Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism [Hardcover]

Walter Burkert (Author), Edwin L. Minar Jr. (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674539184 | ISBN-13: 978-0674539181 | Publication Date: January 1, 1972

For the first English edition of his distinguished study, Weisheit und Wissenschaft: Studien zu Pythagoras, Philoloas und Platon, Mr. Burkert has extensively revised both text and notes, taking into account additional literature that has appeared since 1962.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation)

About the Author

Walter Burkert is Professor Emeritus of Classics, University of Zurich.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (January 1, 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674539184
• ISBN-13: 978-0674539181
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #416,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LORE AND SCIENCE IN ANCIENT PYTHAGOREANISM, October 20, 2007

By 

Mary Haight (Glasgow) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism (Hardcover)

The literature on Pythagoreanism is vast and often touched with madness. This book - to quote Jonathan Barnes (in THE PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHERS) 'advanced [the study of Pythagoreanism] to a new level of sanity and scholarship'.

It is definitely a book for scholars. One rather unfortunate result is the absence of translations for most of the Greek passages (with a few confusing exceptions when we are given only the translation). I have not seen the original German edition, so I do not know if the same is true there. Of course we need the Greek; but although most serious readers of a book like this will be able to cope, the absence rather lessens its (great) potential value for occasional reference, as well as slowing down students, perhaps, and many others whose Greek is a bit rusty and who do not want to be forced to keep a dictionary always on hand.

Nevertheless, although there have been and will continue to be further studies of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism since the date of this English edition (1970), it remains essential reading: as the author says he hopes to do, it 'gives a full and perspicuous presentation of the evidence and thus will be useful even to those who are not inclined to draw the same conclusions'.