic The Phaedrus Plato: myth and theory The philosophical life and its mythological battles Mythos and theory Construction and reception in the Timaeus and Critias Conclusion: was the myth saved? Conclusion Bibliography Index of passages cited General index Acknowledgements This book has been a long time in the making, and it is a great pleasure to acknowledge the help and support of many teachers, friends, and colleagues At the University of California at Berkeley, Tony Long and Mark Griffith taught me how to read Greek literature and supervised the awkward infancy of the manuscript as a doctoral dissertation Without their patience and rigour this project could never have left the ground Also at Berkeley, John Ferrari provided valuable help in the dissertation’s late stages I have been the fortunate recipient of several fellowships that have enabled me to pursue my research Two years as a Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens helped to remind me that texts not exist in a vacuum A Seed Grant from the Ohio State University provided valuable time free from teaching Most crucially, a large portion of manuscript revision was completed during an idyllic year as a Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington D.C It was immensely rewarding to be the recipient of readings from historians, philosophers, philologists, literary critics, and archaeologists, all under the benevolent aegis of Directors Kurt Raaflaub and Deborah Boedeker I am grateful to all the Fellows that year, but particularly to those who gave extended readings and comments: Stephen Lambert, Stephen Todd and Christian Wildberg I am also indebted to UCLA for allowing me to spend that year at the Center before I took up my current position My colleagues at Ohio State University and then at UCLA have consistently created an atmosphere of encouragement and support Several scholars and friends there and elsewhere have read and commented on the manuscript, in whole or in part, during its various stages of completion: David Blank, Diskin Clay, Christopher Gill, Sarah Iles Johnston, Tony Long, Richard Martin, Christopher Rowe, Allan Silverman, Ronald Stroud, Stephen Tracy, and William Wyatt They vii viii Acknowledgements have been extraordinarily generous with their time and their criticisms I only hope they will forgive me for not following all of their excellent advice Andrea Nightingale deserves separate mention and especial thanks An accurate account of her contributions to this book would sound like hyperbole I trust she will take praeteritio as the best compliment At Cambridge University Press, my editor Pauline Hire has kept this project moving with typical energy and care I am happy to acknowledge the contribution to the manuscript made by an anonymous reader for the Press Finally, at UCLA, my research assistant Lowry Sweney was indefatigable in his pursuit of citational excellence This book is dedicated, with love and thanks, to my parents Jean and David Morgan, who always encouraged me to believe and to dream I grieve that my father has not lived to see this book to press, but rejoice that my mother will read these thanks Los Angeles March Introduction This is not a book about ‘mythical thinking’, although it is about both myth and thought Treatments of mythical thinking try to specify some system of thought as ‘other’, as primitive, mystical, childish, or irrational The difficulties of identifying and explaining purported different mentalities are by now well known, and the explanatory utility of such a procedure is limited. Nor I wish to attempt a rehabilitation of ‘myth’ in the face of ‘philosophy’ It has been suggested, for instance, that myth is a ‘pre-philosophical ‘‘mirror’’ of existential thought’, a liberation from excessive abstraction and objectivism, a primal, original, and essential form of truth. The validity of these assertions I am unable to gauge, for the myth with which this book is concerned is post-philosophical