Abstract

The introduction opens with a survey of the topics covered, an example of the method, and a listing of the philosophers included in the study. There follows a section on religious terminology in which more accurate English translations are offered for a number of critical Greek religious terms, including those that are usually and mistakenly translated as ‘piety’, ‘holiness’, and ‘happiness’. The Introduction concludes with a discussion of the various types of deities to be encountered, distinguishing between the gods of cult and those of poetry, and giving special attention to the celestial deities of philosophers and to the daimones found in Plato's writings.