Review of John Lewis' Solon the Thinker

The Bryn Mawr Classical Review specializes in the review of scholarly works in the field of classical studies. They recently picked up John Lewis' Solon the Thinker: Political Thought in Archaic Athens and wrote about what they had to say regarding his work.

Read Zinon Papakonstantinou's review here.

From a non-academic perspective, as I read Papakonstantinou's review, I can sympathize with Ari Armstrong's sentiment as he talked about Lewis' use of the Greek vocabulary.

I also wish the book had included a more complete glossary of Greek terms. The limited glossary is invaluable for readers who don't know Greek, but often I found myself flipping back several pages to remind myself of the meaning of a term excluded from the glossary.

Being that this is a scholarly review with a focus towards specialists in the field one shouldn't be surprised to see such terms as noos, koros, hubris, and dikê used with the assumption that the reader is acquainted with their usage and meaning. I myself haven't yet had the chance to read Lewis' work but it's definitely on my list. After reading the review I have to agree with the reviewer's evaluation that "this is nevertheless a contribution that will find its place in the ongoing scholarly debates on Solon and archaic political thought."