It is myth seen through a philosophical lens and incorporated into philosophical discourse As a form of truth it is neither primal nor original From the standpoint of the philosophers we shall meet in the following pages, non-philosophical myth is a story about truth that is often pernicious and misleading The myth they incorporate serves their own ends These ends are: the reformulation of people’s ideas about literary and cultural authority, the problematisation of the different modes of linguistic representation, and the creation of a self-reflective philosophical sensibility The story of philosophy’s relationship with and transformation of myth is the story of its relationship with convention, both literary and societal The intellectuals studied in this book wanted to change the way people conceived the world about them This project involved reconfiguring the authority of a poetic and mythological tradition that had long served as the inescapable framework for thought At the same time, however, these thinkers had to work with existing linguistic and literary resources There was no option to make a fresh start, free from the Lloyd Hatab : Bibliography Nussbaum, M () ‘WTVG in Heraclitus, I’, Phronesis : – () ‘Saving Aristotle’s appearances’, in M Schofield and M C Nussbaum (eds.) Language and Logos Studies in Ancient Greek Philosophy Presented to G E L Owen, – Cambridge Osborne, C () ‘Empedocles Recycled’, CQ : – () ‘Space, time, shape, and direction: creative discourse in the Timaeus’, in Gill and McCabe (): – O’Sullivan, N () Alcidamas, Aristophanes and the Beginnings of Greek Stylistic Theory (Hermes Einzelschriften ) Stuttgart () ‘Written and spoken in the first sophistic’, in Worthington (): – Patzer, A () Der Sophist Hippias als Philosophiehistoriker Freiburg and Munich Pe´pin, J () Mythe et alle´gorie Paris Pfeiffer, R () A History of Classical Scholarship Oxford Philip, A () ‘Re´currences the´matiques et topologie dans le Phe`dre de Platon’, RMM : – Philippson, R () ‘Democritea Demokrit als Homerausleger’, Hermes : – Plass, P ([]/) ‘The unity of the Phaedrus’, in K V Erickson (ed.) Plato: True and Sophistic Rhetoric, – Amsterdam First published in Symbolae Osloenses (): – Porter, J () ‘The seductions of Gorgias’, ClAnt : – Pratt, L () Lying and Poetry from Homer to Pindar Falsehood and Deception in Archaic Greek Poetics Ann Arbor Rankin, H D () Antisthenes Sokratikos Amsterdam Richardson, N J () ‘Homeric professors in the age of the sophists’, PCPhS : – Robb, K (ed.) () Language and Thought in Early Greek Philosophy La Salle, Illinois Robinson, R () Plato’s Earlier Dialectic Ithaca Romilly, J de () ‘Gorgias et le pouvoir de la poe´sie’, JHS : – ([]/) The Great Sophists in Periclean Athens, trans J Lloyd Oxford First published as Les grands Sophists dans l’Athe`nes de Pe´ricle`s (Paris, ) Roochnik, D (–) ‘The serious play of Plato’s Euthydemus’, Interpretation : – Rosenmeyer, T G () ‘Gorgias, Aeschylus, and apate’, AJPh : Roăsler, W () Der Anfang der Katharmoi des Empedokles, Hermes : – Rossetti, L (ed.) () Understanding the Phaedrus Proceedings of the II Symposium Platonicum Sankt Augustin Rowe, C J (a) ‘The argument and structure of Plato’s Phaedrus’, PCPhS : – (b) Plato: Phaedrus Warminster () ‘Platonic irony’, Nova Tellus (): – () ‘The unity of the Phaedrus: A reply to Heath’, OSAPh : – Bibliography () Plato Phaedo Cambridge (ed.) (a) Reading the Statesman Proceedings of the Symposium Platonicum Sankt Augustin (b) trans and comm., Plato Statesman Warminster () ‘The Politicus: structure and form’, in Gill and McCabe (): – Rutherford, R B () The Art of Plato London Sayre K () ‘Plato’s dialogues in light of the Seventh Letter’, in Griswold (): – () ‘A maieutic view of five late dialogues’, in Klagge and Smith (): – Schiappa, E () Protagoras and Logos A Study in Greek Philosophy and Rhetoric Columbia, South Carolina Schibli, H S () Pherekydes of Syros Oxford Scott, D () Recollection and Experience