ABSTRACT
Kingship was a major topic of concern for Greek philosophers, particularly those who followed Socrates. These fourth-century BCE Socratics, including Antisthenes, Plato and Xenophon, developed a second order of discussion of kingship, in which the distinction between ruler and ruled was explored through the developing conceptualisation of a specific skill of ruling, the kingly art, or basilikē technē, often analogised to other crafts and also positioned hierarchically over them. Just as the relationship between ruler and polis was explored as a metaphysical problem, so the relationship between ruling and other human skills was framed in terms of the possible qualitative difference between ruling and other subordinate skills. This chapter explores the development of that debate through readings of this discussion in Antisthenes’ fragments, Xenophon’s Memorabilia and Oeconomicus, and Plato’s Gorgias, Euthydemus and Republic.
