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Lives of the Eminent Philosophers: by Diogenes Laertius Annotated Edition

by Diogenes Laertius (Author), Pamela Mensch (Author), James Miller (Editor)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 99 ratings
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Everyone wants to live a meaningful life. Long before our own day of self-help books offering twelve-step programs and other guides to attain happiness, the philosophers of ancient Greece explored the riddle of what makes a life worth living, producing a wide variety of ideas and examples to follow. This rich tradition was recast by Diogenes Laertius into an anthology, a miscellany of maxims and anecdotes, that generations of Western readers have consulted for edification as well as entertainment ever since the Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, first compiled in the third century AD, came to prominence in Renaissance Italy. To this day, it remains a crucial source for much of what we know about the origins and practice of philosophy in ancient Greece, covering a longer period of time and a larger number of figures-from Pythagoras and Socrates to Aristotle and Epicurus-than any other ancient source.

This new edition of the Lives, in a faithful and eminently readable translation by Pamela Mensch, is the first rendering of the complete text into English in nearly a century. Lavishly illustrated with a vast array of artwork that attests to the profound impact of Diogenes on the Western imagination, this edition also includes detailed notes and a variety of newly commissioned essays by leading scholars that shed light on the work's historical and intellectual contexts as well as its rich legacy. The result is a capacious, fascinating, and charming compendium of ancient inspiration
and instruction.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0190862173
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0190862176
  3. Edition
    Annotated
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    May 14, 2018
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    9.1 x 2.4 x 8.1 inches
  8. Print length
    704 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Now, readers can consult the Lives in a beautiful English translation by Pamela Mensch. This translation will undoubtedly supersede that by Robert Hicks, published in 1925 and until now the standard English version. [...] Oxford University Press have also done a wonderful job. The footnotes...are well judged, providing important background information without overwhelming the text. Embellishment is provided in the form of many philosophically inspired artworks, all handsomely reproduced [...] A set of essays by leading scholars such as Anthony Grafton, Ingrid Rowland and Dorandi himself help introduce the Lives and its reception to general readers. The book is like no history of philosophy that such readers will be used to." -- Times Literary Supplement

"Can there be a philosophy book for everyone? Luxurious yet affordable, this richly illustrated translation of Diogenes Laertius clearly implies an affirmative answer. Obviously, the success of this volume does not follow from the irresistible charm of Diogenes'text (to put it mildly), but from a multifaceted editorial effort that made the resulting artefact appealing to different kinds of readers." -- Karel Thein, Eirene

"A handsome new volume of Diogenes Laertius's Lives of the Eminent Philosophers provides an opportunity to revisit the biographer and the popular assumptions about him. I am delighted to have acquired Pamela Mensch's new translation of his major work, an edition you can't read on the subway but whose large dimensions are redeemed by the readable translation, glossy color images, and a collection of new accompanying essays (The New School's James Miller is the editor) ... Biographies can certainly get far more scandalous than Lives, but the personal lives of our intellectual ancestors are always juicy, forbidden fruits." -- Ben Shields, Paris Review

"The English translation by Pamela Mensch is lively, fresh, engaging, and eminently readable. Given the number of vagaries, jokes, technicalities, and such that proliferate in the Greek, this is a most impressive achievement. The copious notes, helpfully placed beneath the translation on each page, are superb at giving required information on names, dates, places, technical terms, and so forth in a crisp and accurate manner... This book offers a wealth of material on Diogenes Laertius: a translation, notes, a companion, a bibliography, all in one volume. It is a truly first-class resource, and everyone involved, including Oxford University Press, should be heartily congratulated for a brilliant achievement. That a book of this kind can be made affordable should be a salutary lesson for other academic publishers. I cannot recommend it highly enough." -- Sean McConnell, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"This book will be useful to all students studying Greek philosophy, as both a reference to the past and a look into the birth of Greek philosophy ... Recommended." --CHOICE

"Diogenes Laertius presented afresh with all the generosity, visual richness, and breadth of reference he deserves-a wonderful edition." --Sarah Bakewell, author of At the Existentialist Café and How to Live

"In this superbly produced and edited volume, the compendious work of the learned Diogenes Laertius at last receives the prominence that his unique contribution to our knowledge and understanding of ancient philosophy requires. The admirable translation by doyenne Pamela Mensch is accompanied by a full apparatus of the latest scholarship, including essays by over a dozen of the most eminent philosophers and historians of philosophy of our own day." --Paul Cartledge, author of Democracy: A Life