Cambridge Sedley, D () ‘Teleology and myth in the Phaedo’, BACAP : – Segal, C () ‘Gorgias and the psychology of the logos’, HSPh : – Sider, D () ‘Heraclitus in the Derveni Papyrus’, in A Laks and G Most (eds.) Studies on the Derveni Papyrus Oxford Sinaiko, H L () Love, Knowledge, and Discourse in Plato: Dialogue and Dialectic in Phaedrus, Republic, Parmenides Chicago Smith, J E () ‘Plato’s myths as ‘‘likely accounts’’, worthy of belief’, Apeiron : – () ‘Plato’s use of myth in the education of the philosophic man’, Phoenix : – Smyth, H W () Greek Grammar, revised by G Messing Harvard Snell, B () ‘Die Sprache Heraklits’, Hermes : – ([]/) Die Nachrichten uăber die Lehren des Thales und die Anfaănge der griechischen Philosophie- und Literaturgeschichte’, in C J Classen (ed.) Sophistik (Wege der Forschung ), – Darmstadt First published in Philologus () – () The Discovery of the Mind, trans T G Rosenmeyer Oxford Sprague, R K (ed.) () The Older Sophists Columbia, South Carolina Stanford, W B () The Ulysses Theme Oxford Stewart, J A ([]/) The Myths of Plato, edited by G R Levy London Stewart R S () ‘The epistemological function of Platonic myth’, Philosophy and Rhetoric : – Stokes, M C () Plato’s Socratic Conversations Baltimore Street, B () Literacy in Theory and Practice Cambridge Sutton, D () ‘Critias and atheism’, CQ : – Szegedy-Maszak, A () ‘Legends of the Greek lawgivers’, GRBS : – Szleza´k, T A () Platon und die Schriftlichkeit der Philosophie Berlin and New York Taran, L () Parmenides Princeton Tate, J () ‘The beginnings of Greek allegory’, CR : – (/) ‘Plato and allegorical interpretation’, CQ : – and CQ : – Bibliography () ‘On the history of allegorism’, CQ : – Taylor, A E () A Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus Oxford Taylor, C C W () trans and comm Plato Protagoras Oxford Tedlock, D () The Spoken Word and the Work of Interpretation Philadelphia Thomas, R () Oral Tradition and Written Record in Classical Athens Cambridge () Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece Cambridge () ‘Written in stone? Liberty, equality, orality and the codification of law’, in L Foxhall and A D E Lewis (eds.) Greek Law in its Political Setting Justifications not Justice, – Oxford Thompson W H () ed and comm., The Phaedrus of Plato London Turrini, G () ‘Il frammento di Senophane e la tradizione dossografica’, Prometheus : – Untersteiner, M ([]/) The Sophists, trans K Freeman New York First published as I Sofisti (Turin ) Verdenius, W J () ‘Gorgias’ doctrine of deception’, in Kerferd (b): – Vernant, J.-P ([]/) ‘The formation of positivist thought in archaic Greece’, in Myth and Thought among the Greeks, – London First published as Mythe et pense´e chez les Grecs: ´etudes de psychologie historique (Paris, ) Veyne, P ([]/) Did the Greeks Believe in their Myths? An Essay on the Constitutive Imagination, trans P Wissing Chicago First published as Les Grecs ont-ils cru a` leurs mythes? (Paris ) Vlastos, G ([]/) ‘The disorderly motion in the Timaeus’, in R E Allen (ed.) Studies in Plato’s Metaphysics, – London First published in CQ () – Wallace, R W () ‘Private lives and public enemies: freedom of thought in classical Athens’, in A L Boegehold and A C Scafuro (eds.) Athenian Identity and Civic Ideology, – Baltimore Wardy, R () The Birth of Rhetoric: Gorgias, Plato, and their Successors London West, M L () ed and comm., Hesiod: Theogony Oxford Whitaker, M () Tatian Oratio ad Graecos and Fragments Oxford ă berlegungen zu Parmenides B , , in Aubenque (): Wiesner, J () ‘U – Winiarczyk, M () ‘Nochmals das Satyrspiel Sisyphus’, WS : – Wipprecht, F () Zur Entwicklung der rationalistischen Mythendeutung bei den Griechen Tuăbingen Woodbury, L () Parmenides on names, HSPh : () ‘Equinox at Acragas: Pindar, Ol .–’, TAPhA : – () ‘Parmenides on naming by mortal men: Fr B.