I studied English and Classics (with a stint in history and linguistics) at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, then did postgraduate studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest and earned first a D.E.A., then a Ph.D. in Ancient Philosophy. I also studied at the École Normale Supérieure (not Rue d’Ulm, but Fontenay/Saint-Cloud) as a research student. My Ph.D. dissertation was a translation and commentary of the Theaetetus of Plato.
I taught at the Department of Aesthetics from 1997 to 2015. In 2015 I moved over to the Greek Department at the Institute of Classical Studies, keeping my affiliation with the Department of Aesthetics and teaching some classes there as well.
My research and teaching interests include Ancient Greek philosophy, aesthetic theory and intellectual history, with emphasis on the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle and Greek tragedy; and ethics, cosmology and the intellectual transition from pre-classical to classical thought. I have just finished a new translation and commentary of Plato’s Parmenides, to be published within weeks.
Selected Publications
- Platón: Menón. [The Meno of Plato]. Translation with synopsis, notes, interpretative essay and bibliographical note in Hungarian. Atlantisz Publishing Company. Budapest, Atlantisz Publishing Company. Budapest, 142 pp.
- Platón: Prótagorasz. [The Protagoras of Plato] Translation with synopsis, notes, interpretative essay and bibliographical note in Hungarian. Atlantisz Publishing Company. Budapest, 2007. 175 pp.*
- Platón: Theaitétosz [The Theaetetus of Plato]. Translation (pp. 110) with synopsis, notes, interpretative essay (pp. 135) and bibliographical note in Hungarian. Atlantisz Publishing Company, Budapest, 2001. (267 pp.) (Shortened and revised version of Ph.D. dissertation.)*
- Interpretative essay to Plato’s Statesman in: Plato: Statesman. Translation with synopsis, notes, interpretative essay and bibliographical note in Hungarian. Translation and notes by Judit Horvath, interpretative essay by Istvan Barany and Judit Horvath. Atlantisz Publishing Company. Budapest, 2007.*
- Immortal mortals – mortal immortals. In: Pannonhalmi Szemle, 2011 XIX/4., pp. 88-100
- From Protagoras to Parmenides: a Platonic History of Philosophy. In: Atti di Convegni II. Symposium Praesocraticum, Pisa, 2006. pp. 305-327.
- Szofisták Athénban: egy angol liberális látomása (George Grote: A History of Greece) in: Ókor 2006. V. évfolyam 1., 44-49 o.* [Sophists in Athens: vision of an English liberal. George Grote: A History of Greece.]
- „What does the skeptikosz search for, or was Winnie the Pooh a sceptic?”, in Passim V (2003), pp. 23-32.*
- Oedipe à Colone: Héroisation et Tragédie. Acta Antiqua Academicae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 36, 1995, 15–37
Contact Details
E-mail: barany.istvan _at_ btk.elte.hu
Mail: Múzeum krt. 6-8., 1088 Budapest, Hungary, office phone: 00 36 1 411 65 70