Cities of the Gods: Communist Utopias in Greek ThoughtModern studies of classical utopian thought are usually restricted to the Republic and Laws of Plato, producing the impression that Greek speculation about ideal states was invariably authoritarian and hierarchical. This book, however, sets Plato in the context of the whole ancient tradition of philosophical utopia. It distinguishes two types of Greek utopia, relating both to the social and the political background of Greece between the fifth and third centuries B.C. There was a lower utopianism, meant for literal implementation, which arose from the Greek colonizing movement, and a higher theoretical form which arose from the practical utopias. Dawson focuses on the higher utopianism, whose main theme was total communism in property and family. He attempts to reconstruct the lost utopian works of the Stoics, arguing that their ideal state was universal and egalitarian, in deliberate contrast to the hierarchical and militaristic utopia of Plato; and that both theories were intended to bring about long-range social reform, though neither was meant for direct implementation. Dawson offers an explanation for the disappearance of the utopian tradition in the later Hellenistic age. A final chapter traces the survival of communistic ideas in early Christianity. |
Contents
3 | |
13 | |
A City Without the Household | 53 |
A Life Without the Household | 111 |
A World Without Households | 160 |
5 The End of Utopia | 223 |
6 The Ghosts of Utopia | 258 |
Bibliography | 291 |
Index | 301 |
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Common terms and phrases
ancient anecdotes Antisthenes Aristophanes Aristotle Aristotle's ascetic assumed Athenian Athens attributed barbarians called Carpocratians century B.C. Christian Chrysippus Cicero citizens Cleanthes communistic community of women constitution Crates Cronus cult Cynic Cynic tradition Cynic/Stoic democracy described dialogue Diog Diogenes Laertius disciples discussion doctrine doxography early Cynics early Stoics elite equality ethics fourth century Gnostic Hellenistic Hippodamus household ideal city imitate imply incest interpretation Kallipolis koinonia Laconist Laert later Laws live means meant mentioned moral myth nature Neostoic oligarchic Onesicritus original pagan Panaetius passage perhaps Phaleas Philodemus philosophical Plato Plato's Republic Plutarch polis politeia political thought Posidonius possible practical primitive probably progressor Pythagorean reform Roman says second century seems sexual communism skeptical slaves social society Socrates Spartan Sphaerus Stoa Stoic Stoic utopian Stoicism suggest syssitia teaching Teles things third century trans utopian virtue wise writings wrote Xenophon Zeno Zeno's Republic
Popular passages
Page 13 - Kronos' time, when he was the king in heaven. They lived as if they were gods, their hearts free from all sorrow, by themselves, and without hard work or pain; no miserable old age came their way; their hands, their feet, did not alter.
Page 262 - The whole body of believers was united in heart and soul. Not a man of them claimed any of his possessions as his own, but everything was held in common, while the apostles bore witness with great power to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Page 55 - I spend all my time going about trying to persuade you, young and old, to make your first and chief concern not for your bodies nor for your possessions, but for the highest welfare of your souls...
Page 70 - It has rightly become a commonplace of recent historiography that, if we wish to understand earlier societies, we need to recover their different mentalites in as broadly sympathetic a fashion as possible. But it is hard to see how we can hope to arrive at this kind of historical understanding if we continue, as students of political ideas, to focus our main attention on those who discussed the problems of political life at a level of abstraction and intelligence unmatched by any of their contemporaries.