–’, AncPhil : – Worthington, I (ed.) () Voice into Text Orality and Literacy in Ancient Greece Mnemosyne Suppl Leiden Wright, M R () Empedocles: The Extant Fragments New Haven Zaslavsky, R () Platonic Myth and Platonic Writing Washington Index of passages cited Prometheus Bound – Vita G, Vita W – DK FGrH FGrH DK. . Ajax On Kirke Odysseus fr (Decleva Caizzi) fr (Decleva Caizzi) fr (Decleva Caizzi) fr (Decleva Caizzi) fr (Decleva Caizzi) fr (Decleva Caizzi) fr (Decleva Caizzi) frs b, c (Decleva Caizzi) Birds , – Clouds – Wasps , –, – A n Post a– Ath Pol . De Caelo a ff De Ge n et Corr a ff Met a b a b Topics b .– Contest of Hesiod and Homer n. n. n. – – n. n. n. n n., n. n. n. n. n. n. DK .– . ff . n. DK – – , n. n. n. – n. Index of passages cited Bacchae – Orestes ff Defence of Palamedes (DK a) Encomium of Helen (DK ) DK FGrH DK .– . . . . . . . . . . Theogony – – – – n. – – – , , n. – – , n., – , , n. n. n. n. n. , , , , n. n. Works and Days – – – – ff DK . Iliad . .– . . – . . Odyssey .– . .– . . . n. n. n. n. n., n. n. n. n. – , n. n. Panathenaicus Panegyricus , – Or .c; d–a DK –, n. . . . n. n. n. DK n., – n. DK , , n., – (cont.) .. On Providence ., Ol . . .– . Pyth . . Nem . .– . Apology d– b–c e– Cratylus b–c c– b–d c–d a–b c Critias a–d e a Crito c c– d– a–b Euthydemus d d–d b–c e–d b–d a– b– Index of passages cited , , –, –, , , –, , , n. , n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. , n. , n. n. n. n. , n. n. n. b–c e– Euthyphro c–e b Gorgias d– c– b–c a– b–c e a– b c–e c b–a b– e–a b–c c–d e–a c– e– e e–b c–d a– b–e Hippias Major a–b b– a Hippias Minor c– b Ion c–d Laches d a– c– c–e a–e Laws b–d d– b– d–e e e d a– n. n. n. n. n. , n. n. , – n. , n. n. , , , , n., , – , n. n. , , n. n. n. n. n. Index of passages cited bc b e–c d–e a e a– b–b a–d a d Menexenus c c– Meno a a–c c b–c d–e a– Parmenides b Phaedo c–b d–e b– d–e d d–d c– d–e b–b d d–b c– b–c c–d d–e de a–d c– d–e c a–d c–e Phaedrus a b b– b–a d– c–d n. n. n. n. n. – n. n. n. n. – , n. n. , n. – n. , n. n. –, n. – – n. n. n. – n., – n., –, –, n., n., n. , , , , , n. – , , n. d–b c e c–d d– d–e b–c c a–a c–d a– d– e–a a c–d d–c a b–d d–e a–b c d–e e– a– a–b c–c c–d a–d c d–a d a–b b–e d–d e–d a–b b–c d– d–e e–b d d– b d– c– b–d d– e–b b , , , , n. , , n., n. n., , , , , , , , n. –, , , , – , , , , , , , , –, , , , , , , – n., n., , , n. – –, , n. , –, , , , n. , , , , , Phaedrus (cont.) a– d– e–e b–c d–e d– d– a–b b–c c– a b d–e a– b Philebus d–b a– (scholion) – d–e b– c– d–a d– b– Protagoras d b–b d b c–d b c–d d–e a– a a–c c– d b–c d a– b c–d d– a a–d d– d–b c–c e–a Index of passages cited – , , –, , , , , , , – , n. n. n. n., n., n. n. , , , , n. , , , n. n., n., , –, , –, , n. –, n., n. , n. , n. a–d d– e c c b a b c–d c–d b e e–a –a a–d d c e c– b e b a e a e a–d Republic d–e e–c c–b – b–e d– a–b d– a c d– b–c d e c b b–d e–a b–c c–d a b–c e– – b– – n. n. n. n. , n. n. n. n., n. n. n n., n. n. , , n. n., , n. n. , , , n., n. n. , , – , n. n. , n. n. – n. n. Index of passages cited a–e c–d b–c – e d– e– b– e– c–c d–a d–e c b– c–d d– c e–a c–d e c b b b–d a a–b c–e c–d b a– b b–d a–d Seventh Letter c–e Sophist a a– b–c c d a c–b a–c d– Statesmen a b b– d–c c–d e– e–e a–c n. , n. , , , , , – – n. n. – n. n., – – , – n. n. n. , n. n. –, n., n. –, n. – , –, d–e d–e d–b b–a c–d c Symposium d – e– Theaetetus b–d – b c c e e–a c– d a– d–d d– (scholion) c e a–b c–d d e–c d–e c c–b d–c b Timaeus b–a e–c d–e a– c–d b–b c– d–d e– b–c c–e c–d a– b–c c–d e– b c– e– d– , –, – – , , n. n. n. – n. n. n. , – –, n. n. , n. n., n. – n., , –, n. n. , n. –, , n., , n., n., n. n., n. Timaeus (cont.) a b–a b– c–a b d– d– e a–b d d– c–d d a d– b–d a b– d– c– e e c Life of Solon . In R , .–. DK (=Xenophon, Memorabilia ..