[timpetri]

I found this article very fascinating. I'm sad to admit that I know very little about the large number thinkers from that time though. If anyone could point me in the direction of some literature that would introduce me to all this, that would be greatly appreciated!

[throwaway10e6]

Philosophy PhD here.

I'd recommend a couple of classics, both accessible to non-specialists:

The Great Chain of Being is a nice overview of some of the main themes of ancient metaphysics and their later influence.[1] It ranges far beyond the ancient world, but it does as good a job as anything can of showing how ancient theories that might easily seem conceptually alien could in fact have been rational.

Shame and Necessity is about what you might call the ethical mindset of the ancient world.[2] The general aim is to explore how the ways Greeks and Romans engaged with moral questions systematically differed from what ethics would become after the advent of Christianity. (I can't praise this book enough. Williams was insanely erudite and analytically sharp.)

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Great-Chain-Being-Study-History/dp/06...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Shame-Necessity-Sather-Classical-Lect...

[atmosx]

There's a nice podcast[1] by the King's College in London about philosophy. It's not going deep on any particular philosopher, bar Plato, but will give you an overview of ancient and modern Philosophy. Then you can decide were you'd like to dig more.

[1]: https://historyofphilosophy.net/

[Jun8]

My layman's suggestion is that, rather than trying to read the ancients, start with how ideas from them and more current philosophers are relevant in today's debates. This is akin to diving into using a prog language with little understanding rather than reading books about it, it's more fun!

If you want to follow the above approach I think the best resource is the fantastic Philosophy Bites podcast (http://www.philosophybites.com/) where philosophers are interviewed. And if you're more of a printed matter type of person, they have books with the transcribed interviews, too (https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Bites-David-Edmonds/dp/019...).

This, I think, is a great way to identify the areas of philosophy you're interested in to zoom in further.

[mcguire]

Can I suggest a philosophy textbook? Introduction to World Philosophy: A Multicultural Reader by Daniel Bonevac and Stephen Phillips.