The use of politeuma and other polis-related terms as ‘conceptual iconography’ in Plutarch’s 'An seni respublica gerenda sit'

Abstract

Taking as reference the rich semantic field of polis-related terms (Πολιεύς, πολιτικός, πολιτεία, πολίτης, πολιτεύω/πολιτεύομαι, πολίτευμα) in the treatise 'An seni respublica gerenda sit', this study analyses the way Plutarch explores the wide range of meanings covered by those words and interweaves them, thus producing a coherent ‘conceptual iconography’ that depicts the portrait of how old men should engage in politics.