– PHerc , frag PHerc , frag DK Index of passages cited n. n., –, n. n., n. n. n., n., n., n. n. –, n. n. n., , n., , n. n., , n., , , n. n., n., n. n., n. n. n., n. n. – – n. n., , n. , b Poem frags c, , Philoctetes – PMG (=Palinode) FGrH FGrH – DK DK . . . DK – – – n. n. n. n. n. n. n. n. , – n. , , n. –, n., – General index abstraction –, , , , , – advice (to young men) , –, – afterlife , –, in Plato’s Gorgias –, , in Plato’s Phaedo , , –, in Plato’s Republic , Akousilaos allegory , , –, –, n., –, in Plato , –, , – Antisthenes , , , –, – Aristotle , , – arts of speech –, –, atheism , – Athens/Athenians , , , – and Atlantis – attitude to Sokrates childhood , –, , –, childishness of myth , , , –, –, of philosophy , , –, –, , collection and division –, , – in Plato’s Phaedrus , –, , , –, –, competition –, , , , , context , –, , , , dialectical , , , , –, difficulties imposed by –, , –, , –, disregard of , in the late dialogues mythological (in sophistic epideixis) –, , –, and paramythia of philosophical myth , of Platonic myths –, –, , , , , –, contradiction in deconstructionist analysis –, impossibility of , law of non-contradiction convention –, – and language , , –, , –, –, myth as –, –, –, physis versus nomos , –, , – rhetorical social –, , –, , , , , Daimonion (of Socrates) , , , deception , , , , –, , – deconstruction , –, –, –, – democracy (Athenian) , , –, –, –, , – in Plato’s Protagoras –, –, –, – Demokritos , –, – dialectic versus eristic in Plato – and myth in Plato –, , , –, , and paramythia in Plato – in Parmenides , , –, in Plato (various dialogues) –, , –, –, , in Plato’s Phaedrus –, , , –, , –, , – dike in Herakleitos in Parmenides , –, , –, , – in Plato’s Protagoras , –, –, – in Plato’s Republic –, – in the sophists , , , display orations see Epideixis doxa in Parmenides –, , , –, , , –, – General index doxa (cont.) in Plato in the sophists , , , –, education and paramythia – and Platonic myth –, , , , in Plato’s Phaedrus , , –, in Plato’s Republic , , , , and the Presocratics , in Protagoras’ ‘Great Speech’ , –, , – Socratic – and the sophists , , –, –, , , –, , – eikos , in Plato’s Phaedrus , – in Plato’s Timaeus –, – Eleatic philosophy (see also Parmenides) , , –, – Empedokles , , , –, , , –, epideixis Gorgianic , – in Plato’s Timaeus and Critias , – Prodikos’ Choice of Herakles – Protagoras’ ‘Great Speech’ philosophical sophistic , –, , –, , – , , , , – ethics Antisthenean , –, Empedoklean – in Plato , , –, –, , , , , , sophistic , , , , Xenophanean –, – Forms (Platonic) , , , in Plato’s Republic – in Plato’s Phaedrus , –, –, –, , – framing –, – in Parmenides , –, – in the sophists , –, , , , –, in Plato –, , , , – Gorgias , , , , , , – Defence of Palamedes , , – Encomium of Helen , – Hekataios , , – Herakleitos , –, , , , –, –, Herakles –, –, –, , , n. Herodotos – Hesiod , –, , – criticism of (see also ‘poetry, criticism of ’) , , , the Muses and truth in , –, , –, mythos in Hippias –, –, history , –, , , and Plato’s Atlantis , , –, – Homer , , –, , – criticism of (see also ‘poetry, criticism of ’) , –, exegesis of , –, , –, – mythos in – images in Demokritos in Gorgias – myth as , –, – in Parmenides , –, –, in Plato , , , –, –, in Plato’s Phaedrus , –, –, –, –, –, in Plato’s Republic –, , in Xenophanes imitation in Gorgias and language in Plato , , –, , immortality , , , –, , , , , – proofs of , –, –, , , , incongruity –, –, in the sophists –, –, , , , – inspiration , , – in Parmenides , –, – in Plato –, , , , , – rejected by Xenophanes and Herakleitos –, and the sophists , , intuition and recollection , , , – Socratic –, , –, , , , irony in Parmenides Platonic –, n., , –, Socratic , , , –, sophistic –, –, General index irrationality myth and , , , , –, –, in the sophists , –, Isokrates –, justice see dike knowledge –, , , ascent to, in Plato , , , difficulty of acquiring, in Plato , , , , , –, , , grounds of, in Plato –, limitations of, in Plato –, , , , – poetic lack of, in Plato –, in the Presocratics –, , , , –, rhetoric and, in Plato , –, , versus Socratic intuition –, –, , in the sophists , –, , , – theories of, in Plato , , , – and virtue , Kritias , –, –, – language , – conventionality of , , –, , , –, –, fallibility of –, –, –, , –, –, , , , –, , , –, – gap between reality and , , –, –, –, –, , –, –, –, –, , – mediation by , misuse of –, , –, –, – of myth –, , , object