Ancient philosophy continues to hold secrets, even for those well-versed in it. Its intricate intertwining with mythological traditions and rituals, with images of the world and practices foreign to our Enlightenment mind, requires an insightful look beneath the abstract framework of ideas and deep into the joints of a society very different from our own.

The narration attempted here is infused with social history and open to religious and anthropological excursions, aiming to highlight the genesis of ideas through the collective experiences of various eras. It also strives to trace the paths of concepts as they traverse historical time and change with it, in contexts as different from each other as the Greek cities of Ionia and Southern Italy, the so-called classical world, the Hellenistic universe, the rising imaginary of the empire, and Christian synthesis.

The book we present to the reader today is the first of three volumes that will complete this The story of philosophy. "Ancient philosophy" begins with the first emergence of conceptual thinking in the environment of early Greek city-states and ends with the definitive shaping of Christian theology. The second volume, "Modern philosophy," will follow the thread from medieval times, through the great Arab-Muslim philosophy and Scholasticism, up to the completion of German Idealism. And the third volume, "Contemporary philosophy," will start from the constellation of the so-called Left Hegelians and, at the turn of the 21st century, end with postmodern and other currents of our days.