"Diogenes Laertius is not Nietzsche's 'dim-witted watchman' of the history of Greek philosophy, but a fascinating and underrated figure. This is a wonderful edition, brilliantly translated, with a helpful introduction and accompanying set of essays by first-rate scholars. Although a precious source for many ancient philosophers, especially Epicurus, Diogenes Laertius is much more than a dull compiler. For anyone interested in the relations between philosophy and life, this book remains an excellent, accessible, and hugely entertaining starting point. Highly recommended." --Simon Critchley, author of The Book of Dead Philosophers

"Diogenes Laertius' Lives provides a uniquely valuable and entertaining window on early Western philosophy-if it is used wisely. This welcome edition and translation by Pamela Mensch and James Miller, together with its substantial accompanying essays, enables contemporary readers to make the most of it." --Anthony Gottlieb, author of The Dream of Reason and The Dream of Enlightenment

"This splendid new translation of Diogenes Laertius' Lives is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the therapeutic legacy of ancient Greek philosophy. Quirky, notoriously unreliable, relentlessly curious, it is also magnificent bedside reading, still able after many centuries to instruct and delight." --Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

"At last, thanks to Pamela Mensch's elegant and faithful translation, we can enjoy Diogenes Laertius' history of Greek philosophy for its own sake, as a wonderful compendium of doctrine and lore, as well as for the precious information (and sometimes misinformation) it provides about everything from the Pre-Socratics to Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and Epicurus. The notes are crisp and clear, illustrations are apt and abundant, and the translation is based on the most authoritative edition of the Greek text. It is a wonderful achievement." --David Konstan, author of Beauty: The Fortunes of an Ancient Greek Idea

"[A] magnicent new edition packed with illustrations and notes...One certainly receives good value for the money." -- The Washington Post

"The book itself is beautifully done. James Miller sets the stage superbly-'we behold a meticulous codified panorama of the ancient philosophers'-and the illustrations include not only the usual Greek and Roman statues but many modern works of art inspired by ancient Greek philosophy. Besides the sixteen scholarly essays there are also a guide to further reading and a glossary of ancient sources." -- The University of Bookman

"Surely one of the most opulent, generous, and flatly surprising offerings from any major publisher in 2018 is this translation by Pamela Mensch of Lives of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius, new from Oxford University Press." -- Open Letters Review

"This [translation] by Pamela Mensch, a distinguished translator of ancient Greek, is superior in three respects. First, it is based on a more accurate edition of the Greek text, made by Tiziano Dorandi in 2013. Second, Mensch avoids the bowdlerization that the Hicks translation was often guilty of. Third, the Mensch translation is furnished with a weighty apparatus of footnotes that are delightfully revealing of Greek history and folkways. Other virtues of this new edition of Lives include the hundreds of philosophy-inspired artworks with which the editor has chosen to adorn the text (a de Chirico, a Daumier, a Francesco Clemente) and sixteen superb essays by such scholars as Anthony Grafton, Ingrid Rowland, and Glenn W. Most." -- New York Review of BooksR^

Book Description

Applying ancient inspiration and instruction to modern life

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Annotated edition (May 14, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 704 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0190862173
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0190862176
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.46 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.1 x 2.4 x 8.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 99 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Pamela Mensch

    Pamela Mensch

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    Pamela Mensch is a translator of ancient Greek literature who lives in New York City. Her translations include "The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander" (Pantheon, 2012), "Histories: Herodotus" (Hackett, 2014), "The Age of Caesar: Five Roman Lives, Plutarch" (Norton, 2017), "Lives of the Eminent Philosophers: Diogenes Laertius (Oxford, 2018), and "Theophrastus: Characters" (Callaway, 2019).

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  2. Diogenes Laertius

    Diogenes Laertius

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
99 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars product was as advertised.
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2023
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I am very pleased with all aspects of this purchase
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CharlieBooksNYC
5.0 out of 5 stars Lives of the Eminent Philosophers: by Diogenes Laertius
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2020
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ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ!!! SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ANY CIVILIZED PERSON, ANYWHERE AND ANYTIME. CLOSE THE PHONES, CLOSE THE TV AND COMPUTER GAMES -- READ!!!!
21 people found this helpful
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Casey
5.0 out of 5 stars Quality and organized
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2018
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Great translation and physical book!
7 people found this helpful
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Barry Crawford
5.0 out of 5 stars This is the definitive English translation
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2018
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Outstanding!
3 people found this helpful
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Tony Hipp
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2018
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A OK
2 people found this helpful
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Aran Joseph Canes
5.0 out of 5 stars The Phenomena of Greek Philosophy
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2018
It’s impossible to name all of the sources of the Western tradition. One could include, among others, the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Hebrews, Christianity, Imperial Rome and Islam. And that doesn’t even begin to name the sources of the equally relevant non-Western cultures such as the Vedas, the writings of Confucius and the sayings of the Buddha.

