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Donald Kagan Quotes

We, to some degree, are like what we are because we inherited certain things from the Greeks and the Romans. One of them that's so striking is the whole area of politics.

Donald Kagan

We, to some degree, are like what we are because we inherited certain things from the Greeks and the Romans. One of them that's so striking is the whole area of politics.

Tags: greeks, like, romans

The hoplites drove the tyrants from power and created broad oligarchies in their place.

Donald Kagan

The hoplites drove the tyrants from power and created broad oligarchies in their place.

About Author
Donald Kagan (; May 1, 1932 – August 6, 2021) was a Lithuanian-born American historian and classicist at Yale University specializing in ancient Greece. He formerly taught in the Department of History at Cornell University. Kagan was considered among the foremost American scholars of Greek history and is notable for his four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War.

These georgoi in turn shaped the ideals, institutions, and culture that gave rise to the polis. Unlike any prior civilization, the culture of the Greek polis combined citizen militias with the rule of...

Donald Kagan

These georgoi in turn shaped the ideals, institutions, and culture that gave rise to the polis. Unlike any prior civilization, the culture of the Greek polis combined citizen militias with the rule of...

This is aretē; this is the best human prize and the fairest for a young man to win. The man who fights without pause among the promachoi is a common good (xynon esthlon) for the polis and all the peop...

Donald Kagan

This is aretē; this is the best human prize and the fairest for a young man to win. The man who fights without pause among the promachoi is a common good (xynon esthlon) for the polis and all the peop...

History had its own way of explaining things. The way historians explain things is by telling a story.

Donald Kagan

History had its own way of explaining things. The way historians explain things is by telling a story.

Tags: story, way, explain

Fair and good [kalòn … agathòn] the man who falls fighting in the front rank, dying for the fatherland.

Donald Kagan

Fair and good [kalòn … agathòn] the man who falls fighting in the front rank, dying for the fatherland.

Philolaus of Corinth (about 730 B.C.?) had supposedly enacted regulations ensuring that the farms at Thebes might remain the same number in perpetuity. The Corinthian Pheidon, one of the most ancient...

Donald Kagan

Philolaus of Corinth (about 730 B.C.?) had supposedly enacted regulations ensuring that the farms at Thebes might remain the same number in perpetuity. The Corinthian Pheidon, one of the most ancient...

The Spartan attitude reflected an important fact about the condition of the Greek world from 479 to 461: Its stability was apparent only and not real. The alliance between Sparta and Athens was not an...

Donald Kagan

The Spartan attitude reflected an important fact about the condition of the Greek world from 479 to 461: Its stability was apparent only and not real. The alliance between Sparta and Athens was not an...

The development of hoplite warfare took place in this context of novel agrarianism, which promoted a particular type of moral excellence.

Donald Kagan

The development of hoplite warfare took place in this context of novel agrarianism, which promoted a particular type of moral excellence.

Once again the historian who wishes to understand this difficult period must try to read between the lines. It

Donald Kagan

Once again the historian who wishes to understand this difficult period must try to read between the lines. It