Thomas W. Hodgkinson

Can the ancient Greeks really offer us ‘life lessons’ today?

Adam Nicolson thinks so. But his liveliest stories are about Pythagoras, who lived in a hole in the ground, and Thales, who fell into a well while studying the night sky

‘Pythagoras emerges from the Underworld’, by Giovanni Ghisolfi. [Fine Arts Images/Heritage Images/ Getty Images]

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