But it still must be admitted that the history of humankind would have been far different if not for the intellectual tradition begun in Greece some twenty-five hundred years ago known as philosophy. These men (and a few women) consciously strove to understand the world around them using reason instead of mythology as a guide. And scholars today are still debating fundamental questions such as why the movement started, who agreed or disagreed with whom and what did such and such a thinker really mean to say.

What’s remarkable is that we have an ancient source who tried to describe this very phenomena. Diogenes Laertius, around 150 A.D., wrote an encyclopedic account of the history of the different schools of Greek philosophy. He was, to be honest, not the most astute philosopher himself. He continually simplifies philosophies, wrongly assesses various philosophers’ importance and relates unbelievable anecdotes.

But the ability to have an ancient source to guide one’s study of the history of philosophy is indispensable. In fact, in one way Diogenes is indeed modern. He tends to view biography and philosophy as all of one piece. He saw in a way that later academic philosophers did not that thought cannot be separated from the person.

Of course, these philosophical ideas, for the most part, have been replaced by modern science. If you want to know about the universe you are better off reading Stephen Hawking than Empedocles.

But for those who are interested in the history of ideas this edition makes Diogenes accessible to the non-specialist. The ample footnotes and critical essays enable the non-classicist to understand the text. And the artwork spread throughout the book allows one to appreciate how Diogenes has been understood throughout the ages.

Again, this isn’t a book for everybody. One has to want to better understand the phenomena of Ancient Greek philosophy. But if this is to one’s taste than the Lives is a real treasure. I can imagine going back to it for years to come.
14 people found this helpful
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Robert P. Neuman is a retired college professor and management consultant
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Urinate Facing the Sun
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2018
This is an astounding new edition of the ancient and gossipy catalog of Greek philosophers. It offers an excellent translation with explanatory footnotes (at the foot of the page!); many illustrations ancient and modern of the philosophers; a series of recent scholarly essays; an exhaustive bibliography, and a useful map of the eastern Mediterranean. This is a book that students of the Greek philosophers will probably want to take in digestible doses rather than reading it through, given its 700 pages. Where else could you read that Chyrsippus (280-207 BC) died as a result of a laughing fit after "an ass had eaten his figs?" (382) Or the advice of Pythagoras (ca 530 BC) not to "urinate facing the sun." (402) This is a very readable and weighty (in every sense) tome. Who says philosophy can't be fun?
38 people found this helpful
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Ryan C.
1.0 out of 5 stars Hard Cover art blank and book is damaged
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2024
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The hard cover art is blank and damaged. I would like what is shown in the picture for such an expensive book.
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Top reviews from other countries

Prof. Paul Williams, Bristol, UK
5.0 out of 5 stars Fine!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2024
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Excellent. This is *not* the Compact Edition mentioned by another reviewer. All the additional essays seem to be included. And it does *not* seem to be simply a rehash of Hicks' translation. At least, the translator here has a reputation as one who translates from Greek! A bargain!
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Amazonion
5.0 out of 5 stars Authentically Concise
Reviewed in Canada on February 25, 2021
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Anyone interested in a crash course about Greek philosophy, this is THE book. Very concise with good references in notes.
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Richard Davies
1.0 out of 5 stars Not the new English translation, but a repackaging of Hicks
Reviewed in Italy on June 23, 2019
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I am as much of an idiot as Diogenes was to have taken this to be the Englishing of Dorandi's edition, which was reviewed in TLS in April or so by Dmitri Levitin. As it is, it is nothing but the old Loeb, still with endnotes and ineptly laid out on the page. I opened it, saw what it was and, with a sigh, put it on the shelf under 'D' (perhaps for 'dunce').
One person found this helpful
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Krutben
5.0 out of 5 stars It is a slow, thoughtful read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 22, 2021
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Read the headline!
One person found this helpful
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Cymrucat
5.0 out of 5 stars amazing
Reviewed in Canada on December 29, 2018
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amazing
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