Gyges of Lydia

Go check out our evergreen library on the Ascend Book Club or thegreatbookspodcast.com.

But today, join this wonderful conversation on book two with Dr. Jennifer Frey on Gyges Ring.

Welcome to Ascend, the Great Books Podcast.

My name is Deacon Harrison Garlick.

I remember being a first time reader was like somewhat difficult.

And then Glaucon kind of like steel manning the argument and being like, okay, this is what we're going to do.

And then giving the myth of Gyges, like it just sucked me in.

Yeah, I mean, it's good stuff.

And from him, he declares, the art of statuary came.

But according to what Pliny writes, this came to Egypt from Gyges the Lydian, who, being by the fire and gazing at his own shadow, suddenly, with some charcoal in his hand, drew his own outline on the wall.

And from that age, for a time, outlines only were wont to be used, with no body of color, as the same Pliny confirms.

Which method was rediscovered, with more labor, by Philocles the Egyptian, and likewise by Cleanthes and Ardeses of Corinth, and by Telephonus of Sicyon.

Catherine, I'd like to ask you to read chapters 38 and 39, and I'll lead comment and then we'll wrap up.

For this reason, the well-known story of Gyges was introduced by Plato.

One day, as a result of heavy rains, the earth gaped open and Gyges went down into the chasm.

There he noticed, so the story goes, a bronze horse with a door in its flank.

He opened it, and inside he saw the body of a dead man of unusual size with a golden ring on his finger.

Gyges stole this and put it on himself.

And then, he was one of the king's shepherds, he returned to the company of the shepherds.

There he discovered that when he turned the stone in the ring towards his palm, no one could see him, while he himself could see everything.

Then we shall discover in the very act the just and unjust man to be proceeding along the same road, following their interest, which all natures deem to be their good, and are only diverted into the path of justice by the force of law.

The liberty which we are supposing may be most completely given to them in the form of such a power as is said to have been possessed by Gyges, the ancestor of Croesus the Lydian.

According to the tradition, Gyges was a shepherd in the service of the king of Lydia.

There was a great storm, and an earthquake made an opening in the earth at the place where he was feeding his flock.

Amazed at the sight, he descended into the opening, where, among other marvels, he beheld a hollow brazen horse, having doors, at which he, stooping and looking in, saw a dead body of stature as it appeared to him, more than human, and having nothing on but a gold ring.

And I feel like that was really my first impression.

Obviously, you have the cave and, like, Gyges' ring, and you have passages that stick out to you.

But I think the main impression it made on me was, like, this is a text I would love to actually spend time with.

This is a text that really reveals to me, um, I guess in a very Socratic way, that I'm realizing everything I actually don't know.

And from him, he declares, the art of statuary came.

But according to what Pliny writes, this came to Egypt from Gyges the Lydian, who, being by the fire and gazing at his own shadow, suddenly, with some charcoal in his hand, drew his own outline on the wall.

And from that age, for a time, outlines only were wont to be used, with no body of colour, as the same Pliny confirms.

Which method was rediscovered, with more labour, by Philocles the Egyptian, and likewise by Cleanthes and Ardeses of Corinth, and by Telephanes of Sicyon.