A Hellenistic Ethical Lexicon: Three Hundred and Seven Rules of Conduct of Expanding Empires [Hardcover]

Building on his previous work onHellenistic Interstate Political Ethics(T&T Clark, 2022) leading historian Doron Mendels presents three hundred interstate ethical rules of conduct which he has discovered within three reconstructed Hellenistic codes.These codes appear in the work of three major Hellenistic historical writers, with Mendels also adding remarks that appear inThe Letter of Aristeas.

Mendels has formulated these  probably originally oral  rules embedded within the historical narratives using a mixture of statements by rulers and other actors concerning interstate relationships, historical events which point to ethical behaviour of states and/or their breach, as well as related thoughts of the historians themselves regarding interstate encounters. The result is a comprehensive catalogue of ethical rules referring to behaviour on the international scene, which include not only rules but also a lexicon of moral terms borrowed from the individual ethical scenarios. The volume constitutes a significant addition to knowledge of the Hellenistic era in the 3rd-1st centuries BC, the universe against which Judaism and early Christianity operated.

Doron Mendels identifies 300 rules/codes of conduct for international relations in the Hellenistic period, against the background of early Christianity and Judaism.Doron Mendelsis Max and Sophie Mydans Professor in the Humanities at the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

How might it be possible to frame rules of conduct in an international context that lacks a system of law capable of obliging states to fulfill their obligations and keep their promises? The ancient Hellenistic world, as Professor Doron Mendels masterfully illustrates in this original book, provides important elements for a response to this question. Drawing on three ancient historians and an ancient political thinker, the author retrieves the core doctrines of an ethical codlc$