This paper is part of a larger research on Desire in Ancient Greece, that is to say, on Archaic, Classic and Helenistic Greece. The first part of the work deals with desire manifestations in Archaic Greece, which flourished between the VIII and VI Centuries b.C. Initially, the thymos notion, as a first manifestation of desire in epic poems, on Homer period, was analyzed; then, desire in liric poetry was considered, period during which the poets managed to express their own feelings’ language. The role of desire on aristocratic moral of moderation as brought by the Maxims of the Seven Sages of Greece was focused. In tragic poems, desire assumes an ethic dimension on the tragic man’s responsability for the consequences of his acts. Finally, still within the spirit which dominated Archaic Culture, the place desire takes on first naturalist philosophers thoughts is shown, mainly on Heraclito of Efeso fragments and il old pitagorism doctrine.
Desire; Archaic Greece; ethic; thoughts