An Introduction to Theophrastus' Characters [Hardcover]

This book presents an introduction to the Characters, a collection of thirty amusing descriptions of character types who lived in Athens in the fourth century BCE. The author of the work, Theophrastus, was Aristotle's colleague, his immediate successor and head of his philosophical school for thirty-five years. Pertsinidis' lively, original and scholarly monograph introduces Theophrastus as a Greek philosopher. It also outlines the remarkable influence of the Charactersas a literary work and provides a detailed discussion of the work's purpose and its connection with comedy, ethics and rhetoric.

Sources and abbreviations

Introduction

1. Theophrastus: his life, works and character
2. Before and after Theophrastus Characters
3. The Charactersas a comedy of manners
4. Behaving badly: ethics and the Characters
5. Style, delivery and the role of character in rhetoric
6. Epilogue: conclusions and implications

Sonia Pertsinidis a lecturer in Classics at The Australian National University.