The present book has its genesis in my reflecting on the millennium-long dialogue in antiquity concerning the nature of knowledge. Amidst the complex ongoing disputes, there was implicit agreement that the very possibility of philosophy stood or fell on the possibility of achieving wisdom, the highest or best type of knowledge. The particular structure of the book arises from my conviction that contemporary epistemology stands to benefit from bringing ancient views about knowledge into the discussion, and that this is so despite the vast scientific gulf that separates them from us.

I am deeply grateful to G. R. F. Ferrari and Catherine Osborne for their invitation to publish my book in the series of which they are the general editors. Their gracious support and criticism of earlier drafts have been enormously helpful. I have also benefited from the advice and criticism of Panayot Butchvarov, Franco Ferrari, Francesco Fronterrota, Christopher Gill, Brad Inwood, James Lesher, David Reeve and Alan Silverman, each of whom read all or part of the work with a critical eye. The errors from which they saved me will, I am relieved to say, never see the light of day. As for those errors from which they could not save me, try though they may, I can only say that it might afford these eminent scholars and philosophers some measure of satisfaction to correct them in public now that they are in print. As always, I am most grateful to my best critic, my wife Asli Gocer.