The understanding of the self in the West has been deeply shaped by Christianity, and its influence can be seen in some assumptions that are often made around the soul: for example, if they exist, they are separate from the body, free, immortal. , And perhaps pure.

However, the ancient Greeks imagined that the spirit was completely different. In this ambitious new work, Michael Davis analyzes the works of Homer, Herodotus, Euripides, Plato and Aristotle to reveal how the ancient Greeks portrayed and understood what he calls the "full human soul." Beginning from the "Iliad" Homer, Davis puts tension within the spirit of Achilles between eternity and life.

He then turns to Aristotle "de Anima" and "Nicomatic Ethics" to explore the consequences of Achilles' problem through a whole range of soul activity. By moving to Herodotus and Euripides, Davis is a depiction of the two extreme cultures - one rooted in stability and tradition, the other in freedom and motion - and explores how they define the limits of character formation.

Davis then shows how Helen and Evgenia work among the Torrians to provide dramatic examples of Herodotus' extreme cultures and their consequences for themselves. The book concludes with Plato's presentation of the spirit of Socrates as self-conscious and uncanny, even if it necessarily disturbs and divides itself..