language versus metalanguage –, – power of –, , , – second-order investigation of , , , –, , , leisure , , , , literacy –, , –, – logos (see also ‘mythos versus logos’) in Herakleitos –, logos versus ergon – as lexical item – in Plato , – in the sophists , –, man–measure doctrine , , , memory –, – in Plato’s Phaedrus , –, , , , – in Plato’s Republic metaphor –, –, in Parmenides , , –, in Plato –, –, , , , method , , , – focus on, in Plato’s late dialogues –, , –, , , –, –, , – in Plato , –, –, , , , –, in Plato’s Phaedrus , , –, , –, , , , – in the sophists , – Socratic –, Metrodoros of Lampsakos , , – multiplicity , , – of myth , , , , Muses in Hesiod , , , , inspiration and , –, , , –, invocation of – in Plato , , , , poetic authority and , , myth (definition of ) –, –, , – myth (subordination to philosophy) , –, , –, , , mythos versus logos eikos mythos versus eikos logos – implying ‘irrational’ versus ‘rational’ , –, , –, – as a philosophical construction , –, – in Plato , , –, – in Plato’s Gorgias –, –, in Plato’s Phaedo –, –, – in Protagoras’ ‘Great Speech’ –, –, –, , –, in the Presocratics , –, , , mythos (lexical item) –, –, – in Plato –, –, –, –, , – narrative –, , , , – and myth in Plato –, –, –, , , , , , , – philosophical theory as , , , , –, –, , – in Plato’s Gorgias – in Plato’s Phaedo , – in Plato’s Phaedrus , in Plato’s Protagoras , in Plato’s Statesman – nesting see framing Noble Lie , , –, –, nomos see convention General index Odysseus , , –, –, – paradigms , , –, , in Plato , , , , , , in Plato’s Protagoras –, , , in Plato’s Statesman , , – in the sophists , –, , paramythia –, Parmenides , , , , , , – and Gorgias – and Plato , persuasion and law – in Parmenides –, , philosophical , , in Plato’s Gorgias – in Plato’s Phaedrus –, , –, in the sophists , , –, perspective (philosophical) in Plato , , –, –, –, , , philosophy, representation of , , , , –, philosophy, rise of , –, –, –, , Pindar –, , , play associated with mythos in Plato , –, – and education in Plato in Gorgias –, – life as – philosophy as –, , , –, , –, , – Socratic – poetry, critique of , , , , , , – Platonic , , –, –, – Presocratic –, , , – polemic , , –, –, –, politics in Plato’s Protagoras –, , –, –, in Plato’s Timaeus and Critias –, – Prodikos , , –, praise , , –, of Athens – of logos of Helen – Prometheus –, –, –, – Protagoras in Plato’s Protagoras , , –, , – in Plato’s Theaetetus , – rationalisation –, , –, –, –, , rationality , –, –, in Gorgias , , – in Plato –, , , in Protagoras’ ‘Great Speech’ – recollection –, –, , –, – reference and deconstruction and the Presocratics , , , – in the sophists –, , in Plato , –, religion , , and the Presocratics –, , –, and the sophists , – rhetoric –, –, in Antisthenes , – in Gorgias , –, –, – in Parmenides – in Plato –, , , and Plato’s Atlantis –, – in Plato’s Phaedrus –, , , –, –, –, in Plato’s Protagoras –, –, sophistic –, , – role playing , –, –, –, , , – Scepticism , , , , in Gorgias , in Xenophanes , – self-consciousness, philosophical –, , –, , –, , and myth in Plato , , –, , , , –, in Plato , , , , –, , –, self-qualification (of Platonic myth) , , , , , , , –, , self-reference , , , social contract theory , –, sophists, in Plato –, , –, , Stesikhoros , , , – Stesimbrotos of Thasos , – subjectivity , , –, , – symbolism , –, in Parmenides , , , in Platonic myth , and allegory , – Textualisation of philosophy of poetry , , –, –, , , , – General index myth as text , –, –, –, –, world as text – Theagenes of Rhegion – Thucydides , – truth accessibility of , –, , , , , , criteria , , , , , and deconstruction –, , – ethical , , expressibility of , , , , –, levels of –, –, –, , – myth as , –, , , , , – in Parmenides –, –, –, –, – of philosophical analysis , philosophical notions of , –, of Platonic myth –, –, , –, , , , –, – pre-philosophical notions of , , , –, , and rhetoric –, –, –, , , sophistic notions of –, , , –, , writing –, in Plato’s Phaedrus , , , , , –, , , Xenophanes , –, –, , , –, ,