David Konstan

Lessons from the Past: Xenophon and the Politics of Polarization

This paper was first delivered (in Spanish) as a plenary lecture at the 16^th triennial conference of the Sociedad Español de Estudios Clásicos, held in Salamanca on 17-21 July 2023. It is to be published in the acts of the conference; I am grateful to the editors for permission to publish the Hebrew version here. An English version, on which this text is based, was given as a lecture on 19 October 2023 at the annual John C. Rouman Classical Lecture Series at the University of New Hampshire. I am grateful to audiences at both occasions for comments.

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David Konstan (1940–2024) was a world-renowned American Classicist. He was the John Rowe Workman distinguished Professor of Classics and the Humanistic Tradition and Professor of Comparative Literature at Brown University and since his retirement in 2010, he served as a professor in the Department of Classics at New York University (NYU). In addition to his numerous books and articles on ancient Greek literature, philosophy and culture, Konstan focused on the philosophy of time and the study of emotions in the ancient world. His recent books focused on concepts such as “forgiveness,” “compassion,” “beauty,” and “love.” David happily welcomed our invitation to translate his essay and expressed his joy in its forthcoming publication, in Hebrew, in Iyyun. We are honored to publish the piece and sad that he is no longer with us. Konstan passed away on May 2, 2024, at his home in Providence, Rhode Island. Read more about Professor Konstan here