Ananke and Peitho: About Timaios 48A

Abstract

The article addresses the question of how to interpret the case that the Demiurgos makes Necessity (Ananke) cooperate through persuasion (Peitho) in Timaios 48A. After a brief survey of possibilities, I argue for Cornford’s interpretation, namely that Plato is using the concept of compromise here from Aeschylus’s The Eumenides. Yet, this is no simple paraphrase, because it is based on a scheme related to Athenian self-definition and forms the core of the taming-civilizing frame of reference of both texts