Introduction. The Study of Stoicism: Its Decline and Revival

Abstract

Abstract In his preface to the second edition of Hellenistic Philosophy (London/ New York, 1974), still the most widely read introduction on the subject, A. A. Long writes: This book was first published in 1974. As I remarked in the original preface, Hellenistic philosophy seemed then to need not only a general appraisal but a substantial rehabilitation. Though well looked after by a few devoted specialists, this period of Greek philosophy, broadly speaking, was depreciated and neglected by comparison with the enormous interest taken in Plato, Aristotle and their predecessors. A decade later, the fortunes of Hellenistic philosophy have changed dramatically ... The old prejudices seem to have been removed once and for all. New vistas have appeared, and it is already evident that they are altering the perspectives of ancient philosophy and stimulating philosophers in general.