Allegory in Early Greek Philosophy examines the role that allegory plays in Greek thought
particularly in the transition from the mythic tradition of the archaic poets to the
philosophical traditions of the Presocratics and Plato. It explores how a mode of speech that
says one thing but means another is integral to philosophy which otherwise seeks to achieve
clarity and precision in its discourse. By providing the early Greek thinkers with a way of
defending and appropriating the poetic wisdom of their predecessors allegory enables
philosophy to locate and recover its own origins in the mythic tradition. Allegory allows
philosophy simultaneously to move beyond mythos and express the whole in terms of logos a
rational account in which reality is represented in a more abstract and universal way than myth
allows.
