Happiness

Have you ever wondered what happiness is? What it means to be happy? If so, then you'll want to hear what the ancient Greeks had to say about happiness since they thought and said a lot about it.

Happiness is a book that systematically presents what ancient Greek poets, historians, orators, and philosophers thought and said about the nature of happiness, all in their own words.

And what did they say?

Go into the papyrology room of the Sackler Library at Oxford University and you'll find a remarkably small scrap of papyrus that is a tiny fraction of a poem by the sixth century BC Greek poet Stesichorus. Its sloppily written script announces something very large relative to its small size. After obliquely referring to Ares, Athena, and another god, the mostly all-caps fragment tantalizingly declares, "HAPPY THE MAN WHO . . ." before unhappily ending in a jagged tear that demands we eagerly ask, Happy the man who what?! Who is the happy man or happy woman?

It's a question the ancient Greeks long pondered from Homer to Plotinus, with countless poets, playwrights, historians, orators, philosophers, and others offering answers during the thousand years in between.

That happiness was the goal of life, few Greeks doubted. Rather, the big debate centered on the nature of happiness-what happiness is and how we humans can be happy.

After a brief introduction, Happiness presents what the ancient Greeks thought and said about happiness, all in their own words. You'll get the scoop on who was happy and how, and you'll discover happy places and times. You'll hear prayers for happiness, take in brief happiness formulas, and contemplate the ideas all the great philosophers had about happiness.

Finally, if you choose to, you'll have the chance to practice happiness in response to the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus' insistence that "we must practice those things that produce happiness, . . . the basic elements of living well."

There's more, of course. But we'll let you discover what it is within the pages of Happiness. See you inside.